Omnidirectional Fyne Audio SuperTrax Supertweeter!

[@SpyderTracks]

Fyne are Tannoy, it's no mistake that the Vintage series look so much like the old Tannoy designs, it's from the people who designed those classic tannoys. Fyne are Tannoy but they're improving what came before. I'm so excited to see how they continue!

[@upscaleaudio]

The heads of Fyne do come from Tannoy and you can definitely see the influence in their DNA, but these speakers are definitely on a whole other level. The technology they have patented and implemented is groundbreaking and sounds amazing!

[@kirmussaudio7578]

I rarely add any comments but this one deserves five stars. The first and second harmonics that we feel are in the 50K plus range.

[@upscaleaudio]

Thank you so much for your comment! You are exactly correct!

[@struergymnasium]

It looks a bit like what B&O has been doing since 2007 with their acoustic lens, which was licensed from an American company. Looks very cool.

[@paran0ia7]

Omnidirectional tweeters are wild, and definitely something worth playing around with. They don't have to cost more than your car either; for many years I had a pair of ~$20 tweeters up-firing into 4" wooden balls from Hobby Lobby mounted on adjustable microphone arms sat on my main speakers, and it was ludicrous how much of a difference they made to the soundstage. Getting the crossover point just right is of course tricky, but it's wild how high even cheap tweeters can extend when it's ALL they are asked to do.

[@upscaleaudio]

Fyne will be coming out withother models that are smaller and less expensive. The black ones coming will cost less. These are the flagship in every way, shape and form, and can be used with a lot of different brands of speakers.

[@johndough8115]

At one point, I made some experimental satellite speakers, from some parted speakers. I decided to try to make an Omni directional effect, by pointing the tweeter upwards. Originally, I was going to use a solid cone shape, placed above the tweeters, to direct the soundwaves. However, since I didnt have anything like that at the time... I just made a few stilts, and placed a flat board on top, about 3.5 inches above the tweeter... I was quite impressed at just how well the high frequencies spread out... despite not having a Cone deflector... so I just kept them "As-Is", for quite some time. My experiences with Omni, is varied. The first experience, was an old pair of speakers, that were built into these octagonal coffee tables. They produced some pretty amazing sound... and I had to ask my friend where the speakers were... because they were so Non-Directional. Unfortunately, I have no idea what they were called. The next experience, was a small pair of Radio Shack mini-bookshelf speakers, which had a 360 degree Di-Pole ribbon tweeter. The details and spread was insane on them... However... there was an issue. I was hearing the high frequencies, sort of Echo... as they bounced around the room at different time frames. This made them way too off-putting. I initially thought that Maybe you could get away with using them for movies... but certainly NOT music. But eventually I realize that even movies would be problematic. If you could have limited the drivers to only project a 180 degree spread... it might have worked much better (maybe place a foam absorber behind the rear half of the dipole). You see... When someone talks to you.. you Hear it coming from an exact point in 3d space. Sure... it will radiate in all directions from that point... BUT... your ears distinctly hear its source point. But with those Dipole drivers... it was as if the sound of a persons voice, was going out in every different direction. It lost its "Point Source".. and made it too surreal, as well as created those time-delay echo / reflection effects. You might cure some of that with absorbent wall coverings... but thats going to the extremes... and still might not have worked well. Now... all of this was before I got into Audiophile grade speakers. Eventually, I went to a friends business... and he was playing some "Earth Wind and Fire". The sound quality, was out this world... in terms of Clarity, Luscious Deep and Punchy Bass, but even more impressive... was the "3D Soundstage". It was almost as if the band was playing live, in that room. The stereo image, was so wide and holographically 3d... that it extended to something like a 15 x 15 feet area, before you noticed any Drop-Off. The most Amazing thing was... that despite my hearing being Excellent... I couldnt audibly detect where the speakers were! I spent at least a solid 10 minutes, searching the entire room, for these speakers. The man is a bit of a packrat... and so there was stuff all over the place... like piles of magazines, various parts and pieces, arcade machines, pinball machines, dvd stacks, and more... Eventually I gave up, and asked him What speakers he was using, and WHERE the heck were they?! He told me they were EPI 100v speakers, and he walked me to the front window of the store, and pointed to them. They were only slightly larger than bookshelf speakers, with 8" woofers... but produced deeper bass than my full sized Techniques 12" 3-ways. One of them was laying on its side, with like 2ft worth of magazines on top of it. The other was about 7 ft away, vertically oriented. Both were sitting on a Shelf Ledge, that was about 1ft tall.. from the floor. In fact, one of the speakers, was partially blocked by a sit-down arcade racing game. Despite the most awful speaker placement... they were the best sounding speakers, that Ive heard in my entire Life... and I knew right then and there... that I HAD to have them. I later found a use pair on Craigslist, for $100, Refoamed. Best 100$ Ive ever spent... and best speakers Ive ever owned / heard. In fact, they utterly Destroy the local high end stereo shops, "top model", $3000 speakers... in every Metric single metric. There are a few interesting things about the EPIs that make them unique. While the Tweeters are not Omni... they are Concave, rather than being a typical Dome. I believe this shape, is key to how it spreads the 3d Image, so much wider than Dome tweeters. The Magnets to them are also very beefy... leading to far more precise control. The woofers are also unique. For one... the magnets on them are massive, and heavy. In fact... One of the 8" EPI drivers... weights like more than BOTH of my former Techniques 12" woofers, combined. Reading up about the designers notes about them... I read that he used heavier gauge wire on the driver windings... to automatically filter the high frequencies from the woofer... thus eliminating the need for an additional crossover part (with the theory that crossover parts, could potentially cause micro-distortions). The EPI's are a 100% Sealed Cabinet... and the Bass is much more natural sounding, than Ported speakers. So much so... that I put the Tecniques on the curb the next morning. Once you hear bass the way it was INTENDED to be heard... you can never go back to the Artificial sounding bass, that comes from most Ported speakers. IMO... The next best thing to Sealed speakers, are speakers with Passive Radiators. I owned a small pair of Phillips Woox speakers, that have special passives on them... and the bass was extremely impressive, and non-distorting. Ive never heard an Open Baffle speaker yet... so I cant weight in on them. If you get a pair of EPI or Genesis Physics speakers (Genesis Physics, bought EPI, and used the same drivers, with similar configurations), make sure to get the EPIs with the latest Upgraded tweeter model. The older drivers have a fiber-board bezel around them.. and they are far Inferior to the newer models, which have a plastic bezel around them. Anyway... My point being... that you dont actually need Omni-Directional speakers / drivers.. to get a massive 3D soundstage effect. It really depends on the design of the drivers... far more than anything else. And in fact... in certain cases... Omni's can be problematic... if you dont have well treated rooms... due to the sounds bouncing back to your ears at different times, from various different angles. That said... Id guess that these drivers might be pretty amazing. They certainly look cool. But of course, you never really know, until you have heard them for yourself. I will say one last thing... and thats about "Super Tweeters". I once bought some super-tweeters, to add on to my Techniques speakers... thinking it would help with the image and details. I chose a cheap radioshack supertweeter pair, at that time. Now... I didnt change any electronics... so I cant say if that was part of the issue... But what I noticed was that the Supertweeters were very "NOTICIABLE". Meaning... they stood out, like a sore thumb... and that was a Bad Thing.. because it didnt sound Natural at all. It was a bit too "Hissy", harsh, and again.. "Unnatural" sounding. As such, I left them in, but disconnected them internally... never to use them again. Obviously, using Radioshacks low quality drivers, is certainly one of the main issues. That said... there are many speakers, that do have issues with tweeters that are too "Noticeable". Where your attention, is immediately drawn and distracted by them being too "Hot" and "Unnatural". Where as the best Tweeters, should give you fantastic details.. without you ever really noticing the "Source" of where that sound is coming from. And the best speakers... are those that basically "Vanish"... so that if you were blindfolded, you couldnt actually locate them by ear... because the sound just seems to magically be in the 3d space.. without an actual projection source.

[@upscaleaudio]

Wow this was an interesting read! You hit the nail on the head that people need to hear this for themselves! I was wowed by them when I first heard them so I want as many people as possible to demo them!

[@benjaminvdwalt6666]

If you add a SuperTrax tweeter to a lets say F703SP which usually goes up to 26Khz, how does the next cross over work with the super tweeter handling over 16Khz? Does the system then cross over at 16Khz? I could see this beneficial since it means the F703SP kan focus on a more narrow bandwidth with more focus.

[@stillastillsfan]

Tannoy Westminster GR is 99 dB. Fyne Audio super tweeter here supposedly good with speakers up to 98 db. So does this 1 dB difference make them incompatible w Tannoy Westminster?

[@upscaleaudio]

They say the human ear can only REALLY hear differences in decibles groups of 3. I think it would be ok since a whisper is like 20 - 30 DB :)

[@pmizz7959]

It’s curious they are not making one of these to pair with their F1 range. You’d think that would be where people would most likely be spending $5k on a super tweeter. Or maybe that range already has enough extension to not need one of these?

[@upscaleaudio]

Great question! They are coming out in black soon, and we will definitely see what speakers we can pair it with for fun!

[@Robert-id9jx]

I have a pair of F1-8 stand mounts and I would be allowed to have them as long as they matched the main speakers,lol. I hope they do build one to match the finish.

[@Shaken_AND_Stirred]

So how will this Fyne Audio super tweeter improve my Focal Electra 1008be”s?

[@upscaleaudio]

1008BE are a fabulous speaker with a Beryllium dome as you know. It depends on you and your system. If your room is highly reflective and you have tile floors, you may be getting all the top end that you can stand. If not, buy them in a way that you can return them. Unless you intend to return them anyway...it's expensive for dealers to take returns. Or a local Fyne dealer could let you borrow a pair. Thanks for asking!

[@Shaken_AND_Stirred]

@@upscaleaudio Thank you for the response. I actually purchased my Electra’s from you guys. I’m about to move into a house that is all tile, but will have large rugs in a lot places. I don’t know of any Fyne dealers in the Houston area. Thank you again

[@upscaleaudio]

@@Shaken_AND_Stirred Right on. Congratulations on the new house in the Great State of Texas! I checked for you and there isn't one in your area. Reach out to Chris at the store, and explain your situation. I'm not sure if it's the right decision for you. We are always 100% honest. And don't like customers to have to ship stuff back.

[@antonyharding5360]

❤❤❤❤

[@upscaleaudio]

❤️

[@CheekyFest]

at least in London, Glasgow = glars-go, not glass-g-ow / glass gau

[@upscaleaudio]

Dude....I torch everything. I called Hermes Her-Meez and my wife smacked me.

[@WoodyONeal]

5 grand is a little absurd.

[@tomhaydon6651]

I would not have mention the concert only because of his far left views. Just sayin!.........Peace Out........

[@upscaleaudio]

I don't go down that rabbit hole. I love Mr Soul, Ohio, and a ton of other stuff.

[@williamgiovannettone5935]

Hey Kev, Neil Young blows

[@upscaleaudio]

Which artists do you like?

[@upscaleaudio]

The concert was a disaster..... for me. We were fifth row, off to the side a little, right next to a huge driver array. I left my earplugs at home. I forgot how loud Crazy Horse can be. I was shoving everything in my ears to save them.

[@stillastillsfan]

@@upscaleaudioI bring my earplugs to every concert now. Just saw Dave Mason and also Tower of Power.

[@r423fplip]

Jeff Lynne, Mr electric light orchestra. His rubbish is someone else's gold. He doing his final tour ever.