Fyne Audio F502S review

Fyne Audio is enjoying, to borrow some classic football parlance, an enviable purple patch at the moment. From top to bottom, the Scotland-based hi-fi brand is producing some exceptional loudspeakers, from the recently reviewed F701SP standmounts to the aggressively priced F501E floorstanders.

Fyne unveiled its latest F500S range of loudspeakers at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show back in February, promising a "significant audio and aesthetic upgrade" over the previous generation F502.

Placed a step above the brand’s entry-level F500E Series, the new range – fronted by the large F502S floorstanders – aims to make noticeable sonic strides without a huge increase in price.

Build & design

The Fyne Audio F502S are a big old pair of speakers. For this kind of money, you can get your hands on the very petite Neat Mystique Classic or the slimline (and cheaper) PMC Prodigy 5, but the F502S towers dwarf those competitors so that, side by side, they look like giants in the land of Lilliput.

These sturdy speakers measure in at 111 x 30 x 38cm (hwd) when placed on their metal plinths, so you will need a reasonably capacious listening space to accommodate them.

Big doesn't have to mean ugly, of course. Our test pair look smooth and shiny when daubed in their piano-grade black gloss finish, and while there are few fancy embellishments to speak of, there’s very little that distracts the eye in a negative sense.

Maybe the pickiest of picky people might have a problem with the slightly industrial look of the metal driver surrounds, but they’d have to be very fussy to care.

Internally, Fyne is sticking with what works. The substantial towers feature a 25mm magnesium dome tweeter alongside a 20cm mid/bass driver and a 20cm bass driver. That mid/bass unit harnesses the brand’s signature Isoflare point source technology, which has trickled down from its higher-end models to its ever-expanding roster of speakers.

Fyne wants to take its patented driver tech to the next level with its latest range, with the F502S including a neodymium high-frequency magnet with a vented rear chamber to minimise resonance, as well as a 25mm magnesium high-frequency diaphragm selected for its damping properties.

Each tweeter's waveguide has a unique geometry to avoid internal reflections, helping to improve dispersion over the previous generation F500 in pursuit of enhanced stereo imaging and improved overall sonic performance.

The brand’s ‘BassTrax’ diffuser system, meanwhile, aims to deliver bass more uniformly and make the speakers less sensitive to their position in a given space. You’ll also find sturdy speaker terminals at the rear base of the towers, and they are suitable for bi-wiring.

Compatibility

Our testing begins hooked up to our reference Naim ND555/555 PS DR music streamer and Burmester 088/911 MKIII pre/power amplifier, a big-money combination with which the F502S certainly sound comfortable.

That said, switching to the more price-appropriate Naim Nait XS 3 amp (£2499 / $3999) just adds an extra layer of pep and punch to the F502S’s sound, and we feel that this is exactly the sort of pairing they’d be most suited to. That said, if you wanted to go with a cheaper amp, the accommodating Arcam A15 (£1099 / $999) is a smart alternative.

The F502S are big speakers, but we don’t find them particularly fussy about placement. In our larger test room, they sound best placed roughly 70cm from our back wall, angled in slightly so that they cross behind our listening position to give us the optimal mix of having a stable stereo image and solid low-end reproduction.

Sound

That Isoflare drive technology is once again at the heart of the F502S, an established design which aims to have all the speakers’ sonic frequencies sounding as though they are coming from the same place, seeking more consistent dispersion, better time alignment and more seamless musical integration.

As we’ve heard many times before, the tech just works so incredibly well. Stand anywhere in relation to the substantial towers and you’ll receive a remarkably consistent sonic signature. With so many speakers, voices or that central image can collapse when you move off-centre, but the F502S are remarkably unfussy when it comes to your given listening position.

The resulting sonic integration, meanwhile, is outstanding. The speakers don’t sound as though each frequency is sitting on top of the other in a messy pile, nor do they make the bass, mid and treble sound overly pulled apart or abstracted.

Everything works together seamlessly to create a wonderfully cohesive, well-integrated presentation as that lovely Isoflare tech works its magic. As you’d expect given their size, the F502S produce a good deal of bass, but they have the restraint and agility to keep their lower end taut and remarkably well-controlled.

Maybe you lose just a hint of sweetness in the upper ranges – every design has its tradeoffs, after all – but that’s never enough to dampen our considerable affections for what is, as we listen more and more, another excellent specimen rolling off the Fyne production line.

Important as they are, terms such as “sonic integration” and “improved time alignment” may not be setting your heart all aflutter, but trust us, the F520S are by no means all tech and no trousers.

Quite the opposite. Take their handling of Hans Zimmer’s The Battle from the ever-beloved Gladiator soundtrack, a 10-minute epic we tend to bring out whenever we really want to test what a pair of speakers can do.

The F502S barely break a sweat from the first minute until the last, communicating every subtle dynamic shift and instrumental detail with ease, bringing the music to life with a rendition that blends mournful melancholy with a tangible sense of rousing triumph.

The Fyne are like your favourite school teacher or most inspiring university lecturer: authoritative and competent, yes, but personable, engaging and genuinely approachable.

Max Richter’s solemn Never Goodbye provides an equally fitting showcase for what these remarkably talented floorstanders can do. The F502S have the nous and nuance to provide the track’s opening piano and strings with the subtle delicacy they require, switching gears as the piece grows and swells to create a powerfully rich, resonant reproduction that fully brings out the music’s haunting resonance.

The authority and scale are palpable, but it’s the Fynes’ ability to bring out the emotional beats beneath the surface that really knocks us sideways.

No matter your music’s volume, the speakers retain their precision, balance and subtlety – crank up the dial and they’ll thrill you, but keep your listening low and the Fynes’ essential character still shines through with remarkable integrity.

In fact, it doesn’t matter what genre or recording we play, we’re incapable of catching these floorstanders out. Whether it’s the snappy rhythm of Muse’s Panic Station, the orchestral swells of Kate Bush’s Cloudbusting or the emotional tear jerking of Lady Gaga’s Shallow, the F502S can do it all.

Verdict

These premium F502S towers continue a rather remarkable hot streak.

Fyne set out to bring exceptional sound-per-pound value with its new F500S line, and if the entertaining, dynamic and musical presentation of the outstanding F502S floorstanders is anything to go by, it’s done just that.

Review published: 26th August 2025

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 5
• Compatibility 4

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