Fyne Audio F701SP review

Fyne Audio’s ‘Special Production’ models have been a huge success for the Scottish speaker specialist. The idea behind them is simple yet so alluring. Take a well-performing standard product, in this case the excellent F701 standmounter, keep the basic cabinet but let the engineers loose on everything else with a view to maximising performance and improving cosmetics.

Also, bump the price up accordingly; in the case of the Fyne Audio F701SP we're reviewing here, the difference between the two versions is around £1500 / $2200.

Build & design

At a casual glance, most people would be hard pushed to notice that the new Fyne F701SP features an upgraded driver array. It is now the very same Isoflare assembly that we so enjoyed when we tested the company’s excellent high-end F1-8 standmount (£7499 / $10,499).

In the case of these standmount speakers, Isoflare positions a 25mm horn-loaded magnesium dome compression tweeter at the centre of a 20cm multi-fibre paper mid/bass cone. This arrangement offers all sorts of benefits over traditional separated drive unit configurations, from more consistent dispersion characteristics to improved time alignment and integration. KEF has remained faithful to its similar Uni-Q arrangement for the same reasons.

Why don’t more manufacturers follow the coaxial driver approach, if it’s so good? That probably comes down to cost, together with big challenges regarding mechanical, acoustic and magnetic interactions between the two drivers. The engineers at Fyne and KEF have worked hard over decades to minimise the negatives and each company has made their take on the arrangement work extremely well. This task isn’t an easy thing for others to emulate.

But Fyne’s engineering skills aren’t just limited to the Isoflare configuration, as there are numerous examples of the company’s interesting ideas.

The mid/bass unit’s surround has indents all the way around (called ‘FyneFlute) to damp down any cone resonances more effectively, and the unit’s low frequency performance is tuned by the brand’s ‘BassTrax’ system.

This is essentially a downward-facing port that fires onto a specially shaped upward-facing cone, which converts the port’s output into a 360-degree wave front. This kind of dispersion at bass frequencies is claimed to make the speakers less fussy about their exact positioning in the listening room, and in our experience, does just that.

The F701SP speaker has an improved and re-tuned crossover compared to the standard model, and is packed with better quality components. It is a fairly minimalist design that uses a 2nd order filter for the mid/bass and a shallow 1st order for the tweeter. This crossover network is cryogenically treated to remove internal stresses within the components, which makes a notable improvement to overall transparency in our experience.

Elsewhere, the internal wiring is upgraded to Neotech high-purity copper and the crossover is mounted onto fibreboard panels to reduce the amount of vibrations that feed into the circuit.

What of the cabinet? It essentially remains the same rigid, well-built birch ply enclosure as the base product, though the hefty precision-machined aluminium plinth is upgraded to improve the performance of the ‘BassTrax’ system.

The SP variant adds a natural walnut finish to the standard model’s choice of piano gloss options (white, back and walnut). Look around the back and you will find a quartet of rather tasty WBT 0703 multi-way binding posts rather than the standard F701’s less flashy terminals.

The company continues to offer the option of earthing the speakers, and while the addition of yet another cable doesn’t do much for listening room neatness, the improvements we hear in transparency, refinement and resolution are clear, if subtle.

Compatibility

Admittedly, you need to use a top-class system to really hear the improvements. Our sources are Naim’s ND555/555 PS DR music streamer and the Technics SL-1000R record player partnered with Kiseki’s Purpleheart MC cartridge. As for amplification, we have our usual Burmester 088/911MkIII and PMC Cor integrated to hand. Our benchmark speakers are ATC’s SCM50, the ES-14N from Epos and Fyne’s own F1-8 standmounters.

With a claimed sensitivity of 90dB/W/m and a nominal impedance of 8 ohms, these should be an easy load for any decent price-compatible amplifier, bar some of the left-field, single-figure power output valve-driven designs still on the market.

The performance of any standmounter is reliant on the quality of its support, and these Fynes are no different. While it is tempting to skimp in this area, to do so would defeat the point of buying a product at this level. We used Fyne Audio’s FS08 stands, which at £1099 / $1750 aren’t cheap but do the job well. We would consider the stands an essential part of the package and budget accordingly.

The F701SP proves relatively unfussy when it comes to positioning. In our 3 x 7 x 5m (hwd) test room, they sound best around 80cm out from the wall and well away from the sides. Move the speakers much closer to the wall behind them and the speaker’s low bass becomes a little stodgy, but not by much compared to most rivals.

Our bigger issues with such a placement are the flattening of the soundstage and loss of overall transparency. We angle them towards the main listening position, so that the tweeters are aimed at either side of our shoulders, to optimise the stereo focus.

It is well worth experimenting with the distance between the speakers to solidify the results.

Sound

Get it all right and you should end up with a beautifully precise soundstage that is as crisp, layered and expansive as they come at this level. The sound floats free of the speaker’s enclosures, which strongly suggests that the care Fyne’s engineers have taken to reduce the cabinet’s resonances has worked. The benefits of the Isoflare arrangement come to the fore with the stereo imaging’s stability as we move around the room.

As we listen to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, we can’t help but be impressed by the Fynes’ enthusiasm. These speakers sound confident and have the composure to stand firm when the music gets demanding. Large-scale dynamic contrasts are rendered with heft, while lower-level shifts come through with the finesse they deserve.

Resolution of detail is excellent, with the speakers delivering plenty of insight while having the control to organise the piece’s various musical strands in a cohesive and musical way.

Tonally, the F701SP are pleasingly even. They aren’t the kind of standmounters that have you looking around the room for a hidden subwoofer, but the low frequencies they do produce are taut and tuneful. The payoff for not chasing bass quantity is that the lows generated here sound precise, subtle and nicely textured.

The F701SP’s innate transparency means that they won’t let a less-than-perfect recording or partnering system hide, but equally, their top-end has enough in the way of refinement to not make a meal of things when fed a poor quality signal.

These standmounters’ nicely judged balance means that they work well across a wide range of musical genres. Their front-footed handling of rhythmic drive and dynamics means that they sound right at home when asked to play Michael Jackson’s Dangerous set. On the opening track, Jam, they sound comfortable with all the crashing percussion and hard-charging beats.

Jackson’s aggressive delivery comes through with passion intact and is easy to follow despite the dense musical backdrop, thanks to top-class clarity and separation of detail. The overall result is wonderfully involving, and yes, fun.

We compare the F701SP to its pricier sibling, the F1-8, and can confirm that it offers much of the performance of the senior model. It doesn’t challenge the hierarchy though, with the F1-8 delivering a little more authority, image scale and a greater sense of subtlety.

We suspect the pricier model’s slightly larger internal cabinet volume (27.8l vs 24.4l) and more elaborate cabinet construction pay dividends in these areas.

Verdict

Still, as we work our way through our music library, it is hard to come to any other conclusion than Fyne Audio has come up with yet another great set of speakers in the F701SP. We remain great fans of the base model, but if your system is capable enough to reveal the sonic improvements the SP-spec provides, then for us, the decision is a no-brainer.

Life is short and the extra buzz you’ll get from the upgraded model is worth every single penny.

First reviewed: May 2025

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 5
• Compatibility 4

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