Fyne Audio Vintage Classic VIII SM StandMount Loudspeaker (pair)

An 8″ IsoFlare driver with 25 mm magnesium dome tweeter, down-firing bass port, and 91 dB sensitivity.

With luxury design cues straight out of the 1970s loudspeaker cabinet rulebook, Vintage Classic brings wide baffle / shallower cabinet concept into the 2020s. Real walnut wood veneers contrast the striking black baffle, with gold trim, control knobs and frequency spectrum diagram legends all adding to the nostalgia. The wood framed grilles feature a woven cloth, with the colour and light patterning inspired from Scottish kilt fabrics. As a truly modern twist, the grilles attach with hidden magnets on the baffle and on the back of the cabinet for storage during critical listening sessions.

Each model in the Vintage Classic Series uses a rectangular cabinet with straight panel sides, a flat top and a sturdy plinth section. Upgrading yesteryear’s cabinet material of choice (half inch chipboard) to modern high-density composite fibreboard in thick section panels, each cabinet has a unique bracing structure to further refine the mechanical performance well beyond the somewhat resonant cabinets of old.

Key to the Vintage Classic’s bass performance is a unique implementation of Fyne’s BassTrax LF porting system, with venting on all sides neatly concealed with matching grille cloth that seamlessly wraps around the cabinet. With their wide stance, contrasting finishes and textures, metal trim and unique grille cloth, the Vintage Classic Series cabinets are as uncompromisingly retro as they are quintessentially British.

IsoFlare Point Source Driver

At the cutting edge of audio technology, Fyne Audio’s IsoFlare driver is a point source, full-range transducer system delivering exceptional musical cohesion and stereo imaging. The Vintage Classic IsoFlare drivers, in 8″, 10″, and 12″ versions, work in harmony with the dedicated crossovers and are built on a rigid, cast-aluminum chassis and lossy coupled to internal cabinet bracing.

With the 10″ and 12″ models, the same 75 mm titanium dome compression tweeter is used from the more affluent Vintage models, but driven in the Classic range by a more traditional and affordable ferrite magnet motor system. The 8″ models use a 25mm magnesium dome with ferrite magnet system. The unique geometry of the high frequency unit’s waveguide provides a flat frequency response and contributes to the driver’s uniform dispersion. The mid/bass driver uses a ferrite motor to drive a multi-fiber cone, terminated with Fyne’s unique FyneFlute roll surround to best dissipate cone energy at the outer perimeter.

The result is a point source driver, with a natural and articulate sound and true isotropic radiation from the cabinet. With no nodes or lobes in the dispersion pattern, stereo imaging is precisely focused both on and off axis. Combined with the IsoFlare’s signature attributes of high power handling and incredible dynamics, Vintage Classic loudspeakers offer audio performance quite literally decades ahead of their style.

Bass Trax Tractrix Diffuser System

The patent pending BassTrax Tractrix profile LF diffuser system is a complex yet refined approach to bass loading and reflex porting. It incorporates a twin cavity cabinet design with a tuned waveguide port firing downwards from the reinforced lower panel of the cabinet. This loading technique broadens the tuning frequency to reduce cone excursion and acts as a damping system that blocks potential standing wave resonances produced by the main internal port between cavities.

The lower cavity bass port vents downwards onto the BassTrax Tractrix profile diffuser. The unique, mathematically derived tractrix profile maintains a true 90 degree angle at each intersection of the expanding wavefront, so converts plain wave LF energy into a horizontally expanding spherical 360-degree wavefront with no loss of total energy. The result is seamlessly uniform LF integration into the room and a loudspeaker that is far less critical of room positioning.

The Crossover

Hand selected components, tuned by ear and hand-built onto vibration damping fibreboard panels, Vintage Classic crossovers are designed by Dr Paul Mills and his team in the time honoured way that predates even the most beloved speakers of the 1970s. Yet, that is where the crossover design similarities end. Leveraging some of the world’s finest components, cutting edge computer modelling brings the design process right up to date.

With each crossover designed to seamlessly integrate the Vintage Classic IsoFlare driver and its dedicated Vintage Classic Cabinet, the component roster includes low loss laminated core inductors, high power precision resistors, and audiophile polypropylene capacitors. Using matched Crystal OFC silver plated wiring and subjecting them to our Cryo-Lite process, super-freezing them to a cool -170C before slow thawing over a period of days relieves micro-stresses from within the material structure, the result is a crossover designed to get the very best out of the Vintage Classic IsoFlare driver and enclosures as a system.

In keeping with some of the notable loudspeakers back in the day, Vintage Classic incorporates low-loss HF energy and Presence dials on the baffle. With a subtle +/- 3dB control on each, the HF energy control sets the tweeter level, while the Presence allows users to tweak the critical 2.5kHz- 5kHz region without impacting the overall balance. The precise control knobs are beautifully weighted and exceptionally well engineered, to give a superior user interface.

The Vintage Classic VIII SM

Taking us back to the golden days of traditional ‘bookshelf’ loudspeaker design, the Vintage Classic VIII SM standmount model brings all the nostalgic looks and rich performance of the Vintage Classic Series to a compact and easy to integrate loudspeaker.

True to the series, the rectangular cabinets are hand-finished with walnut veneer and a deep black baffle, with gold trim and ample design cues from the 1970s. Alongside the 250mm (8”) IsoFlare driver, the design incorporates a dedicated BassTrax porting implementation designed to deliver the very best performance from the 360 degrees LF wavefront while mounted above the floor level on stands.  

Specifications

Type: Two-way, downwards firing port, with BassTrax Tractrix diffuser

Sensitivity: 91 dB

Nominal Impedance: 8 ohm

Frequency Response (-6 dB typical in room): 34 Hz-34 kHz

Driver: 1 x 8″ (200 mm) IsoFlare point source driver, multi-fiber bass/ midrange cone, FyneFlute surround with 25 mm magnesium dome compression tweeter, ferrite magnet system

Crossover Frequency: 1.8 kHz

Crossover Type: Bi-wired passive low loss, 2nd order low pass, 1st order high pass

Dimensions (HWD): 21.3″ x 13″ x 11.6″ (540 x 330 x 294 mm)

Weight: 35.5 lb.