If there had been an award given out at the Audiofest for “Most Vintage-Looking Component”, the Fyne Classic Fifteen speakers ($50,000/pr) in the Villeneuve Audio Vidéo / Marchand Audio Vidéo room probably would have won it. The design is a point-source system whereby a bass/midrange cone is coupled to a high frequency unit on the same driver, also called a full-range driver. Many people believe that this sort of coaxial design provides better stereo imaging, especially with high performance electronics such as those that were part of this demo. They included a 110Wpc Luxman L-507Z integrated amp ($12,595), a Luxman NT-07 network streamer ($10,495), a Luxman D-03X CD player / DAC ($5875) capable of playing hi-res files, and cabling by AudioQuest.
Across a few tracks on the album Hell or High Water by Sara K, the sound was smooth, coherent, expressive, with rich tone and an effortless delivery. Despite the fact there wasn’t a single chair set up to listen to this demo (I had to kneel) and that people were talking loudly as the music played, I was captivated by what I heard, to the point it affected me emotionally.
As an audiophile and a voracious listener of all kinds of music, Jonson believes that the experience of being immersed in music is often something spiritual. Born and raised in Korea, he cut his teeth on western music mostly through the music of the 80s and the 90s. As of today, names that make his heart beat a little faster include Vladimir Horowitz, John Coltrane, Youn-Sun Nah, Francis Poulenc, Leonard Bernstein, Tannoy, and Magnepan. Jonson also runs a podcast and a YouTube channel about language learning, called SpongeMind.
As you might know, PMA is an independent consumer audio and music magazine that prides itself on doing things differently. For the past three years, we’ve dedicated ourselves to bringing you an authentic reading experience. We steer clear of commercial influences, ensuring that what you hear from us is genuine, unfiltered, and true to our values.
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