The SuperTrax ‘super tweeter’ from Fyne wants to push your speakers to the limit
Fyne Audio was one of many hi-fi exhibitors at this year’s High End Show in Munich, but the Glasgow, UK-based company’s otherworldly SuperTrax supertweeter deserves a piece all its own. Fyne Audio was first teased at the Bristol HiFi Show in February (see also January’s special production floorstanders and the Fyne Vintage X we saw at the Bristol Hi-Fi Show 2024). Fyne Audio has now launched its SuperTrax tweeters to the public, along with the new SuperTrax SC1 cable – which you’ll want to use to connect it to your regular speakers.
Even a quick look at the new SuperTrax tweeter proves that Fyne likes to stray far, long a far cry from the AMT or single-way, forward-firing silk dome options found in most traditional speaker sets. It may look like Cobb’s totem in Christopher Nolan’s epic Commencement film, but it is really a special “supertweeter” unit.
The approach is omnidirectional, using an upward-firing tweeter and a 360-degree “Tratrix profile dispersion cone,” which promises high-frequency performance up to 60 kHz. And that said frequency response is several octaves above anything humans can actually hear; a figure you won’t find even in the best stereo speakers. Why worry about a tweeter that can go that high? One reason is the crispiness of the leading edges of the nuts; feeling the breadth of your music’s dynamic nuance is another.
In addition to the otherworldly SuperTrax tweeter, Fyne is launching a new Vintage Classic Gold SP (Special Production) Series, effectively bridging the gap between the company’s mid-range Vintage Classic Series speakers and its flagship high-end Vintage Series. And this ambitious tweeter will be a great addition to both; or in fact any set of stereo speakers you own, with sensitivity up to 98 dB/W (with a +/- 3 dB control for balance with the main speaker).
SuperTrax is available in two different color schemes to match the aesthetic of Fyne’s existing speaker ranges. The SuperTrax in Walnut features gold-tone metalwork that mimics the look of Fyne’s Vintage Classic Series and is available now for $4,599.99/£3,499.99 per pair (which works out to approximately AU$6,649). Alternatively, the SuperTrax in gloss black with silver detailing would look great as a Fyne (sorry) on top of the F700 series, and is also available now for $3,999.99/£2,999.99 per pair – so about AU$5,699 (but this last price is an approximation and therefore unofficial). Oh, and the SC1 cables cost $449.99 / £399.99 extra.
As for the Vintage Classic Gold SP speaker series, it’s scheduled for release in Fall 2024 and pricing is yet to be confirmed, but Fyne tells us they’ll sit nicely between the Vintage Classic and Vintage ranges in terms of price.
If you boost the bass, why not the tweeter?
For us, Fyne’s upward-firing “supertweeter” technology is one of the most interesting revelations at High End Munich. While we didn’t get a chance to hear what it can do ourselves, there’s no doubt that this approach to fine-tuning those treble via omnidirectional sound projection is intriguing. And the fact that Fyne says it can be used with all stereo speakers up to 98 dB/W makes it an even more impressive feat of engineering.
We recently heard Magico’s $560,000 M7 speakers during a listening session in which founder Alon Wolf told us, “The tweeter should always be at ear level. In fact, 20% of the audio we hear is on-axis, 80% off-axis; This way we know where we are. Everything else in our speaker design can be moved, the tweeter stays there.”
Now here’s a special tweeter unit that according to its makers can be placed on top of the speakers you currently own and will do a superior job. But don’t get us wrong; Fyne has an enviable reputation in hi-fi circles and we really want to hear what this special (and quite expensive) tweeter can do. After all, it is capable of reaching the hearing perception of dogs and cats, which compared to the 20 kHz frequencies that a human ear can hear… is something different.
On paper, these frequencies may seem excessive. Audiophiles would counter that when a speaker delivers so much performance, your music becomes more of a physical sensation than a simple listening experience. After all, people regularly boost the bass frequencies in our hi-fi and home theater systems with a thumping, rumbling subwoofer. In case it needs repeating (see Sonic Lamb’s headphones for more on this), humans don’t just hear through our ears; we also feel sound through our bodies. Granted, human hearing is tuned to higher frequencies (a twig breaking in the woods, the cries of babies) and is much less sensitive to low (bass) frequencies (think thunder, rumbling in movie theaters), but the concept of feeling sound instead of hearing it is not new.
If we expand the bass registers with special separate registers, why not expand the top end as well, provided you have the not-insignificant money to splash?