RMAF 2019

What is this strange creature with an upper driver that looks like something from a Marvel movie? Is it benign, or is it the blob that obliterated Kansas?

Once my eyebrows had lowered enough to get out of the way of my ears, I discovered that Endow Audio’s prototype FS301 loudspeaker ($44,000/pair), whose price includes a patent pending outboard passive signal processor, delivered lovely sound on David Wilcox’s “Chet Baker’s Unsung Swan Song.” Paired with an integrated amp from Hegel whose model and price I failed to record because I was too busy listening, the FS301 conveyed an excellent sense of venue and space on a Holly Cole track.

The speaker, manufactured in Kentucky, claims a frequency response of 40Hz-20kHz, with a gradual bass roll-off attributable to its sealed box. Learning that, I was possessed to throw the kitchen sink at it. Doubtful of what I’d hear, I turned to a stream of the fff total assault of part of the second movement of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11, in the recent recording from Andris Nelsons and the BSO that won a Grammy Award for engineering. That’s when I discovered how superbly this speaker handles complex information in the lower frequencies. And that’s without room treatment. While its bass wasn’t as deep and full as on the towering six-figure system from Göbel and CH Precision, its absolute control from top to bottom left me in awe. That, combined with an astoundingly huge soundstage, convinced me that this speaker is a major achievement.

Production of the Endow Audio FS301 is expected by year’s end. It will be sold online, direct. The FS301 is the company’s first speaker that uses their point-array technology. Designed by David Strunk, who designed his first sound board when he was 12, learned about live sound from exposure to worship music, and is now 29 years old, the FS301 claims to be a mathematically accurate point source. The speaker’s outboard "passive signal processor" splits the signal five ways before sending it over custom cabling to (1) the subwoofer, (2) the point array’s center driver, (3) the point array’s four drivers that more or less point toward the four rear corners of the room, (4) the array’s four other drivers that point left, right, up, and down, and (5) the hidden woofer behind the point array. The speaker has a nominal impedance of 8 ohms, can handle a nominal power rating of 300W, has a peak output of 100dB at 1 meter, weighs 90 lb, and measures 40” tall. Look for it at the Capital AudioFest, Florida Audio Expo, and AXPONA. It may blow your mind as it blew mine.