speakers - Fane

speakers1989 and failed in that effort,and Fane was sold toWharfedale. I left in December1989, and it was to be thebeginning of the end for Fanesoon after.I then had a conversation withthe founder of Eminence, BobGault, and created Eminence asa branded product for the firsttime. Before that, Eminencewas the world’s number oneBob Gault & Hartley Peavey OEM manufacturer, but withouta brand presence or distribution line of its own. Consequently,it was the loudspeaker industry’s best-kept secret. So I createda product line for my catalogue, supported it with professionalmarketing, which was an exciting development at that time,and established international distribution in all markets outsideNorth America. The international renown of the Eminencebrand today is evidence of the success of this decision.Wharfedale sold Fane to another company, it was sold in turnagain, and in February 2007 I was able to buy the business. Ihad also acquired another company called Precision Devices,which makes very high-end PA speakers, so we already had asmall manufacturing facility when we acquired Fane. TheFane factory was located in Leeds, and when we built a newfacility, we were able to bring over all the old tooling andmachinery, and amazingly, many of the original workers. Oneof the smartest moves I made was to find one of my old supervisorsfrom Fane, Susan Goodyear, who had begun workingthere in 1978 and whom we hired to run production again.Now, Arthur Faulcus was avery clever fellow, and he hadinvented the glass fiber voicecoil in 1967, which was used inthe guitar speakers – copperwire wound on a glass fiberformer, which allowed us todouble the power ratings. Priorto that time, when guitar playerswould play the amplifiers into clipping, the voice coilswould heat up and quickly fail. The glass fiber former morethan doubled the power handling, and it is the same former weuse today. We also have a lady working with us who was acoil winder with Fane in 1972, and she is a coil winder for ustoday. In the early days, children would follow their mothersand fathers to work in the business, which was quite common.TQR:To what extent do you feel that the materials usedto manufacture speaker components have changedsignificantly from the old days?Well, as you know, Alnico was exclusively used until itbecame so expensive in the mid ‘60s, and I’d be lying if Isaid it wasn’t challenging to acquire the same high-qualitymaterials today. Fane began using Alnico again in the AxiomSeries in the early ‘90s, and we have examples of the olderoriginal speakers to compare to. We have retained the samemanufacturing techniques, the same voice coil, and we buythe cones from the same supplier we used in the ‘60s – theBritish manufacturer Kurt Mueller.TQR:Is there an accepted variance in speaker manufacturingspecifications?I would say that a variance of plus or minus 5% in the resonanceof the speaker is a fact of life, but each speaker is testedagainst the master specifications and the response curvemust be within our tolerances.TQR:What do you see as the future for Fane?The relaunch of Fane is still in the very early stages and wehave a huge number of exciting developments to the productline to unveil over the coming months. We will see a mixtureof our popular favorites standing alongside a raft of newproduct releases which will strengthen and broaden the Faneline to an unparalleled extent, giving Fane clients the opportunityto use our drivers in every application in a way notavailable to them before. For information on Fane speakers inthe USA, please reference Tonic Consulting, Inc. in RedwoodCity, CA., www.tonicamps.com, and the Fane web site.FANE REVIEWWe received a pair of Fane Axiom Alnico 12s and 10s forreview – weighty 34 ounce, 100 watt steel blue Alnicos. Bothspeakers essentially share the same voice – interesting andunique, with stout compression and a very touch-sensitivedynamic character. The Fanes avoid sounding aggressive andgritty in the upper mids, retaining a strong midrange focuswithout sacrificing treble presence and sustain. Bass responseis also strong, and the Fanes are exceptionally powerful andpunchy. Their overall sound is full, bold and very British,definitely voiced with strong mids, but not at the expense ofclarity. We’re probably just dreaming here, but they remind usa lot of a Hiwatt amp. Mounted as a single or in a 2x12 openback Avatar cabinet, the Fane created a fascinating blend oftones capturing both the full fidelity of a classic Fender ampwith the richly focused and lush harmonic detail of a Voxwhen played through our Deluxe and vintage Tremolux amps.Since the frames of the Axiom speakers are tapped with onlyfour mounting holes, we were unable to mount the 10 in theblackface Princeton, which still retains its original eightmounting screws. Keep this in mind when considering Britishspeakers destined for older combos. We recommend the-continued-8TONEQUEST REPORT V10. N2. December 2008