If you are familiar with Frank Acoustics and his merry band of products, this new offering will definitely give you something to think about. Well, to all and sundry, the past year whizzed by with nary a review from Analogue Fellowship and we were literally starved of things to see and listen to.
Frank Acoustics, or the man himself, Frankie Voon, had invited us to have a listen since 2020. We have had some feedback from various quarters getting terribly excited about Frankie’s new project and were already posting some wonderful first impressions and reviews. And we were getting pretty excited, to say the least…
We won’t be getting into the nitty gritty with regard to specs and measurements. However, we will just leave some observations and hope these will prompt you to take action and experience the product for your good self.
After listening for a couple of hours, here are some considerations:
- Have you ever wondered, in the middle of the night sometimes, what you will do with your old bookshelf speakers? The ones that accompanied you through your bachelor days and now they sit in the storeroom somewhere?
- Have your Home Minister issued mild threats about throwing away them junk with grilles that collect dust aplenty? Or, god forbid, sell them to Cash Converter for RM100?
- Have you ever looked at your first pair of Spendor/Rogers/Castle LS3/5As and said “Till death do us part!”?
- Have you ever tried variations on marrying your mini monitors with various sub-woofer partners and leaving the altar dejected and utterly defeated?
- Have you tried replicating the sweet, sweet sounds from your AE1 monitors with larger, room-filling tower speakers and felt absolutely cheated?
Frank’s AB 2-Tower Subs intend to address the above. All of the above, in fact.
First Impressions
When Dato Danon and I walked into Frankie’s listening space, I was immediately transported back to what looked like a pair of huge Duntech Sovereigns from the 1990’s. You can check out the dimensions from this site:
frankacoustics.blogspot.com
We went through some obligatory music selections that were chosen by Frankie for about 30 minutes. And then I took over and started blasting (interchanging the monitors with Frankie’s own creation pair FV 5 and a pair of LS3/5As that shall remain unnamed) with songs from Led Zep, Phil Collins, Bad Company, Daft Punk, Kraftwerk and Nina Simone. Source was Frankie’s Tidal account which was Bluetooth-ed to a Pioneer A-400 integrated amplifier.
And what a blast it was! I have never heard such a huge (tall and wide) soundstage from a pair of LS3/5A’s. The main focus of sweet mids and silky highs was retained but given a much better emphasis to balance the deep mid and low bass emanating from the subs. The integration was smooth and there was no discernible ‘out-of-phase’-ness happening.
At once, we experienced a rush of new emotions listening to passages from songs that we heard many times over. The snare drums from John Bonham and Phil Collins had a bite that was never there before. So was Bad Co’s “Can’t Get Enough”. The percussions were tight and the attack was immediate and highly satisfying…
I believe there were many attempts to retain the unique characteristics of the legendary BBC monitors while trying to achieve a bigger soundstage and lower lows. And I do believe many of these attempts (in not too many words), failed. I could never crank up and enjoy my Spendor LS3/5A’s while listening to hard, thumping rock music. And most annoyingly of all, the higher the volume, the louder the MDF boards will thud.
So, here are some observations to take away:
- The Frank AB 2-Tower Sub is suitable for all types of mini monitors ie the LS3/5As, AE1, ProAc Tablette and even older models like Wharfedale Diamonds, JPW AP series and the Linn Kan’s.
- Do not worry about inadequate power to drive them. According to Frankie, a 50-watter amplifier will do the job nicely.
- There is a Phase Selector button (at the back of subs) to correct whatever phase your mini monitors were designed to be used.
- It takes 35 days to build and customize your order. You can consult with Frankie on the finishing to match your listening room/Home Minister’s taste.
- Here is clearly a wonderful product from the ingenuity of our own Malaysian bro Frankie Voon and we should fully support him unreservedly.
Frankie’s contact: +6012 298 1011
Introductory Offer: Frank AB 2-Tower Subs with FV 5 mini monitors now only RM25,000.
(When offer ends, the price is RM30,000 WITHOUT the FV 5 mini monitors)
JK