DENVER (PTA) — Endow Audio is the brainchild of Chief Technical Officer David Strunk. He’s been building speakers now for over a decade. He and his partners founded Endow Audio in 2017, and this year’s Rocky Mountain International Audio Fest 2019 is their first audio show ever.

The Story

Endow Audio made a world premiere for both their new FS301 loudspeakers and for the company. This being their first show, I was more than excited to see a new product and new player in the market with something totally unique to offer.

The Endow Audio FS301 features a sealed point-array, using nine custom paper cone drivers. Four of them are mounted with motor structures facing outwards. This has two purposes. One: it allows all of the drivers to be mounted tightly together on the array, without physical space issues involving magnet structures. Two: Reduction of non-linear distortion, as they are acoustically in phase. So one moves out, the other moves back. The sealed point-array is mounted atop another sealed cabinet structure that houses a low-frequency woofer.

Both right and left stereo channels are subdivided by the outboard Passive Signal Processors (PSP – patent pending) into ten channels per cabinet. One channel feeds the large forward facing Morel woofer, the other nine are then further divided to the point-array. The woofer is given an easy workload low-pass crossover point to play at 100Hz and below, while the nine-driver point-array plays from 100Hz on up. Unique voltage dividing circuits in the crossover control the amplitude (as a function of frequency) and timing of the nine-driver array.

The rear most drivers of the point-array do see a subtle delay in time from the foremost center front-facing driver. This allows the center-driver to cut through a little bit more and offer a more precise and distinct point source image. Even further, there is an 8-inch driver behind the array that interacts with the array-drivers both electrically and acoustically. This allows the array to cover the frequency range needed to meet up and blend with the large front facing woofer at 100Hz. This unique outboard crossover divides one channel of stereo into five more parts with specific roles in how the overall loudspeaker presents music. It’s absolute madness, and makes me want to imagine time and space out to the tenth dimension.

The point-array itself is rather sensitive to power, so in practical use it’s the woofer that most of the given amplifier power is directed. Given the Hegel integrated amplifier outputs three-hundred watts per channel, the power delivery potential with this pairing was nearly limitless.

The FS301 ($44,000 pr USD) is available for purchase direct from Endow Audio, but likely won’t deliver until the end of 2019. Front baffle finishing is available in either Black or Walnut, the rest of the cabinet sports genuine leather cladding. Power handling is 300 watts, and the speaker presents an 8-Ohm load. Frequency range is rated from 40Hz to 20kHz.

The Sound

Let’s get the easy part out of the way. I found the bass to be more than solid, tight and articulate. Although it didn’t dig as deep as other speakers in the price range, the frequencies it did cover were present and had aplomb in spades.

The array is where the magic happens, and it was indeed magical and live sounding. These speakers, like open-baffles and panels, play the room. The array uses time delay both in boundaries and those delivered from the PSP (Passive Signal Processor) to present music that is spacious as a summer day is long. Sonic acrobatics are the key to how the FS301 play, so if you’re into landscapes of sound, with little physical room to spare — these may be the best option. From the photos you can see how close they were placed to the back wall, and I’d gamble the house that they could be placed closer if need be and still present this huge concert hall like sound-stage.