Gingko Audio FosterVu Loudspeaker

Over the last several months I have been building a new sound-room and what better way to christen the room than with a review of a brand new speaker; enter the Gingko Audio FosterVu Loudspeaker, a small stand mount ported monitor with an aerodynamic shape, the newest loudspeaker design from the resonance control masters at Gingko Audio, capping off a line loudspeakers that was started last year with a DIY offering and has been growing steadily ever since. Unlike its brother in arms, the Gingko Audio MooVu Speaker Kit, the FosterVu is fully assembled and can be paired with the Gingko Audio Sextet Mini-Swarm sub system for those who want that extra octave of bass (the FosterVu rolls off at 55 Hz, which is adequate to most demands).

The Gingko Audio FosterVu Loudspeaker

For the construction and complement of the Gingko Audio FosterVu Loudspeaker, I quote Gingko Audio themselves:

“I use only quality components – starting with the drivers.

–        The tweeter is a 1” soft dome for an extended but non-fatiguing sound signature.  It has a very wide dispersion pattern for a larger sweet spot

–        The 6.5” custom woofer is made by a company who makes drivers for Fostex.  It has a treated paper diaphragm, again for a sweeter mid-range, and a large magnet with a vented pole piece to cool the voice coil for best bass performance

–        The cabinet’s front baffle is 36mm thick, the top and bottom are 24mm thick, and the sides are 18mm thick, with strong bracing for superior structural integrity.

–        The front baffle has chamfered edges and curved sides for better diffraction and reduced standing waves

–        The second-order 2900 Hz crossover consists of high-quality polypropylene film capacitors, oxygen-free copper air-core inductors, and gold-plated aluminum case resistors, all mounted on vibration damping material.

–        Every component is carefully chosen for best performance – from the cabinet, to drivers, to crossovers, and 16AWG stranded OFC copper wirings, non-ferrous copper binding posts, and high-quality cotton/polyester batting.

–        The cabinet comes in two real wood veneer finishes – Red Rosewood and Black Walnut

–        Cabinet Dimensions: 16″h x 10″w x 16″d

–        Weight: 25 Lbs. each

–        Best stands height is 26-28 inches.

–        For a full-range performance, the FosterVu is perfectly matched with the Sextet Mini-Swarm sub system: https://www.ginkgoaudio.com/sextet/”

The Gingko Audio FosterVu Loudspeaker, Soundcheck

I set up the Gingko Audio FosterVu Loudspeaker in my new sound-room with the Schiit Yggdrasil Singular DAC as source with the LSA Warp One Amplifier and Moon Audio Black Dragon Interconnects, Speaker Cables and Powercables and let it run for a couple of days. I will point out that the pair I received for review were of the Red Rosewood finish, which looks absolutely gorgeous.  The stands I use sit at a little over 26”, which is a good height for my listening chair.

Switching to my LSA VT-70 Tube Integrated Amp, I began my listening session with Judy Garland singing “Over the Rainbow” (Miss Show Business” – 24-bit/96kHz), which sounded phenomenal while I used the mono recording to adjust toe-in for the proper depth of field. After which I brought up my HiFiAudio.Guru playlist;  https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/10673532 to get a general feel for the sound of the speaker. I listened to several tracks and came to the conclusion that something was not quite right, and rearranged the setup to discover, much to my surprise, that the speaker preferred the live end of the room, possibly due to the rear port counting on wall reflection to supplement the mid bass.

In both setups, I was astounded by the copious amounts of sub bass, digging deep and offering up palpable resonance. The tonal balance and timbre of instruments exhibited by listening to “The Firebird Suite” (“Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite (1919 Version) – Borodin: Overture & Polovetsion Dances from Prince Igor” – Robert Shaw conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra – 16-bit/44.1kHz – Qobuz) was excellent, as was the three-dimensional soundstage and air between the instruments.

This was further confirmed by listening to “Can-utility And The Coastliners” (“Foxtrot” – Genesis – 16-bit/44.1kHz – Qobuz), again as reflected especially in the sub bass performance.

The value of the Yggy’s absolute phase reversal switch was heartily supported by listening through the FosterVu Loudspeakers. Interestingly, the center focus, particularly in the vocals, completely collapsed when out of phase.

I think the main characteristic of the FosterVu is transparency; this was clearly evident listening to The Who’s “The Song is Over” (“Who’s Next” –  24-bit/96kHz – Qobuz), the soundstage setting the band distinctly a distance beyond the walls of my room, much less the speakers themselves.

Classical music appears to be the FosterVu’s strong point as evidenced by selecting “Bartók: 44 Duos & Original field recordings” as performed by Alexandra Preucil and Antoine Tamestit (24-bit/48kHz – Qobuz), each violin suspended in air about ten feet from my chair.

Peter Gabriel’s latest track “I Belong to the Sky (Dark-Side Mix)” (24-bit/96kHz – Qobuz) defined the FosterVu’s ability to tackle multi-instrumental music with loads of percussion and subsonic bass.

The FosterVu is going to be a favorite among lovers of Vocal Music, as demonstrated by Laura Cantrell and her latest release “Humming By The Flowered Vine (20th Anniversary Edition)” (24-bit/44.1kHz – Qobuz), intimate and seductive.

Since it was recommended to pair the FosterVu with a subwoofer, I turned on my Vera-Fi Audio LLC Vanguard Caldera – 10 Active Subwoofers set to around 50Hz and queued up “Goin’ Local” (24-bit/88.2kHz – Qobuz) by Lenny Kaye. The added resonance made Rock just rock a little more. I found the same applied to many of the other tracks that I revisited.

Though the addition of the subs made for a true rocking sound, one issue I had was that for specific tracks, usually percussion/ guitar heavy, the demands of the FosterVu pushed my tiny stereo seventy into overdrive (tube amps don’t clip as DC won’t pass through a transformer, but they will distort). To deal with this, I reverted to the Warp One, whose 150 Watts into 8Ω proved to be just the ticket, using the Yggy as preamp and connecting via Balanced cables.

Pete Roth Trio featuring Bill Bruford and Mike Pratt offered up one of the tracks, “Full Circle” (“Group Chat” – 24-bit/48kHz – Qobuz), that the tube amp struggled with; with the added power and the subwoofers off, this live recording gave a real in-the-room performance with fabulous depth of field and pinpoint special relationships between the three musicians.

I followed this up with XTC’s “I Am The Audience” off of their second album “Go 2” (16-bit/44.1kHz – Qobuz), whose stark bare studio Punk recording just demanded more dynamics, especially in the bass region, to achieve the necessary excitement; in fact, it was the one tune I was driven to turn the subs back on to fully enjoy.

Equally spectacular was the rendition of “Thirteen” (24-bit/44.1kHz – Qobuz), Soft Machine’s latest new album, drawing out all the nuance of the amazing supergroup; the soundstage was simply epic.

Lastly was Nico’s “Chelsea Girl” (24-bit/192kHz – Qobuz) hit song “These Days,” penned by a 16-year-old Jackson Browne in 1967 (I saw Jackson perform this song a couple of weeks ago and wanted to listen to the original), which again felt like I was in the room with the artists.

The Gingko Audio FosterVu Loudspeaker, Conclusions

My first impression of the Gingko Audio FosterVu Loudspeaker was that it was a fantastic choice for Classical Music and Jazz with its musicality, dynamic range, and incredible detail, as well as a masterful tonal balance with unusually deep bass, but it struggled with more congested pop music, and this is where a change of amplification makes all the difference.  While the musicality of the tube amp was appreciated and the resolution well represented, the FosterVu just sang with the more powerful solid-state amplifier, without really sacrificing musicality.

Most people will be perfectly satisfied by the FosterVu as it stands; the bass response is fast, tight, and extremely deep. Those frequencies, I’d say from 100Hz to 200Hz that are usually overemphasized in most ported speakers, did suffer a little when there wasn’t a wall behind them, making a sound that was the polar opposite of boomy, but with proper placement everything was perfect. As mentioned above, the FosterVu is one of the most transparent dynamic loudspeakers I have heard, projecting the image far beyond my room in both depth and width.

The Gingko Audio FosterVu Loudspeaker is a product I can fully recommend, especially at its modest price point.

Manufacturer’s Website: https://www.ginkgoaudio.com/product/fostervu-speaker/

Price: MSRP $2499/pair; an introductory price of $1999/pair, plus shipping ($125 flat rate to continental USA and $250 elsewhere, including Hawaii and Alaska and international), will be available for a short time after release.

Note: The Gingko Audio FosterVu Loudspeaker is handmade to order; please allow 4 to 5 weeks for manufacture prior to shipping.

A 2-way stand-mounted monitor with a 1″ soft dome tweeter and 6.5″ treated-paper woofer in ported bass reflex cabinets.  Frequency Response is 55Hz-20KHz +/- 6 dB.

Dimensions and weight: 18 x 10 x 16 (H x W x D), 25 lbs each.

Sensitivity is 95dB/2.83V/1m and nominal impedance is 8 ohms and never dips below 5 ohms, so it is very easy to drive by either tube or solid state/Class D amps.

Finishes: Red Rosewood and Black Walnut.