Funk Audio 8.2P Floorstanding Loudspeaker Preview

Funk Audio has made a name for themselves with some very high quality subwoofer offerings. This Internet Direct company is looking to make the move into loudspeakers and they aren't going to do it quietly. Their new, flagship, 8.2P floorstanding speaker takes a very well-known design and tries to push it to new heights. First, the details.

As you can tell from the picture, the 8.2P is a fairly traditionally shaped floorstanding speaker. Featuring curved sides and a slightly larger plinth at the bottom. The cabinet is constructed out of high quality Baltic Birch plywood rather than the traditional MDF. The front of the speaker has a 1.5" thick baffle for additional support for the drivers. Funk Audio offers a range of premium real wood veneers and provides solid wood inlaid corners. Under the plinth there are adjustable brass spikes and the back has a low turbulence slotted port. The 8.2P speaker is 11” wide (12.5" plinth) 12” deep (13.5” plinth) 48” high (plus feet).

The drivers are configured in a midrange/tweeter/midrange "D'Appolito" arrangement. The 8" midrange drivers have high energy Neodymium magnets, 2" voice coils, and a 1" peak-to-peak excursion. The mids have cast aluminum rather than stamped baskets, a variable weave spider, and treated paper cones. Of course, if you are familiar with speaker design, you probably did a double-take at the 8" woofer for a midrange. Funk Audio went with two, larger drivers and have called them "Midbass" rather than "Midrange" drivers. This is because of the tweeter.

And of course, the tweeter is the most striking part of the Funk Audio 8.2P speaker. Funk Audio chose a large-format planar driver. The planer driver has a high temperature foil with a CNC machined black anodized aluminum faceplate. With the larger planer driver, Funk Audio allocated not only the highest frequencies as you might with a normal tweeter but part of the upper midrange. For this reason they are calling the planer driver a "Mid Tweeter".

One thing that Funk Audio was concerned about with the design of the 8.2P speaker was efficiency. With an inefficient speaker, you need to provide a lot more power for the same level of output. Funk Audio wanted to make sure that their 8.2P speakers would provide an easy load on your amp with a high efficiency. At 96dB rated efficiency, you aren't going to need much power for these speakers.

While we don't have the full specs yet, Funk Audio rates their speaker from 35Hz to 40kHz, a very respectable bass response for a floorstanding speaker. This means that, for music, you may go without a subwoofer if you choose. Of course, that depends on your taste in music and whether or not you plan on using these speaker for home theater.

One of the complaints of planar drivers is directionality. Many times, they typically have poor off-axis performance. Funk Audio has promised smooth frequency response out to 60 degrees off axis! If that is true, it will be an impressive accomplishment. Funk Audio has also stated that their design goal wasn't a flat frequency response. While they used measurement techniques, the final arbiter was their ears.

Conclusion

At $4,240 a pair ($3,540/pair pre-release price), Funk Audio is looking to provide a sonically impressive offering in the 8.2P speakers. With a combination tweeter/upper midrange planar driver and two 8" mid-bass woofers, the specified 35Hz low point certainly seems credible. Featuring real wood veneers, plywood construction, a high efficiency design, and quality drivers, Funk Audio wants you to be interested enough to open your wallets for the 8.2P. We can't wait to get our hands on a pair.

For more information, please visit www.funkaudio.ca.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.