Experiencing the Designer’s System – Frank AB2 Tower Sub

 Posted by Tan

It’s rare to have a chance to listen to a HiFi designer’s own system, but if one ever comes along, we should seize it, as it offers us an insight into the designer’s personal listening preference and, not least, how far the designer’s own product could be pushed.

So when Frank Voon, the owner and designer of Frank Acoustics invited me to listen to his system in his new home, I jumped at it. Frank’s system was set up in a dedicated rectangular listening room, with the main focus on his Frank AB2 Tower Sub.

The Frank AB-2 is essentially a passive subwoofer in tower form, mated to a bookshelf loudspeaker of your choice. There is a 'cutout' in the middle of the tower to accommodate the bookshelf speakers (you can get more information on the Frank AB2 Tower Sub here and here).

Frank’s system was straightforward, consisting of a TEAC streamer, a Marantz disc player, a preamp and a power amp. Of course, he also had a few Frank Powerbanks installed, though they were placed close to the distribution box rather than in the listening room. From the photos, you can see that getting the room acoustic right was also important to him, thus the absorbers and diffusers that were placed at various strategic positions.

The loudspeakers were placed well apart from each other and well into the room, slightly more than halfway of the room’s length. This created one of the most memorable characteristics of this system, which was its soundstage. The soundstage was detached from the loudspeakers, wide and deep (with more sensation of depth). Centre imaging and solo voices were placed far into the stage with their positions almost right at the front wall, and the ambient details extending beyond the front and side walls. This would be an uncanny sensation for those who are unfamiliar with such an experience, especially among the non-audiophiles.

Image focus was well defined, and imaging was well delineated, and with excellent depth perception, layering was very well done too. The sound was not voluptuous or fat despite the bass and volume capabilities of the towers.

Overall, the music delivery was, well, musical, with a grain-free treble region and an articulate midrange. It could do sultry vocal and dynamic attack. The bottom end created a solid foundation for the rest of the spectrum to play on. I appreciated this balanced approach Frank applied to his system, avoiding the temptation to boosting the bottom end just to showcase the AB-2’s bass prowess.

The power amp Frank made for his own use. Unfortunately, Frank has no plan to commercialize it yet.

Indeed, I believe these Frank AB-2 bass towers could extend the performance envelope of any bookshelf loudspeakers they are paired with (you can also request for Frank’s custom made bookshelf speakers to mate with the AB-2, which was how I heard them during this visit). If you want floorstander performance but loath to give up your favourite bookshelf speakers, consider the novel Frank AB-2 Sub Tower perhaps. You may be pleasantly surprised!

Contact Frank Voon for enquiries, +60122981011.

Listening to the Imposing Frank AB-2 Tower Sub Loudspeakers

Posted by Tan 

Our very own Malaysian hifi maven Frankie Voon, the head honcho of the Frank Acoustics outfit, rolled out his Frank AB-2 Tower Sub loudspeaker system in late 2020. I have always wanted to have a listen to these loudspeakers personally, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation then, I never had such an opportunity. Until recently that is. 

The owner of a Frank AB-2 Tower Sub installation invited a few of us for a visit to his home for a live listening session of his system. Finally my years-long wait was fulfilled.

When I first came across the Frank AB-2 Tower Sub system design, I was definitely impressed by its versatility. It is a pair of tower loudspeakers incorporating two 9in Scanspeak woofers per side. The towers are tall, at 6ft 6in (almost 2m), they are taller than any person I know (An audiophile friend of mine likes loudspeakers that are taller than him, these Frank AB-2 towers would surely fit the bill 😜). 

The Frank AB-2 has a built-in cavity at its mid-section for the owner to place a bookshelf loudspeaker of his choice (as seen in the photo above) to cover the mid and high frequencies. Frank Acoustics can also supply you with a pair of their monitors if you so preferred. 

A built in crossover routes the bass part of the audio signal to the woofers, and the mid and high to the bookshelf loudspeaker. You can also choose to run the bookshelf loudspeakers full range, i.e., not have the AB-2 crossover filtering out the bass frequencies to the bookshelf speakers, in which case the AB-2 would be adding bass on top of the bookshelf speakers to augment and extend their bass performance. There is also an ambiance tweeter at the back of the tower to convey the air in the recordings.   

The Frank AB-2 Tower Sub's height and size gives it an imposing presence in any mid to even large size listening room.  I bet any visitor would be mighty impressed seeing them in your listening room, I know they did that to me during my visit. 

"Wow, this is a big sound." that was the first thought that popped into my head at my first listen. Yes indeed, like its imposing stature, this Frank AB-2 based system conjured up a big sound, with a soundstage that covered wall to wall. I was surprised that having the mid and highs handled by a pair of bookshelf speakers but the bass played through the bass towers, it seemed to have freed up the sound tremendously. This loudspeaker system could play a volume level that would definitely stress almost all if not all bookshelf loudspeakers. This system also sounded dynamic, speed and attack were handled with aplomb. It was an exciting listen on drum and electronic music with lots of bass line. 

On the other hand, this system also showed a saturated and vivid tonal color, rather than the somewhat bleached tonality that plagued some modern HiFi equipment. Vocal, may it be male or female, was served very well. 

I believe the overall sound of a Frank AB-2 based system would be influenced by the bookshelf loudspeakers you choose to pair with the Frank AB-2, therein lies the versality of this design. You can retain the use of your favorite bookshelf speakers by incorporating them into the Frank AB-2. 

I am sure the Frank AB-2 Tower Sub approach would give you an excellent upgrade path if you are a bookshelf speaker user. Given how hifi equipment is priced nowadays, this is definitely a bang-for-the-buck upgrade too.

Interested to know more about the Frank AB-2 Tower Sub loudspeakers? Click this link to the Frank Acoustic website to get more design details, pricing and contact info -> click here.

More Power For HT! Frank Doepke Cryo 32 Amp MCB & ABL Sursum Cryo 63 Amp ELCB

The MCB box in my HT room, if you zoom in, you'll see the cryo label on the Doepke MCB(in the middle) & ABL Sursum ELCB(on the right side)

When Frankie was in my house to install the Frank PE-35 Ground Loop EMI Filter, I also took the opportunity to ask him to check out my HT MCB box, just to see if there's anything he could do with it. Upon checking, Frankie identified he needed to do 3 things to make it perform better.

First, he said he will have to isolate the actual MCBs powering my AV equipment from the others in the circuit that powers all the other appliances in other parts of the house which includes refrigerator, washing machine, ovens, hot water pumps, and various other stuff. This is to reduce interference between all those said appliances from my AV equipment in the HT room.

Next he'll replace the standard MCBs that I was using for the Audio & Video circuits with Doepke Cryo 32 Amps MCB for cleaner power safety contact point.

Last but not least, he will replace the standard ELCB unit with an ABL Sursum Cryo 63 Amp ELCB unit.  

This box helps Frankie's team of electricians to confirm grounding and circuit connection by flashing lights and a loud beeping sound! It's a great tool

Frankie came back to my place about 2 weeks later, and it took his team of trained electricians about 2 hours to complete the job. Frankie confidently told me to have a better movie time! As soon as he left, I couldn't wait to start my new movie experience.

I played my usual Dolby Atmos reference movies, including San Andreas, yes that earthquake movie, & Unbroken, with lots of American bomber vs Japanese Zero dog fight actions and major sound panning effect in the opening scene. Also played 13 Hours to have fun in all the infantry battle scenes.

I immediately found better separation between the center & the main channels. Dialogue becomes distinct & easier to follow, especially during the noisy scenes, which can easily drown out dialogues in the past. Next thing I noticed was tightened bass grip, where the sub woofers are much more well controlled, less looseness coming from the sub woofer movements, which indirectly contributes to improved macro & micro dynamics, making each gun shot & every bomb blast that much more filled with impact. The surround sound panning effect becomes more distinct & dramatic. All without even resorting to any adjustments on the Denon AVR menu settings.

On the picture front, I see crispier and sharper quality, it's like as if someone did a lens focusing adjustment. Overall, the movie experience is much improved on a visceral level. 

Total cost for the transformation is as follows:

1) 2 units Doepke Cryo 32 Amp MCB = MYR1000

2) 1 unit ABL Sursum Cryo  63 Amp ELCB = MYR850

3) Installation and labor = MYR350

TOTAL COST = MYR2,200

Like my previous Franks PE-35 experience, Frank's power supply products & expertise do bring about genuine sound & picture quality improvement via any audiophile's power supply box. That improvement is usually at least worth while, or in my case worth more than Frankie's asking price. 

Well done Frankie! 

With Power Comes Responsibility, With Cleaner Power Comes Better Sound? FRANK PE-35 GROUND LOOP EMI FILTER

Frank PE-35 Ground Loop EMI Filter

Every once in a while the topic of power supply to my hifi & HT system comes to mind. Questions always arise, if I am doing enough to keep EMI/RFI at bay, from manifesting as some kind of a sonic sludge in my music or movie enjoyment?

Then come Frank, or Frankie as we would call him. Gotta love Frankie as he always has some solution up his sleeves regarding the juice that feeds our audio systems, POWER to tha man!  During the recent Gelombang AV Fest, and we were blowing water so to speak, and he brought out the Frank PE-35 Ground Loop EMI Filter, which is designed to be fitted in to the MCB box of my home.

The Frank PE-35 is devised to sit between your wall electrical grounding outlets (or your main DB Fuse box) feeding your electronic playback equipment with an EMI interference free flow of AC power for the operation of the equipment. The Frank PE-35 is not all theory without substance as it has been thoroughly field tested in its beta phase of development in actual environments where the Frank PE-35 is most likely used in. The results, let’s just say we’ll leave it to your ears and your heart be the judge to that it can do to the overall performance of your cherished AV/Hifi system in your home 

The above paragraph taken from Frank's blog page, see link below if you wanna know more about Frank's other power supply related products: http://frankacoustics.blogspot.com/2013/03/frank-pe-35-ground-loop-emi-filter.html

The wiring schematic with the Frank PE-35 used in your MCB

And sometime after the Gelombang AV Fest, a date was fixed for Frank & his team to come install the Frank PE-35. They first identify the dedicated power line from the MCB that feed my man cave, do some testing to check if the earth in the house and particularly on that line is still effective, if yes then installation can begin. The whole process took a little over an hour and just before Frankie left, he said to me, :"you're gonna be amazed by how the sound of your system will open up!" I thought to my self, "we shall find out!"

I fired up my hifi system, let it idle while I get a shower. Then I went in for a listen and bang!, from the very first track I was amazed with how the sound of the system opened up, just like Frankie said! First thing I noticed was the bass integration. I have a small, sneaky Bose Acoustimas sub woofer modded to sit just behind my throne to provide some bass re-enforcement effect to complement the main speakers, and all these while I believed I had the bass nicely integrated, but with the Frank PE-35 in the works, now I feel it's truly integrated. Only now I realized there were actually still some gaps in the sub woofer to speaker integration prior to this. The Frank PE-35 certainly showed me a thing or two already!

Typical installation of Frank PE-35 inside the MCB box, top left corner in this case

However, that is just the start of the whole she bang of sonic pleasures that came with the Frank PE-35. Next the top to bottom frequency coherence is much improved, highs nicely airy and smooth as baby's butt, that mid range texture is now so nicely evident, lastly, do I still need to mention the bass quality? Yes, I should! While I have described the bass integration, I should also note that the bass now fall back in to the overall sound stage, where everything has it's place within the sphere of space that extends beyond the left, right walls of the room, and far, far behind the speakers but still clearly defined and believable.

In short, while the sonic changes brought by the Frank PE-35 are quantifiable by ear, the wholistic value of music with audiophile values goes up a few notches too! That's the great thing about the Frank PE-35 Ground Loop EMI Filter. I do not know enough electrically to explain to you what it does, but my ears certainly enjoys better musical reproduction now, every time I play my hifi!

Frank PE-35 cost MYR $2300.00/unit with cost of installation included, and for me at least, the sonic value it brings far exceeds the asking price. However as in the nature of products like this calls for a caveat, your experience may differ from mine to varying degrees due to a variety of reasons.    

HOT NEWS! Frank AB-2 Tower Sub

Now, this is one that we Malaysian audiophiles can be very proud of.

Our very own Frank Voon, of the Frank Power Bank and Frank Ultra Bank fame, is at it again. He sent me some photos and recordings of his latest innovation in action. And my, I almost got knocked off my chair seeing his latest creation. It is big and it is innovative. It is called the Frank AB-2 Tower Sub, but it is not like any other conventional subwoofers that we are used to see. 

Do you use a pair of small speakers that you absolutely love (LS3/5A, ProAc Tablette, AE1, and small classic Sonus Fabers come to mind), that you are not willing to give up for anything else? Do you want to keep your speakers as they are, not to get a bigger version of them, but you just want to coax deeper bass and bigger scale from their presentation? Then Frankie's latest creation is the answer.

The Frank AB-2 Tower Sub allows you to incorporate your small speakers into it and, wollah, now your favourite speakers have grown, retaining all that are good about them and you get the extension that you want at the same time.

Each side of the Frank AB-2 has 3 sections and weighs a hefty 95kg. The top and bottom sections are the bass bins, each consisting of a 9" scanspeak woofer (so there are 2 woofers per side). The middle section allows you to slot in your own small speakers. Each tower comes with multiple crossovers for the user to calibrate each section's response. What's more, a supertweeter is installed at the back of each tower for a greater ambiance portrayal. 

Didn't I say that this is an innovative product? 

From the technical drawing above, you can see how the small speakers are incorporated into the mid-section of the tower 

The Frank AB-2 is passive, so you need to supply your own power amp, Frankie told me that 50w per side would do very nicely. 

The Frank AB-2 Tower Sub in action in a few early adopters' rigs:

Thanks to Frankie for sharing the photos and videos. Hope I can arrange an onsite listening session asap when the pandemic concern is over.

The Frank AB-2 Tower Sub can be had in any colour you like, it is custom made to order, expect a lead time of 35 days to take deliver. More info is available on Frank Acoustic's website :  http://frankacoustics.blogspot.com/2012/07/washington-audio-customer-testimonial.html?m=1

Contact: Frank Voon 012-2981011