New brands aren’t exactly unknown in the audio market: go to any hi-fi show and you’ll probably find unfamiliar names on everything from products originating in hobbyist projects to big-ticket components unashamedly targeting the ultra-luxury sector with more than a fair share of ‘bling’ to match their hopefully high-end performance.

Both approaches have their advantages: it’s relatively easy for an enthusiast to come up with a credible loudspeaker design, for example – though as one grizzled audio industry ‘lifer’ once said, ‘Now try making 1000 pairs exactly the same, packaging them, getting dealers to stock them and shipping them around the world; then I’ll take them seriously.’ Meanwhile, aiming for the extreme high-end also has its benefits: designers and engineers can have an almost unlimited budget for components, and the high margins on such products mean you don’t have to sell many to have a viable proposition.

Fell Audio could be said to have done things the hard way with its first products, the Fell Amp integrated amplifier and Fell Disc CD player, selling for £599 and £499 respectively, and with a Fell Stream network player on the way. Not only are they pitched straight into the most competitive sector of the hi-fi market, they’re also handmade in Britain, using British-produced components wherever possible – and there’s already a bundle deal, allowing the player and amplifier to be bought together for £999, saving almost £100 on those already very affordable prices.

Led by Luke Tyson, the company takes its name from the lakes and mountains of the Cumbrian landscape, and is backed by retailer Peter Tyson, which has more than 50 years’ experience, and shops in Carlisle, Newcastle and Workington, along with a thriving online sales operation. So, this is very much a family business, and while the products are initially available through those retail and online outlets, there are already plans to expand into export markets during the course of this year and beyond.

Available in either black or silver, with black front-panels, the products have a distinctive ‘modern retro’ look, with the green illumination of their touch-button controls reminding some of those other well-known hi-fi separates made in Salisbury. It’s a visual comparison I’m sure Fell Audio won’t worry about one bit – after all, the two companies share a similar philosophy of design, engineering and production here in the UK.

Neither of the two components is what you’d call complicated: indeed, they keep things simple and frill-free in the quest for optimal performance, and yet still have all most users could ever need to play music, which is what they should be all about. The Fell Disc is based around a slot-loading CD transport able to play both standard and CD-R/RW recordable discs, uses high-quality digital-to-analogue conversion from ESS – the ES9018K2M chipset – and has both analogue outputs and coaxial/optical digital outs, allowing it to be connected to external DACs as well as straight into an amplifier.

Within, the player has isolation and shielding for the transport module, and a toroidal transformer to feed the power supply section, while the touch-button controls are supplemented with a compact remote-control handset.

The Fell Amp shares the slimline dimensions of the player, at a standard 44cm wide and just 7.5cm tall, and like the player has plenty of space within the casework to keep components at an interference-resisting separation. Again, it’s powered by a toroidal transformer, while its Class D power amplifier stage is rated at a healthy 89W per channel, which should be more than adequate for the kind of speakers with which the amplifier is likely to be used. In fact, Peter Tyson sells the amplifier in bundles with a number of popular speaker designs, and it’s fair to say there’s something in there for every budget and room size.

Both analogue and digital inputs are provided, with a moving magnet phono stage and three line-ins, plus coaxial and optical inputs and Bluetooth 5.0 for streaming from phones, tablets and computers. The digital section here again uses the ESS ES9018K2M digital-to-analogue converter. Operating the amplifier is simple, either with those touch-buttons or the remote-control handset supplied: a ring of LEDs around the volume control indicates the level selected, and the amplifier defaults to mute when powered on, to avoid any nasty surprises when starting it up again the morning after an enthusiastic listening session. That’s slightly unusual, but it doesn’t take long to get used to this behaviour, rather than worrying something’s wrong when you turn it on and there’s no sound.

PERFORMANCE

That aside, there are no quirks in either the operation or the performance of the Fell Duo: in fact, this is an excellent set-up for the money, whether playing CDs on the Fell Disc, or connecting other source components through the Fell Amp. In fact, there’s an argument for the Amp being the more desirable of the two, given that there’s more than a few fine CD players in the market for the same price as the Fell Disc, but the two work together so well, and offer such good value – especially in that bundle deal – that it’s not hard to see the appeal of the complete Fell system, which is only likely to grow when that network player becomes available.

As it stands, the balance here treads a very sensible path between detail and smoothness, power and poise, making a wide range of music extremely involving. What tonal character there is tends towards warmth and richness, giving everything from solo piano to full orchestral works fine scale and substance, while what smoothing there is in the treble is heard more as sweetness and control than with any sense of anything being missing. There’s still a good sense of presence and ambience to the sound, not least because the midrange is rendered with excellent detail, and the bass and treble integrated so well, but there’s no sign of any sharpness or brittleness to disturb the ear.

The result is ideal, especially at this kind of level: the Fell duo is superbly easy to listen to, yet delivers excellent levels of insight and detail. And when you add in the style, the quality of the design and construction, the efforts the company has made to source parts locally, packaging made from recycled materials – including a cotton Fell Audio tote bag to wrap the products rather than plastics – and the reassurance of a five-year warranty, it’s clear that this new brand is a significant addition to the affordable audio arena.