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Review 5 of 33
Price Paid:
$199.00
from Fluance Website Summary:
First off, I'm a college student, so my first priority is grades and my second priority is entertainment. In my case, that means electronics. I've had a Panasonic 1080P plasma for a while, and I decided it was a shame to watch blu-rays using its side-mounted speakers (Video is only 50% of the experience equation, right?) So I set out looking for a 5/5.1 set that would fit my budget, but after buying a plasma and a PS3, that budget obviously was very low.
I started my search in the obvious places, Best Buy, HH Gregg, Circuit City, etc. Circuit City had some respectable receiver + speaker packages, but the other stores were a joke, mostly only carrying those silly Home Theater in a Box packages. So, off to the specialty A/V stores. I got some good pointers there, but typically found them to be biased to their particular suppliers. Not to mention everything was extremely expensive. Enter the internet.
After much research, and several inquiries on popular A/V websites, I came across Fluance. As anyone reading this probably knows, it's hard to find negative reviews of this product. But, since I had never heard of them, I prodded into the hardcore A/V community. The only people who could find a reason to badmouth them were the ones who had never actually heard them personally. Slightly less skeptical, but still a bit wary, I took the plunge and ordered. (Worth noting, I also opted for 50ft of cable and some banana plugs that Fluance offered to ship with it. The cable is 12 gauge and very well insulated, and the banana plugs are gold doubles with bridges. Both came at a reasonable price, especially the banana plugs)
After an agonizing 5 days of eager anticipation, they arrived. Consistent with every review, they came double-boxed and very secure in formed Styrofoam. You'll probably need somebody to help move the box, it's huge and weighs 80lbs. At my first glance I saw that the speakers are quite minimalist, with no attempt at fancy styling, however, they are not ugly by any means and I find them satisfyingly un-intrusive for their size. Even the spec stickers on the back were tasteful. Only complaint here: 3 of my friends already have commented that they thought the shiny "Fluance" logo actually read "Flatulence" at first glance. Oh well.
Before trying them out, I pulled out a screwdriver to check out the insides. The crossovers and electronics (conveniently attached to the access panel) were very neat, professional, and robust looking. The front towers are reinforced throughout with the same MDF that the enclosures are constructed of. Everything looked nice and beefy, except for the tweeter and woofers in the center unit. All speakers were insulated with foam, though I'll probably be adding some more in the front towers, as there are a lot of uncovered surfaces in them. I did notice that the ports on the towers were not flared on either the inside or outside, and the one in my left speaker came a little loose (spot of adhesive fixed this in 5 minutes). But obviously we're not looking for perfection here. Overall, for the price, the quality was fantastic. Oh, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a set of floor spikes for the front towers in the box.
At last, I plugged them into a Yamaha RX-V800 that I picked up for $100 (fantastic piece of equipment, even at 8 years old), and quickly found that Fluance does not turn the irony of their easily mistaken name into coincidence. They sounded great. My father has always been an audio buff, so I've seen many iterations of powerful home theater systems come in and out of our home. The AV-HTB system competes well with what I've heard in the mids and highs. They love to play classical music, and most other genres sound pretty good, though you hip-hop and electronica fans will definitely want a subwoofer, as the 6.5" woofers in the towers leave something to be desired when it comes to powerful bass.
If you are using this for mostly movies, a subwoofer is just as necessary, as you won't get much of the LFE (low-frequency effects) that the movie makers intended you to hear. If you are like me, you want to *feel* the Death Star explode, to *see* your beer slowly migrating across your table. Tangent: I recommend HSU subwoofers. They're one of the few companies that makes a subwoofer for under $400 that not only is powerful, but actually *sounds* good. Oh, and don't by JBL. Please.
As others have mentioned, the speakers sounded a bit tinny at first, but after a good 15 hours that was gone. I do have to say I had trouble matching the center speaker tonally to the towers. It's weakest point of the package. A popular fix seems to be to buy Fluance's AV-SC center speaker and use the old center speaker as a 6th channel for the rear. I might be trying this out soon.
Ultimately, for the budget conscious, it doesn't get any better than this. These speakers are the anomaly, the rare exception to "you get what you pay for". With a subwoofer and a quality receiver, I can't imagine anyone being unhappy with the purchase. Oh, and make sure you *do* get a quality receiver. Don't shoot yourself in the foot and waste the potential these babies. Hope this was helpful Strengths:
- Value, value, VALUE!
- Solid components, great build quality
- Excellent sound
- 30 Day Trial Period
- 5-year Warranty Weaknesses:
- Center Speaker is so-so
- Most listeners will want a sub
- Not the best imaging Similar Products Used:
Onkyo HT-S990THX 7.1
Bose Acoustimass 6
Bose Acoustimass 10
Definitive Bipolar Tower System
Onkyo TX-SR705
Onkyo TX-SR703
Onkyo TH-SV717
Yamaha RX-V800
Polk Audio RTA-12
Paradigm Cinema 110 CT 5.1
Klipsch ProMedia 5.1
Logitech Z-5300E
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