Fluance Signature Bookshelf Speaker Review

[andreasmaaan]

Here's the graph that was provided for this speaker back in March 7, 2018.
I know since this speaker was on my radar for a long time now.
Notice the 60dB window.
View attachment 85448

Since then, they've updated the site and posted the *smooth graph* you guys see now.

Even this "rough" graph would be a massive improvement on the reality

 

[restorer-john]

I purchased it on sale back in August for $169.

So that is $169 for one speaker?

Amazon doesn't make it clear either.

 

[Promit]

Well shoot, that’s two Canadians down. Do we need to set up a Paradigm for the bench now?

 

[amirm]

So that is $169 for one speaker?

It comes 2 in a box.

 

[MZKM]

So that is $169 for one speaker?

Amazon doesn't make it clear either.

View attachment 85451

Yes it’s for a pair.

I find the model name odd, HFS for this and HFF for the tower.

Hi-Fi Surround & Hi-Fi Floorstanding?

 

[mathman]

Interesting, I think :
A) $170 for two speakers is incredible cheap
B) A speaker manufacturer selling their flagship product for this price is unusual.

 

[Maiky76]

Hi,

Here is the Optimized EQ.
Score with no EQ: 3.38

LW looks OK, better stay 10-20deg off-axis but stay right at the tweeter height.

EQ design:
Score with EQ: 5.3
Nothing much can be done for the port resonance.
The Optimizer finds the optimum to be far from flat LW showing issues with the Xover.
The directivity is pretty poor.

Type    Freq       Gain     Q    
PEQ        92.5,     3.42,   1.66,...
PEQ    1166.0,    -3.02,   6.02,...
PEQ    1907.0,     3.23,   2.68,...
PEQ    2867.0,     4.40,   3.25,...
PEQ    8223.0,     2.75,   6.17,...
PEQ    9350.0,    -2.24,   4.02,...

Eqed Spinorama:

Zoom on the PIR-LW-ON

Significant gains over the raw speaker but the EQ will decrease the dynamic range of the speaker, so caution applies to avoid damaging the speaker at high SPL.

As far as affordable speakers go, the Edifier 1280T looks much better, 5.8 after EQ with a much more palatable response.

The rest of the data is attached.

 

[MediumRare]

Added distortion graphs to the review.

Your comment about the % distortion spikes being misleading gave me an idea. Perhaps with all speakers, the % distortion is...distorted... due to normal variations in FR. Could you try reporting distortion in dB? That might turn out to be more predictive of audibility (Fletcher-Munson, etc) than %.

 

[carlosmante]

Fluance page clearly states that those are Surround speakers but are judged under same parameters as main speakers?

 

[MediumRare]

Fluance page clearly states that those are Surround speakers but are judged under same parameters as main speakers?

How should a surround measure differently other than LF?

 

[Francis Vaughan]

If anything, use as surround speakers makes things worse. The directivity problems are going to make getting a satisfactory surround setup harder. Flush wall mounting is not going to be helpful either. Bass lift is going to help things, but as a surround speaker not very important.
These speakers have all the cosmetic hints to signal likely poor design. The dual tiny ports symmetrical about the baffle, big gap between tweeter and bass driver. Everything says designing for looks overrides engineering.

 

[daftcombo]

Red is near-field. Thick blue is far field which is naturally at lower level due to increased distance. But if I compensate for that, we get the thin blue line over the red one. As you see, the problem is slightly less acute in mid-frequencies when the speaker is used in far field.

Nice new test. How did you perform it?
Could you run it on 305p mkII?

 

[amirm]

Your comment about the % distortion spikes being misleading gave me an idea. Perhaps with all speakers, the % distortion is...distorted... due to normal variations in FR. Could you try reporting distortion in dB? That might turn out to be more predictive of audibility (Fletcher-Munson, etc) than %.

I always provide that in the 96 dB plot:

 

[amirm]

Nice new test. How did you perform it?
Could you run it on 305p mkII?

It is a feature of the software I have not shown before. And yes, I can report it on any of the past projects. How motivated I am to do so, is another matter.

 

[amirm]

Fluance page clearly states that those are Surround speakers but are judged under same parameters as main speakers?

If you look up reviews, you see that they gave samples to a number of reviewers to test as main speakers.

 

[AudioQuestShill]

Ive used fluance speakers before. Theg have no mid so its nice to see my suspicion confirmed by Mir here

 

[edechamps]

I have added the Fluance Signature Bookshelf to Loudspeaker Explorer where it can be compared to other speakers.

Okay listening window consistency, as long as the speaker is at or above ear height:

 

[MZKM]

Fluance page clearly states that those are Surround speakers but are judged under same parameters as main speakers?

 

[MZKM]

How should a surround measure differently other than LF?

Wide dispersion and good vertical performance below tweeter axis.

 

[beagleman]

An okay woofer in search of a better tweeter and crossover.

Has some potential for DIY guys...maybe...