ninetylol
Addicted to Fun and Learning
- Joined
- Dec 7, 2019
- Messages
- 814
- Likes
- 822
-
WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!
Fluid Audio FX50V2 Monitor Review
- Thread starter amirm
- Start date
So, TL;DR - just get a Kali LP6?
No offense, but I see no realy use of that speaker, nor wor music listening, much less making.
They are even using DSP, so why that insane wigglyness? This takes the "+/- 3dB" flatness spec to a whole new level.
The only real pro is that they're pretty compact. I think it tries to be too much at once.
No offense, but I see no realy use of that speaker, nor wor music listening, much less making.
They are even using DSP, so why that insane wigglyness? This takes the "+/- 3dB" flatness spec to a whole new level.
The only real pro is that they're pretty compact. I think it tries to be too much at once.
Didn't know you were a "gangster"!
I'd argue your experience doesn't really apply to everyone. It wouldn't pass for me either, and that's because I've been using hyper neutral speakers for long. Any devation from that is super obvious to me now. Sensitive to dispersion errors as well, one pair I have has huge 3 inch radius round overs and once you hear that, hard to go back. This fluid speaker dispersion is kind of all over the place.
I've definitely had speaker problems that at first sounded fine but your brain still just knows somethings off before you measure and figure it out.
Cogito
Member
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2019
- Messages
- 80
- Likes
- 88
Judged solely on the performance, these speakers are rather lackluster. Based on the price/performance ratio, they're okay. I think the large resonance at around 1,500 Hz with a 35 dB fall to 1,900 Hz would most likely be VERY audible. Overall, the frequency response is pretty rough considering that these are DSP controlled.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2021
- Messages
- 55
- Likes
- 42
Most off-putting with that monitor, at least for me and the unit I owned briefly, was the hissing noise. But I'm quite sensitive to that and used to work with Genelec or Neumann
Circles are acoustic nightmares, Scanspeak doesn't get enough credit for the ellipticors.
Tovarich007
Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2021
- Messages
- 231
- Likes
- 313
Well, this speaker's has a rather good all in all VFM, but it's quite perfectible though because it has IMO major issues. I'm a little bit puzzled by the overall very good appreciation from Amir, considering he's often much more critical of other designs and measurements significantly better than those of this speaker ?
This model sure has qualities : power, bass response, no sharp and bleeding treble, DSP, small size. BUT there are serious BUTS : it's affected by a major resonance in a sensible zone, and its frequency response looks quite eneven in a MICRO examination -it's sort of a roller coaster ! I'm not sure at all the good MACRO perspective is enough !
Maybe these oscillations aren't as audible as it seems, but I can't take for granted Amir position on that point. Several +- 7/8 dB deviations from linearity at several points of the RF curve in the medium and treble are far from begnin. At least on well recorded classical, jazz, voice signals, they must have audible effects.
This is a coaxial design not done right in terms of resonances and diffractions control.
It's a pity because with a not so much costly better work on the tweeter and his upfront little waveguide and on enclosure internal resonance, this model would be a super bargain.
But as it is, I won't go for it if I were in search of a new cheap good monitor.
This model sure has qualities : power, bass response, no sharp and bleeding treble, DSP, small size. BUT there are serious BUTS : it's affected by a major resonance in a sensible zone, and its frequency response looks quite eneven in a MICRO examination -it's sort of a roller coaster ! I'm not sure at all the good MACRO perspective is enough !
Maybe these oscillations aren't as audible as it seems, but I can't take for granted Amir position on that point. Several +- 7/8 dB deviations from linearity at several points of the RF curve in the medium and treble are far from begnin. At least on well recorded classical, jazz, voice signals, they must have audible effects.
This is a coaxial design not done right in terms of resonances and diffractions control.
It's a pity because with a not so much costly better work on the tweeter and his upfront little waveguide and on enclosure internal resonance, this model would be a super bargain.
But as it is, I won't go for it if I were in search of a new cheap good monitor.
Last edited:
I reckon that would be an interesting one to have measured here! (8" woofer)
OP
- Thread Starter
- #31
The measurements are at 1/20th of Octave per CEA-2034 standard. Our auditory bandwidth however, widens substantially above bass (progressively with frequency), making those up and downs less audible. And that is precisely what I found in listening tests. But yes, they are audible to some extent and hence my refinements with EQ.
beagleman
Major Contributor
I merely meant that the rapid "Up and down peaks and troughs" tend to normalize when listening and are not all that apparent, as Amir mentioned.
Tovarich007
Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2021
- Messages
- 231
- Likes
- 313
Glad to hear your confirmation that they are audible, not terribly audible I admit, but on some subtle musics that can be pretty annoying.
As yourself pointed out in your review, I wonder until what point an EQ can really make a big change on such oscillations ? Not sure EQ can fix it enough.
This speaker obviously has flaws, not very big ones for the modest price of course, but flaws nevertheless.
As for budget small size monitors, I'm not sure coaxial designs are the best way to go, they always suffer from compromises, whatever the type of coaxial design : upfront coax "à la Fluid or Presonus" or recessed coax "à la KEF or Genelec", but prices and engineering are not on the same levels for these last two excellent brands.
A classical design -separated drivers- well done is cheaper and probably as efficient.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2020
- Messages
- 7,112
- Likes
- 17,961
It reminds that making a good coaxial driver is not simply slapping one in front of another, we are spoiled from long experience and great engineering from companies like KEF and Genelec.
I know it's overly nitpicky, but I think they should drop the logo, or come up with a better one. The current shades of blue one is to cartoony for my taste!
Reserved.
Yep
Attachments
I think it may be helpful to clarify that we shouldn't equate a "rough" response curve on a Klippel measurement with a "rough" curve we get from a DIY measurement in REW. A speaker with good anaechoic (i.e. Klippel) measurements could easily seem to have an uneven frequency response when measured in a room using REW, so the REW measurement doesn't necessarily mean the speaker has uneven frequency response. It might, but it might not.
But I do agree that our ears don't perceive sound quality the way or eyes distinguish between a straight vs squiggly line!
Similar threads
- Poll
- Poll
