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Fluid Audio Image 2 Review (Monitor Speaker)

Everett T

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It is clever free marketing.

This loudspeaker measures quite fine, on the other side its biggest problem is the existence of the Neumann KH310 which costs the same and does everything even better and has also a known product quality and reliability. If these would cost around one grand I could see them as a mid step and great recommendation between the Kali IN-8 v2 and the KH310 but this way I don't know, although on the other hand even the studio monitor market segment isn't spared from irrationality so it might be a commercial success.
I'm not sure if I follow. With the amount of time that has passed since the measurements, the original agreements, and not a final production item, there may be some unintentional marketing, I don't see a whole lot of intentional other then that.
 

thewas

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What's free about paying for measurements?
Of course I don't know the fee they paid, but for the radius ASR has it probably it was a good deal for them. Klippel Germany and other companies also offer similar measurements for not too high prices which could be a choice if they just cared about those.
 

MerlinGS

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At nearly $8,000 is five times the price of the speaker reviewed in this thread! But yes, it would be nice to test it....
@amirm, I think the math may be off. As I understand it from this thread, the speaker under review retails ~$1,900 each. The SOS review of the RTM10 states that the pair sell for $7,500, circa July 2021. If the info is correct, then the difference is slightly less than X2.

 

Triliza

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Of course I don't know the fee they paid, but for the radius ASR has it probably it was a good deal for them. Klippel Germany and other companies also offer similar measurements for not too high prices which could be a choice if they just cared about those.
Maybe that's the case, first time I hear of this company, it's a good thing that they get some acknowledgment here, it seems they have built a decent speaker. I don't know if it's a good deal or not for the money, it's better in any case for us to have more choices.
 

pseudoid

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Thank you @amirm.
I miss the PinkPanther(s) and the poll in this thread.
Did PinkPanther(s) recuse themselves due to the conflict-of-interest appearance, or are they just taking their vacation?
 

Robbo99999

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Nice & Flat, bass distortion seems quite high for an "included sub", expensive, nice directivity.....ok we await the production sample. It's not blown me away, but good.
 
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amirm

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Thank you @amirm.
I miss the PinkPanther(s) and the poll in this thread.
Did PinkPanther(s) recuse themselves due to the conflict-of-interest appearance, or are they just taking their vacation?
:)

I tested the speakers some 9 months ago with the aim of just producing data for them. So I did not take a picture and the speaker was returned to them last year.

I didn't give the speaker a rating or leave a poll since it is not the final product.
 

2020

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Well they‘re gonna be in a tough spot at that price.
Performance is fine, but not remarkable in that price bracket even compared to much older designs.
It seems to offer digital inputs but no DSP or other advanced features.
And then there is just the fact that probably not many people willing to spend Genelec/Neumann-type money would be willing to take the dive and go with a much less well established company if they don‘t get anything very special for that.
If you consider their niche AMT tweeter, they become competitive given this context.
  1. Hedd Type 20 MkII is $500 more (front ported, much smaller waveguide)
  2. Adam S3V $3800!? (wth)
  3. Adam A8H ($1500, front ported, much smaller waveguide)
  4. Eve SC3070 ($1500, rear ported, 7" woofer, no waveguide)
  5. Avantone Pro Abbey (discontinued, front ported, no waveguide)
The reason I've had my eyeball on this speaker for so long is the combination of the large horn waveguide on an AMT. Nobody does that, let alone in a three-way sealed design. That's ultimately what you're paying for, regardless of raw specs.
 
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respice finem

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:)

I tested the speakers some 9 months ago with the aim of just producing data for them. So I did not take a picture and the speaker was returned to them last year.

I didn't give the speaker a rating or leave a poll since it is not the final product.
Re-test of the production version incoming?
 

heflys20

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:)

I tested the speakers some 9 months ago with the aim of just producing data for them. So I did not take a picture and the speaker was returned to them last year.

I didn't give the speaker a rating or leave a poll since it is not the final product.

9 months is a long time to resolve the few issues this speaker has. I'm excited to see the final product.
 

PresbyByrd

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I really look forward to the final model.
 

Holmz

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I'm not sure if I follow. With the amount of time that has passed since the measurements, the original agreements, and not a final production item, there may be some unintentional marketing, I don't see a whole lot of intentional other then that.

Or they incorporated changes, which takes time to work out.
If their intent may have been to make them better, and also to do some marketing.
Usually we give them the benefit of the doubt, and assume the former, but it is not dishonourable to market the product honestly…
And improving it between beta and final is what and competent engineer would do, if the cost is not deemed to be a problem by others in the chain.
 
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amirm

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maxxevv

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At nearly $8,000 is five times the price of the speaker reviewed in this thread! But yes, it would be nice to test it....
That's for the pair.

And its a bigger unit in terms of driver throughput, so not quite a direct comparison though similar in configuration setup.
 

srkbear

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This is a review and detailed measurements of an early sample of just announced Fluid Audio Image 2 reference monitor. Company asked me to measure it in private last year but today gave me green light to publish.
Where’s my panther? Is he only on duty for production units?
 
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amirm

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Where’s my panther? Is he only on duty for production units?
Correct. As I also noted, I was not planning on publishing this as a review so took no pictures before sending it back last year.
 
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