I think I’m like quite a few geeky parents who love having a good home entertainment center. I have a decent 7.1-channel surround system set up with a mix of older Cambridge Soundworks and Monoprice satellite speakers, and a reasonable Yamaha tuner/amp. It’s a solid system, and it makes TV/Movies, music, and games sound good. It fills the medium-sized room it’s in, and creates a decent soundscape.
At least that’s what I thought until Fluance loaned me a pair of their Signature Series Floorstanding Speakers. Now, I can never go back. Of course, I have to go back; these were loaners. But boy, is it going to be tough!
These speakers make me feel like for most of my life I’ve been a kid, playing with toy speakers. Now I have these Clark-ian monoliths posted at 35° and 325° from my command chair (the center point of the sofa), and I feel like I’ve been transported back to the ’70s when grownups had stereo systems with speakers that were taller and heavier than that I was.
There’s always a moment when you upgrade audio, whether it’s speakers or headphones, and you listen to an old favorite piece of music, and suddenly it’s like you’re hearing it for the first time. This is like that. When I started playing Overwatch, there were sound cues and effects I’d beeb missing. When I listened to music, it was fuller and more present. But if there’s one word to describe these speakers, it’s powerful. Unlike the old satellites, these fell like I could turn the amp up to 11, and the walls would give out before the speakers did.
Here are the basic tech specs for those who appreciate them:
| SPEAKER CONFIGURATION | 3 Way – 4 Driver Floorstanding Main Speakers |
|---|---|
| TWEETER | 1 Inch Neodymium Balanced Silk Dome Ferrofluid Cooled |
| MIDRANGE | 5 Inch Woven Glass Fiber Butyl Rubber Surrounds Separate Enclosures |
| WOOFER | Dual 8 Inch Polypropylene Butyl Rubber Surrounds Separate Enclosures |
| POWER HANDLING | 90 – 200 Watts |
| FREQUENCY RESPONSE | 35Hz – 20KHz |
| SENSITIVITY | 89 dB @ 2.83V / 1m |
| CROSSOVER FREQUENCY | 530/2600 Hz – PCB Mounted Circuitry |
| IMPEDANCE | 8 Ohm Compatible |
| ENCLOSURE | Tuned Rear Port Bass Reflex Tower Design Dampened |
| DIMENSIONS | 47.24 x 10.9 x 15.4 inch |
| SPEAKER WEIGHT | 62.4 pounds/speaker |
Did you see that last datapoint? Each speaker weighs over 60 pounds! These things are monsters (here in CA, I’d consider seismically bracing them to the wall; I don’t want them falling over on anyone in a quake). If you decide to pick up a pair, and have them shipped to you, you’re going to need help getting them in the house and out of the box.
So, who are these for? Well, let’s start for who they aren’t for: anyone with a very small space that these would overwhelm. Our living room is about 20′ x 14′, and these feel large. You want to know that your existing amp/tuner is going to drive them well. But if you’re passionate about great sound, these speakers are a right of passage into a world of grown-up audio. And though they aren’t cheap ($700), they also aren’t crazy expensive either. I think they’d fit into the “very nice” birthday/anniversary/gift-giving holiday range of big surprise presents. I know that once I send these back, they’ll be on my wish list.
Learn more about these amazing speakers on the Fluance audio site.
