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Fluance speakers review (5-piece home theater set) (1 Viewer)

ChrisJanikey

Auditioning
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Dec 7, 2001
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It's been a few months since I built my home theater (and since I've visited here), so I thought I should send an update, especially regarding the set of Fluance speakers that everyone wonders about.
Well, the speakers arrived on time, and although the box was shredded by UPS (the box was a little flimsy), there was no damage to the speakers. I informed Fluance via email and someone promptly responded that they were considering double-boxing, but at $10/box it would cut into slim profits or raise the price. (I'd recommend ordering directly thru Fluance and offering them the extra $10 to double-box.) Months later I did notice a small dent in the back corner of one of the main speaker towers, but I can't be sure when that occured.
When mated to my 75W/ch Onkyo-595 receiver, and a Sony SAWM-40 subwoofer, the Fluances perform great. My room isn't huge (12x14), so I've never had the receiver above 50 (out of 90 I think) for fear of bringing down the house (our wedding album jumped off a table near the subwoofer). The Fluance speakers fill the room with the same sound range and clarity as when they're at low levels. I'm *very* satisfied with my $250 (including shipping) speakers! Of course, the sound is only complete with the subwoofer. The Fluance main boxes produce punchy bass on their own, but the Sony subwoofer ($200) digs deeper and makes a world of difference, especially for bassy music and movie explosions.
Another note is that the center speaker required about -5db attenuation to sound balanced. Another speaker required only +1db. So balancing at the receiver is crucial. I don't know if this amount is normal for home theater speakers or not. The center speaker wire is about 10-30 feet shorter than the other wires, but at 14-guage, I don't think there's enough line impedence to explain the diff. Anyway, it was fully corrected at the receiver so I moved on.
In summary, I would definitely recommend the Fluance 5-piece and Sony sub combination to anyone looking for a speaker system under $500. (Actually, I don't see why any average room application would need to spend any more, except for cabinet looks, but that's another debate. :)
Chris
 

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