Fluance Signature HFSW Bookshelf speakers

KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
Today I finally got around to listening to these speakers.

Here is a link to establish exactly which ones:
https://www.amazon.com/Fluance-Signature-Bookshelf-Surround-HFSW/dp/B01A5UI5V0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484027828&sr=8-1&keywords=fluance+signature+bookshelf

Let me cut to the chase and tell you the most dramatic problem of my short audition time. Anyone with these speakers can easily replicate this.

Pink Floyd - Time from Dark Side of the Moon
There is a guitar solo from 3:30 to 5:00 and constantly through it, I am hearing two distinct speakers. While not entirely accurate, it is kind of like the strings are mostly being plucked on one side and the resulting tone is coming from the other side. Or kind of like playing this music through a Leslie Tone Cabinet (with the rotating speakers at the top).
Switching to another (any other) pair of speakers gets good imaging with the Guitar solidly planted! Some reverb occasionally comes from off to the side, but that is a totally different character from what the Fluance speakers do.

The location of the Piano on Norah Jones' Don't Know Why was also insecure, and when she sings the word "come" at 0:31 and 0:36 (among others) her voice is mainly at the left speaker, but transitions to the right speaker when she closes her mouth (essentially humming) at the "m" in "come".

No phantom speaker effect for HT with these! When I say the sound transitions from one side to the other, I do not mean it moves across the center stage, rather it swaps from one side to the other!

In any case, I found this to be such an dominating characteristic that it was hard to listen past it for other attributes.
There were places/instruments where this was not nearly so offensive and in those places these speakers had a reasonably pleasant sound. The treble was definitely tipped up, making them a fairly forward speaker, but that is the type of characteristic which many speakers exhibit. During my short listening session, the tipped up treble was only a problem when the bells/alarms went off in Time, which was a bit on the harsh side.

I swapped the speaker wires at one speaker to deliberately wire them out of phase and what I got was the same, but different. The effect was less (pretty subtle) where Norah Jones sings "come", but now it appeared at 0:48 where she sings "away" as the word trails off near its end, her voice again shifts from left to right speaker.

The guitar solo on Pink Floyd's Time was still bouncing around between the speakers. At this point, I don't see much justification for analyzing how it is different from when the speakers are "in phase"; either way, they were not "right"!

In this price range, my favorites are the Philharmonic Audio Affordable Accuracy (AA) or the Sony Core Series CS5 (though the Sony lacks the bass of the AA's); but with the Fluance's inability to integrate the sound of the right and left speakers into one coherent image, you would also do much better to get the less expensive Pioneer BS-22's.

The Fluances do look outstanding - the midrange driver has an honest Phase Plug and looks very much like B&W's Kevlar cones.

As I packed them up, I noticed that they have a fabric Maple Leaf tag sticking out from the perimeter of the terminal plate and a label which says "Designed and engineered in Canada".
I could not find a indication of "Made in China" anywhere!
 
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S

shadyJ

Speaker of the House
Staff member
Sounds like a phase problem. It may be that one of the drivers is wired out of phase. Do you have a way to measure the frequency response of the speakers? If there is a dip in response around the crossover, there is the problem speaker.
 
TheWarrior

TheWarrior

Audioholic Ninja
Just bring it/them over. Finally getting my new sub box built!
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
Sounds like a phase problem. It may be that one of the drivers is wired out of phase. Do you have a way to measure the frequency response of the speakers? If there is a dip in response around the crossover, there is the problem speaker.
That is pretty much what I figured, but I have a hard time imagining a company that has no more concern about their quality than this. Seems like it has been close to a year since the same issue with towers was called to their attention. I'm used to manufacturers testing their own products rather than seeing if problems get found by customers!
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
That is pretty much what I figured, but I have a hard time imagining a company that has no more concern about their quality than this.
Just my opinion, but I think life's too short to waste time with speakers made without minimal quality control or inspection.
I'm used to manufacturers testing their own products rather than seeing if problems get found by customers!
With the loudspeaker business in such turmoil and the retail shop business plan in major decline, I'm not surprised.

A number of years ago, at a DIY speaker builders gathering (at Dennis's house, of course), I remember a conversation with the Parts Express product manager, a guy named Darren. (Yes, PE would send a rep to those meetings. He brought door prizes.) Darren developed the original Dayton reference series drivers with those black aluminum cones. He told some eye-opening stories about dealing with Chinese speaker manufacturers. They all bid astonishingly low prices for a contract with Parts Express. Once Darren specified, in writing, exactly what the QC inspection practices would be, and exactly what they must do with QC rejects (repair to as good as new, or destroy), that low price increased quite a bit. Apparently, the Chinese manufacturers intended to re-badge and re-sell all the QC rejects on various Asian markets.

As TLS Guy likes to say, "it's a race to the bottom".
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
Yeah, I'm definitely cynical about Fluance at this point. I really did not believe they could be competitive (because of the past issues and the fact that the L & R Fluance speakers Dennis got a hold of could not share the same crossover due to the variation between the drivers!).
However, I keep hearing people wanting to try these (mainly, I think, because they look good) and wanted to find out and be able to discuss them with authority.
Unfortunately, these fit many peoples price for entry level speakers and they get lots of rave reviews (like on Amazon) from people who have not heard what a properly designed speaker can sound like.
 
zieglj01

zieglj01

Audioholic Spartan
No phantom speaker effect for HT with these! When I say the sound transitions from one side to the other, I do not mean it moves across the center stage, rather it swaps from one side to the other!

In any case, I found this to be such an dominating characteristic that it was hard to listen past it for other attributes.
There were places/instruments where this was not nearly so offensive and in those places these speakers had a reasonably pleasant sound. The treble was definitely tipped up, making them a fairly forward speaker, but that is the type of characteristic which many speakers exhibit. During my short listening session, the tipped up treble was only a problem when the bells/alarms went off in Time, which was a bit on the harsh side.

In this price range, my favorites are the Philharmonic Audio Affordable Accuracy (AA) or the Sony Core Series CS5 (though the Sony lacks the bass of the AA's); but with the Fluance's inability to integrate the sound of the right and left speakers into one coherent image, you would also do much better to get the less expensive Pioneer BS-22's.
I tend to favor your review -- the current product that I received does not show any real improvement to me -- there still tends to be some cancellation and phase issues, and they are somewhat sharp, edgy, and nasal sounding. I do not mind a somewhat slow rising treble, but when the sound is not refined and smooth, it will irritate me -- and there is some box resonance. Plus, real bass went on vacation when these speakers were made.

However, Fluance seems to have good customer service.
 
zieglj01

zieglj01

Audioholic Spartan
As I packed them up, I noticed that they have a fabric Maple Leaf tag sticking out from the perimeter of the terminal plate and a label which says "Designed and engineered in Canada".
I could not find a indication of "Made in China" anywhere!
They are assembled in China
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
They are assembled in China
That is what bothered me. I thought all imported products were required to specify country of origin and these did not. I felt Fluance was making an effort to deceive customers to believe these were Canadian made.
Maybe Canada has different rules, but it is still being imported into the US.
Did yours have a "Made in China" label?
 
zieglj01

zieglj01

Audioholic Spartan
That is what bothered me. I thought all imported products were required to specify country of origin and these did not. I felt Fluance was making an effort to deceive customers to believe these were Canadian made.
Maybe Canada has different rules, but it is still being imported into the US.
Did yours have a "Made in China" label?
A white sticker on the outside carton says designed and engineered in Canada and assembled in China.
 
KEW

KEW

Audioholic Overlord
As stated were $199 -- $179 with discount. All in all, will be better than some Dayton speakers.
Yeah, but as long as the Sony Core Series are $75 a pair, they are a much better option than either!
 

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