Fluance Reference High Performance 3-Way Floorstanding Loudspeakers with Down-Firing 8" Subwoofers for 2-Channel Stereo Listening or Home Theater System - Walnut/Pair (XL8FW)

I was running a pair of JBL ES80 speakers for about 10 years. They were OK—better than what they replaced in many ways—but always seemed a bit harsh in the high end, leading to early listener fatigue. Also, the rear bass ports created a lot of room resonance where I had to place the speakers, which I was only partly able to remediate with foam bass traps. Since I've been super happy with my Fluance RT85 turntable, I took a chance "sight unseen" on these speakers based on reviews, size (my living room isn't that big) and aesthetics. I use them for regular old stereo (mostly ~electronic, well-produced indie rock, and some classic Boomer rock) through a Marantz PM8004 amp, and also for TV viewing, and I basically couldn't be happier (unless I'd bought them on sale). Super smooth high end, more than sufficient bass, and they look great. Great definition, wide sound stage…just a joy to listen to. Best result: I can listen for hours without my ears tiring, so the stereo's on far more than it used to be. The down-firing bass is fantastic—so much less resonance than JBLs I was able to retire the bass traps. And I can feel the bass coming through the sofa even at reasonable volumes, which is cool. I've heard a little bit of cabinet resonance on one rather bass-heavy track (I think it was by Burial), but that's it, so I'd give the speakers 4.5 stars if that was an option. If there are better speakers out there for the same price, I'd be pretty surprised. (On a pragmatic final note, these come very well packaged (dual boxes) and were in perfect shape upon arrival.)

Let me begin by saying that I am not an audiophile, so this review is not written from that perspective. I needed to replace the speakers I was using for my home stereo system. One would probably characterize my equipment as “entry level,” but the specs are somewhat impressive (bearing in mind the prices I paid). I love listening to music (of varying genres) so I want my system to deliver the best possible sound quality for what I can afford to pay. In my search for my perfect speakers, I did a lot of research and listened to countless speaker demonstrations. I finally decided on these Fluance floor standing speakers; but I was leery of how well they would survive shipping – I figured that speakers of this size and weight might be a little too fragile to survive the rough handling that most packages receive during transit. After reading and considering all the reviews that mentioned shipping and how well these speakers were packaged, I decided it was worth taking a chance; so, I went ahead and ordered them. When the speakers arrived (less than a week after ordering), the outer boxes were quite badly beat up. Right away I expected the worst. When I opened the outer boxes, I saw that the inner boxes also showed damage, albeit slight. I must say, though, the speakers themselves were VERY well protected, and when all the packaging was removed, they stood in what appeared to my eyes to be perfect condition. However, ultimately their true condition would depend on the quality of the sound they produced. As I hooked them up, I kept my fingers crossed. When I first heard these speakers perform, I was totally blown away. The highs came through crisp and as clear as a bell; and I could actually feel the bass! All in all, it turns out that these speakers are one of the best (if not THE best) audio purchases I have ever made. I am truly impressed. I even route the sound through these speakers when watching television. I waited a couple of weeks to post this review because I wanted to ensure of the accuracy of what I was saying. The bottom line is this: I have absolutely no problem at all recommending these speakers to anyone who, like me, is living on a budget yet wants outstanding sound quality. I’m really glad I got these speakers.

I received my speakers double boxed with no damage. They look great, work great & heavy. For $599 they’re a good deal. The more power the better the sound. I use120 WPC Integra myself. Edit: Here’s a tip- If you have hardwood/vinyl floors then put a small piece of carpet under them. Also if you can’t pull them out from the wall at least 1foot then plug the bottom port. I bought my plugs on Amazon. It made my bass a little more crisp.

Can't go wrong with this product.

I have some 1990' vintage Technics Speakers for downstairs.. When when one of my other speakers was damaged I have in my large bedroom a few years ago, I tried some more modern speakers thinner not much bass had to add a sub woofer. Finally got sick of them and got these! Awesome, nothing like a 8" woofer. Like the spikes to keep them off the ground as I have a floor that could vibrate. Think I will get another pair to add to my Technics downstairs in living room. Only complaint is its hard to pick up and move and not much to grab, turned them over to move. Fed them to my 100 watt amplifier. Don't miss my other speakers and the pathetic subwoofer lol.

These speakers punch way above their weight class. Great bass, warm highs, excellent build quality for the price.

I was a little hesitant to go with the speakers, having never heard of this speaker manufacturer before. But after reading the reviews, And not really liking what I was seeing at the store in this price range, I made a leap of faith. I can say I have no regrets about the speaker purchase. Great price, Good looking, Great sounding, Well, packaged and shipped.

I love these speakers. The sound is crystal clear, soft and warm, not brash. Some speakers can be a little heavy on the high end frequencies but these are very well balanced. I haven't even broken them in yet and they already sound amazing. Don’t be fooled by the apparent missing woofer. It is hidden inside the cabinet and is down-firing for a multi- directional projection of the low end frequencies. These are beautiful to look at as well.

I won't get into fine details with this and keep it simple. I have them paired with a yamaha RX-V4A, a reference centre channel and two fluance bipolar rears. Doesn't matter if you are running analog signals from records or digital from a television the output is amazing (to me anyway). For a moderate room, the down firing subs in these towers are more than enough to get those deep lows you are looking for. You can get better by paying more, but I personally don't think you will find better at this price point. Also, I smile everytime I see that Canadian flag attached to the rear of them. Love them.

J'aui reçu mes enceintes Fluance xl8 mardi dernier. Livré rapidement! J'ai aussi en ma possession la version précédente soit xl7. Je dois dire que la nouvelle version xl8 est une belle amélioration de la précédente version. Tous les hauts parleurs ont été changés ainsi que le crossovers. L'étagement entre les trois voix est mieux construit que sur la version xl7 donc une très bonne balance entre grave, medium et aigus. Après les avoir fait jouer pendant 12 heures le son s'est ouvert avec une réponse bien équilibrée. Une autre belle amélioration est la présence de deux évents à l'arrière qui permettent aux basses fréquences de descendre jusqu'à 35 herz. Après avoir fait des tests avec plusieurs styles de musique je suis très satisfait de mon achat. Très bon rapport qualité prix. Je les recommande sans hésitation.

Au sujet des hauts parleurs FLUANCE. Je suis très impressionné du son de ces magnifiques hauts parleurs et je suis très content de les avoir acheté . La performance dépasse mon imagination pour le prix que j'ai payé . Tout est impeccable et la livraison a été rapide. L'emballage était très sécuritaire.

rapport qualite prix tres bon produit merci

This review has been updated about 5 years into using the speakers. Measurements can be found out there on the Web. They all demonstrate the uneven response of these speakers. A few claim that these are overall good speakers, others disagree at least in part. Here is my take. I did not perform any measurements and the like, I am only trying to explain what I am hearing with my own, subjective ears. This review reflects my experience of about 5 years with these Reference speakers, as well as a comparison with other comparable speakers I own. The Reference speakers appear made of reasonably good material and are well finished. They are tower speakers with 8" woofers so they are necessarily big, but they are far less imposing than Fluance Signature of Klipsch RP-800 towers (which both feature 8" woofers). I had them in my living room and while they could not be ignored, they blended well enough in the background; the Klipsch towers that currently replace them in that room are definitely more imposing (in a negative sense). On to the sound now, which is after all the most important matter. This review is based on driving these speakers using a Denon AVR-X3300w receiver and combined with a 10" Martin Logan Dynamo 700w subwoofer. I compared them with the other systems I have namely their bigger (way bigger!) siblings the Fluance Signature series, a pair of old JBL Northridge N38 speakers, and a pair of Klipsch RP-800F towers. My listening was not an A-B test since I had to calibrate the receiver in between speaker changes, but it gets as close to that as possible otherwise (same room and almost the same positioning of the speakers). The Reference towers are fairly forgiving with respect to positioning but they definitely benefit from a good position especially with respect to the back wall. The Signature towers are ever so slightly fussier in this respect. The Klipsch towers are less sensitive to positioning, and the JBLs are the least sensitive. The differences are however minor. The Fluance speakers are reasonably easy to drive, but are the least sensitive of my lot (they are followed closely by the Signature and JBL towers and are outclassed by the Klipsch speakers). My receiver did not encounter any difficulties with any of these speakers, but one should double check the available power when using a smaller receiver. Without any calibration the speakers sounded quite horrible. The highs were substantially muted, the bass was muddy, and the mids lacked clarity. I was having a deja vu considering my identical experience with the Signature towers, which had exactly the same sound. Just like Signature, the speakers started to produce decent sound after an Audyssey calibration, which produced a very uneven calibration curve that convinced the speakers to finally start producing the sound one would expect from the mid-range rig they were supposed to be. The good things I noticed at this point were the good imaging and the reasonably tight but rather weak bass (the calibration curve turned down the bass considerably). The things that still needed improvement were clarity and the highs. I ended up firing the equalizer and adjusting both the low and the high frequency bands a bit (all within +/-3dB). I ended with an enjoyable experience, perfectly comparable with my old JBLs and with the only criticism pertaining to the clarity (reasonable but improvable). To my ears the Reference and Signature towers have identical sound profiles both before and after calibration. Even the calibration curves are largely the same. The bass quality and quantity are also the same, which is somehow surprising considering the dual 8" woofers in the Signature towers. It looks to me that the enclosure of the down firing 8" woofer in the Reference speakers is better tuned so that these speakers accomplish bass feats similar to their larger siblings. Later I got myself a pair of Klipsch RP-800 towers. Compared with the Fluance speakers the difference is truly night and day. The Klipsch speakers are substantially better in absolutely all respects. Their only (quite significant) downside is that they cost almost three times the price of the Reference system. You might have notices that I did not mention the subwoofer so far. The subwoofer assisted these speakers in the obvious way during movie watching, but I was hoping that I will be able to turn it off while listening to music. While this is certainly possible, the sound quality is substantially better in the Fluance speakers (both Reference and Signature) when the subwoofer is turned on. Neither my JBL nor my Klipsch speakers require a subwoofer for quality music reproduction, but the Fluance towers definitely do. At the end of the day I have a sound system that is enjoyable yet not necessarily exhilarating to listen to. This end result has been obtained with considerable effort and equalization, which may be argued to be fair game since that's what calibration and equalization are there for. Nonetheless, the sound quality is perfectly comparable with my 20+-year old JBLs, which is expected given the fact that these two sets of speakers are in the same mid-fi category, but also mildly disappointing considering the age difference. The poor bass is equally disappointing. The difference between these speakers and the Klipsch is night and day, possibly more than I expected. In all, these speakers mostly accomplish what they are set to accomplish, and purchasing them is likely not to disappoint. My Reference system is now relegated to my office, where I continue to enjoy it quite a bit. Would I go the same route again? If the budget permits I will definitely go the Klipsch route (my new favorite), whose B stock can often be had for just a bit more than the Signature package (that is how I got them). If the budget is tight though, the Fluance Reference speakers would be very high if not at the top of my list. Their price-quality ratio is hard to beat. If I were to choose between Signature and Reference I would definitely go the Reference route since the Signature speakers offer almost nothing over Reference speakers to me. P.S. Fluance as a company also gets a brownie point from me for honoring the lifetime warranty of my Signature towers without a fuss. My Reference speakers did not need service, but it is nice to know that in-warranty service is readily available if needed.