Fluance Elite High Definition 2-Way Bookshelf Surround Sound Speakers for 2-Channel Stereo Listening or Home Theater System - Black Ash/Pair (SX6-BK)

If you have been listening to your music collection on cheap (or even fairly expensive) compute grade speakers you haven't truly been hearing it. Once you break these babies in and give them a listen you will understand what I mean. I received my SX6s a few days. Since then I have been breaking them in by playing pink noise through them at a moderate volume for about ten hours. I think they are pretty much broken in now so I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on these bookshelf speakers. DESIGN Many have said that these speakers are huge. I agree with this to a certain point. If you are comparing them with a set of logitech or other computer speakers they would seem rather huge. My last set of speakers was a quite large set of 90's Aiwa, i guess you could call them, bookshelf speakers. The Fluance's are actually smaller than these old speakers so to me they don't seem that big at all. If you're going from an average computer grade speaker system to the SX6s they might seem large in comparison. I actually find there size to be about right for my setup, but I have a rather large computer desk with plenty of room. You can get a basic idea of their design from the pics so I won't bore you with the details. I will try to highlight a few elements you can't tell from the pics. 1. The SX6's are made out of a very nice MDF material and have an understated woodgrain pattern. I have the black pair and I really like their appearance. 2. Many have complained about their base pedestal. I really don't mind it. I guess you could remove it if you'd like and then they would be sitting on their grommets. I have mine on Adam Hall isolation pads and they look very nice. 3. The speaker covers look a little cheap. They are made from a slightly thin fabric and may tear with some abuse. They are pretty typical for speakers in this class though. 4. The main design element I don't like with these speakers is their sharp edges. I would have rather they routed the corners instead of leaving them untouched. They seem as though they will scratch and nick very easily. SOUND This is where the SX6s really excel. They present a very natural, open sound stage. When compared to most speakers I've heard in this class they are much clearer and more natural. I have a pair of the Dayton B652s (non air) and the SX6s kick the woofers out of those. Both sets have decent bass and highs but the Fluance's sound so much more accurate and open than the Daytons. When you first connect the SX6s to your amp and listen to them the music sounds a little flat. There is not much bass or midbass at the begging. Once you break these babies in for about ten hours (as per the manufacture's recommendation) they really come alive. Lower frequencies are filled in nicely and highs really come alive. I've been able to get them to hit down around 50hz so far. If you need lower bass consider adding a sub. When I play "The Walking Blues" by Royal Crown Revue I am able to hear a full and rich soundstage presented by the orchestra and lead vocals. The tenner sax sounds like it is coming from just off of right center and the vocals sound as though they are coming from the middle. I was never able to hear these nuances with my Aiwa or Dayton speakers, lat alone ANY set of Logitechs! The SX6s have one of the best tweeters I've ever heard. I'm sure there are better ones out there, but this is the best I've heard to date. Highs are clean and crisp while not sounding shrill. Symbals and tenner instruments sounds beautiful and really aid in the natural soundstage. One downside, if you want to call it that, to these speakers is that you can immediately hear the weaknesses in compressed music. Mp3s just don't present the same level clarity and soundstage as lossless audio formats. This truly and issue with compressed music and not these speakers. With lesser speakers it is harder to hear the difference between compressed and uncompressed audio. These speakers are, however, not perfect. One area they seem to struggle is with midbass. Frequences between 120 and 200hz seem a bit muted. I am hoping these come alive after more break in. SUMMERY So to summerize I'd just like to say again how much I really like the Fluance SX6s. They certainly are not perfect and I'm sure you can find better speakers out there, but not at this price. I purchased a reconditioned pair from Fluance for $100 and they are well worth that price if not twice. UPDATE - 10-21-15 I am still really liking these speakers. Currently. I am powering them with an SMSL SA50 amp and using a Behhringer UCA202 DAC. This is a great system and produces excellent sound for the cost (around $200 total depending on the current price of the amp and speakers). I stilly highly recommend these speakers! I've had no issues with them to date.

I bought these to complement my desktop as I have not been pleased with the recent computer speaker sets that I have purchased. I am not an audio-file or have any really expensive audio equipment, but they sound better than everything else I have tried with my desktop. CONS: The only thing that I did not like about the speakers was their low's, they sounded too hollow, but for their price it really didn't bother me. However, I did decide to add a sub-woofer. It made the setup complete. PROS: Cannot beat the price!! Some of the best sound quality and physical quality in this price range. These are some of the nicest sounding speakers I have ever had (aside from the hollow low's, which really wasn't that big of a deal) as far a music, movies, and games are concerned (what more is there??). I will say at first I did not like the color of them in the pictures but man are they beautiful, though it would be nice if they offered some more color options (mocha/cherry/black) but either way you cannot go wrong with these speakers. They also feel solid. Other: I listened to them for about an hour and then put on a playlist for 6-7 hours and they seemed like they had broken in very quickly as after about 40-50 hours the sound quality/signature has not changed (not a bad thing as they sound great). I listen to a varied selection of music (anything from classical to rap to ambient to house) and the only real trouble they had were the low's for rap/house/anything else with a lot of bass music, which was fixed with a sub-woofer. Originally I bought these with a T-amp (to save space as my desk is cramped), which worked fine at lower volumes, but created some distortion at higher noise levels (which is the fault of the amp, not the speakers). It also was not the best way to connect a sub-woofer to a desktop, as I had to set the sub as front speakers for it to get detected by vlc/itunes for music (could just be a problem with my drivers). The problem with having it set like that is there are way to many "high's" (for a sub). So i connected everything to a 5.1 Yamaha receiver with an LFE output and everything was much better, the speakers could be pushed a lot further while still sounding great, I reached my limits of volume before they started distorting, which is great as they will never get to volume levels that high. Also the fact that they came triple boxed (double boxed from Fluanced + the box amazon shipped them in), which makes me feel that Fluance cares more about their products/having a good name then they do the bottom line. I would recommend these speakers to anyone, and would definitely buy another pair myself.

I purchased these speakers based mainly on the reviews. They are phenomenal speakers for being on the low end of audiophile quality. Even though they are spec'd out at 50 to 20Khz, i have had them producing substantial sound at 40 hz. As a matter of fact, that was my method of breaking them in. I loaded a 40hz test tone onto my mp3 player and pumped it into these babies for 24 hours straight. I made sure to get a good 1/4 inch of excursion. Fortunately I live in a house at the end of a cul de sac, so all that bass didn't bother anyone. After that significant break in period, I played some serious music, and some not so serious. These speakers are awesome. For use in a small room, they shouldn't need a sub, but if you plan on using them for theatre or large rooms, then consider some form of bass enhancement. The highs are crisp, but a slight dip from 4Khz to 8Khz might require modest EQ. These are no match for my Infinity RS-6's, but those are 4 times the price too ($600.00 back in 1983, who knows how much nowadays). I'm glad I bought these. They are worth the price. They outperform more expensive speakers (which ones, I'm not sure, but I'm betting there are more expensive speakers out there that stink compared to these). I have mine connected to a Carver M1.0t amplifier being driven by a Carver C-1 preamp with Sonic Hologram. These little beauties are quite impressive with their imaging. A nice tight bass and rumbles when you like them. While pumping a pure 40hz sine wave test tone into them, I could detect a very slight port noise. It is not noticeable during music. (Test tones are not practical and should never be the sole means of judging speakers). I've only had them for a week, so technically I'm still breaking them in. I haven't cranked them yet. I'm fairly afraid to as my Carver amp can shred at 500 watts per channel. There'd be some sadness in the camp if I blew them up. They sound so good at medium volume. I'm taking out all my old music and re-listening to hear how these speakers work it. So far--- AWESOME!

The speakers were very well packed, double-boxed and in perfect condition on arrival. As others have said here the wood is a shade darker than it looks in the pictures and presents a really rich appearance. The connections for the speaker wire (banana plug required) are solid and the entire system looks and feels like it's well-made from all high quality quality materials. But how does it sound? Aha, there's the thing - the Onkyo receiver I bought didn't have any display when I turned it on and is now in a factory authorized repair shop and I have no amp that I can hook these gorgeous speakers to. I bought them based exclusively on reviews here and have every expectation of not only loving them but soon moving them to the rear and also buying the 3-way towers and 2-way center channel speaker from Fluance to complete the surround system. I have to write a review within 3 weeks to get the $25 off on my next purchase from the manufacturer so I'm submitting this early and will update it as soon as I get a chance to (finally!) hear them in action both with music and movies. UPDATE 3/8/13 Receiver back from shop, working fine after loose connection inside was taken care of. Hooked up and pleased to report that the speakers are just as awesome as I'd been led to believe. MUCH bigger sound than you'd ever expect from this size, comparable to some $600 speakers I had years ago from a boutique audio manufacturer located in Boston. Voice, music, explosions, everything I feed into them comes out sounding better than I would have thought possible. I couldn't recommend these more strongly and I'm now more than ever looking forward to hearing the towers when I put them in front and move these to the rear. I'm betting I won't even need to add a subwoofer if the bass from the 3-way towers is as strong for the size of them as it is in these. Great speakers! Pros: Everything - cost, size, sound, looks, quality. Cons: Every time I see the name Fluance I think "Flatulence". I can live with that.

I am building up an economical 2-channel stereo system with the main components being CD player, amplifier and loudspeakers. My challenging idea is to optimize the audio performance with a total budget of less than 500 usd. With the purchase of Fluance SX6 loudspeakers from Amazon, I believe I am approaching my goal, and even saving some money. In order to keep my planned budget in control, my other equipment consists of second-hand vintage elements obtained from eBay, with sufficiently low distortion and decent output power for enjoying just basic hi-fi. My integrated amplifier is Fisher CA-880, and the CD player is JVC XL-V311. I have connected the Fluance speakers via 16-gauge wires. My listening room size is around 14x14 feet, with attenuating material on the walls and floor. I have "warmed up" the loudspeakers for about one week, and this is the result of the evaluation of some of my favorite music today: 1) Antonio Vivaldi. Conciertos. "Concierto en re mayor para guitarra y orquestra de cuerda". Josef Podhoransky, orquesta de cámara eslovaca. Allegro and Largo. It is a pleasure to listen to the natural sound of flutes and guitar. There is a spacious feeling, with natural sound and accurate position of the acoustic instruments. The sound of violins is equally natural and accurate, although there might be some, slightly harder mid-range sounds noted. 2) Jean Sibelius. Finlandia records 2003. "Valse triste". The speakers handle the wide dynamics of the violins beautifully in this piece, delivering clear and natural sound over the whole frequency range except in the lowest band. 3) Mark Knopfler: Local Hero. "Wild Theme". The guitar and piano are in a good balance. Both sound natural, and the image is enjoyable. Pleasant, warm and accurate delivery of the music. 4) Diana Krall: The Look of Love. "S'Wonderful". The voice of Diana is natural and accurate. The instruments of the orchestra are in balance in mid and high band, although the lowest bass is relatively weak. Violins and piano sound natural, and the speakers create a spacious feeling. There is occasional hardiness in some of the mid/high-band sounds which might partially be a result of still non-optimal preparation of the listening room. 5) Tomatito: Anthology. "Spain". Excellent balance of instruments. The overall sound is simply enjoyable in order to admire the fusion of jazz and flamenco. The natural sound of the piano fits nicely to the acoustic guitar of Tomatito, and also the higher bass is present. As previously, though, the lower bass area is weak. 6) Gotan Project: La Revancha del Tango. "Triptico". This music is a combination of acoustic and electrical instruments, and the bass is essential in this very piece. The accordion sounds natural although it might be slightly hard which could be an indication of some small variations in mid-high band frequency response and/or potential echoing in the listening room. The speakers deliver an accurate image, and the sound of the acoustic instruments including piano is in general pleasant. As for the electrical instruments, there is clearly higher frequency bass present, although this area is perhaps not as exact as it is in the mid and high bands. The lower bass area is quite attenuated which means that especially in this type of music, a separate sub-woofer would already be beneficial in order to fully explore the contents. 7) The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out. "Take Five". This hit is quite enjoyable to listen to via SX6 speakers. They create a spacious scene for delivering this masterpiece in such a way that you can virtually imagine the location of Paul, Dave, Eugene and Joe in front of you. The sound of sax is warm, the piano is natural, and the drums sound great. The bass is attenuated, though, but the overall performance is in balance, including the drum solo. Although I have heard this piece several times, I managed to find new nuances in the background. Overall, I am positively surprised with my new Fluance SX6 speakers. I would not have believed to find so clear and balanced sound in this price range. Also the solid, good looking wooden construction with high-quality elements is worth mentioning. Technically, this type of frequency response could be expected in much more expensive equipment, although the lower bass is attenuated. There is sufficiently higher bass for many types of music, though, so the performance is excellent taken into account the size and the price of the speakers. For me, these speakers work as such especially for listening to acoustic music. For the listening to also lower bass, I would plan to purchase a separate sub-woofer. The performance of Fluance SX6 is in any case so good that I am sure I am happy with this setup for much longer time than I was originally planning, simply for enjoying good, old 2-way hi-fi audio without spending too much money.

This review is for the 'Natural' color option. I hesitate to put 2 stars (essentially, "I don't like it") because I really don't like these speakers, but they're better than 2 stars. Put simply, Fluance's SX6 bookshelf speakers are bright as f***. They've got a 5 inch woofer and 1 inch tweeter mounted flush with the face of the speaker. No waveguides, no extra fancy plates that add to the design of the front, and the base has this attractive gold pedestal design that really serves no purpose. I liked it at first, then I considered where Fluance could've put their money... SOUND: The SX6 has very little recognizable mid-bass (80z-200Hz), no matter how loud you turn these things up. And they get LOUD. Mostly because the tweeters are obnoxiously tuned to overwhelm the woofer. I found that turning the treble down 2 increments and increasing the bass by 2 gave a much better sound, but that's called distortion and it shouldn't have to be that way. These should NOT be near-field speakers. I would not recommend listening to them on your desk, but neither could I say they're any better on stands sitting 4 or 6 feet apart. Their woofers just don't produce ample low-end. Now, if you were to match these with a subwoofer, the story might be different, but please consider that the tweeter is still too forward on these speakers. You'd essentially get great bass, okay midrange, and obnoxious high frequencies, which doesn't make for a pleasant experience. DESIGN/BUILD: Overall, they look decent. The grills aren't anything special, and neither is the finish on the cabinets. But they're heavy, with a good two-tone colorway. The base's gold pillars seem to only be aesthetically pleasing. They have no actual utility. Speaking of which, you'll notice in my pictures that Fluance mounted them in the most unprofessional way possible. On the back are 5-way binding posts, which are always nice, but, as one reviewer noted, they're too spaced apart to fit dual banana plugs. FINAL NOTES: I listened to the SX6 Bookshelf Speakers for about 1 hour and compared them to my current setup ( Cerwin-Vega XLS-6 ), but in all honesty, it only took me seconds to decide that I didn't like them. I opted not to break them in, out of courtesy to Amazon and Fluance, because I knew immediately that I was returning these. I'm no expert, but in my honest opinion, these speakers won't warm up over time. You'll certainly get used to their sound signature, but the woofer has too much ground to make up and the tweeter needs to calm the heck down before these speakers are any pleasant to listen to. I'm giving these speakers 3/5 stars, but keep in mind what that translates to. At most any U.S. school, that's a 60%, which is a failing mark. The components I used in testing are as follows: - Insignia 18 Guage speaker wire - Onkyo TX-8020 Stereo Receiver

These speakers from from Fluance are incredible for their price. A brief preamble though: I am not an electrical engineer, nor a professional acoustician, but I AM a professional musician with years of professionally performing music under my belt, and I know what great sound quality is. I've decided to break this review into several factors. TREBLE: Excellent, no qualms here at all. In fact, I would say that these surpass several speakers that I own in the 400-600 dollar bracket in terms of the quality of the highs on these speakers. If I didn't see these with the covers off, I might guess that these have horn drivers, if that means anything to you. MID: Nothing that really stands out here, just good high quality sound. Some hiss (and I promise that I'm not one of those people that thinks everything around them is constantly hissing obnoxiously) that I know for a fact is not coming as a result of the high quality Sherwood amplifier I'm running these through. It may be a ground loop issue or something else. I'll update this if I figure out more. Again, it's not a deal breaker, because when music is playing, the hissing is inaudible to my ears. BASS: What I suspect many of you are interested in is how well these produce low bass frequencies. There is a chart on Fluance's website that shows the response of these speakers accurately, but I'll transpose it here for you. These bad boys surpassed my expectations. They're only rated here to 50 hz, but that's because there is a dip in spl/dbs there. The truth is (which you can see by Fluance's chart) that these guys pick up the ball right away again at 45hz and keep descending with some decent presence down to around 33hz. Now, if you are like me, you find this hard to believe with 5 inch woofers, but I only am beginning to think that mine are broken in, and I just did a frequency sweep, and indeed, I did get some decent sound out of these guys into the 35hz area. That being said, I am pushing this out of a top notch (consumer level) amplifier, and even at that, my face isn't going to be melted by the 33hz from these guys, for the sole reason that they are 5 inch woofers, they simply don't move enough air to shake the ground, they'll push your ears in a bit, but they won't move your furniture for you. VERY impressive response for speakers of this price and size! AESTHETIC: These speakers look great! I love the wood veneer that's over the MDF. It is very well done, and looks top notch, the feet/foot of the speakers look great as well. My friends who saw these speakers thought that they were at least 200.00 apiece. BUILD QUALITY: Solid, sturdy, so far as I can tell, these are going to hold up for awhile. The guts look good, everything is well wired/soldered. I'm impressed at the value of these speakers. DYNAMIC RESPONSE/SENSITIVITY: Out of my Sherwood, these guys perform admirably. I can't sit near the speakers running over 65 watts apiece, it physically exceeds my pain threshold. I haven't even bumped these near their 100 watt capacity, I could, but I fear for my life! Hahaha, that may be an exaggeration. But really, these speakers will do the whisper quiet details, and they'll blast your ears to kingdom come over 80 watts apiece. At 100 watts, they may tear open time-space fabric (again, I joke). Very capable speakers. GENERAL IMPRESSION: For less than 250.00 you will not buy a pair of bookshelf speakers that surpass these. period. If you are looking for a value pair of high quality bookshelf speakers, these are the ideal solution. I probably will not need a subwoofer with these, though you may want some if you are looking for THX bass beneath 35hz. The only reason these are 4 stars and not 5 right now is that I haven't determined the source of that slight hiss. If I can determine that the source is not the speakers, I will immediately upgrade this to a 5 star review without hesitation. They are not perfect (no speaker ever will be), but at this price, they are as close as you will get! Happy Hunting, Luke

I have been an audiophile For 40 years. I bought these Fluance SX6-Bk speakers to replace my Pioneer Andrew Jones center channel speaker. I have never heard a “center” channel speaker that is worth buying. A center channel speaker should have the same tone and sound quality as the other speakers in a system and I’ve never heard one that meets that need. When I heard the Fluances in my home, while burning them in on the front left and right channels, I immediately made them my left and right front speakers. I had been using a pair of highly modified Polk tower speakers for the front. I modified my Polks with high end ribbon tweeters and a new matching crossover and they sounded very good. Here is why I made the change. 1. The sound stage of the Fluance speakers is one of the best I have heard from any speaker at any price. The soundstage is rock-solid through the frequency spectrum. 2. After the 2 day break-in the high frequencies were breath-like yet smooth, in other words, the speakers sounded open and treble was accurately reproduced without edginess, 3. I had to double check to make sure that my Velodyne subwoofer was turned off because I was actually feeling and hearing pedal notes from the classical organ music in my library. I actually had to significantly lower the volume and readjust the subwoofer so the sound was balanced. 4. Vocals, in the mid range, are right in the room with you yet remain balanced with the rest of the music. 5. The first pair of Fluances I bought impressed me so much that I immediately bought a second pair and the 2 pairs are now stacked on the front right and left channels. My Yamaha receiver has the ability to drive a 4 ohm speaker load. There was no loss in bass tightness, mid range or treble definition but there was a tremendous improvement in volume. The speakers are not boomy in the bass at all. I hooked each pair of stacked speakers in parallel on each channel. The Y adapters I used to split each cable were bought on Amazon, CESS-58x2 Banana Jack splitter, using asin number b08159cx13 in the search window. They proved to be very good wire and banana plugs. To secure the speakers to the stands and on top of each other I used some Hulless Super Sticky Mats cut to size, Amazon asin number b0827xql9c. 6. I had been considering purchasing these Fluance speakers for years and I now realize how much I have been missing. I paid $300 for these four speakers on Amazon and to purchase speakers that would be better than the Fluances I would have to spend around $1000 per pair. 7. To my knowledge Fluance Sells their speakers only online, at their store site or on Amazon etc, you cannot audition these speakers at an audio store. To sum up, I am overwhelmed by the extraordinary sound of these speakers especially at this price. I have to hand it to Canada, where Fluance speakers are manufactured, I am very glad I took a chance on these.