Review Details

XL8F Floorstanding Speakers

Average Customer Rating:

Rating:
97 % of 100

Reference High Performance 3-Way Floorstanding Loudspeakers

Product Rating:

Product Rating
Overall Performance
80%

Product Review (submitted on July 26, 2021):

I have the big sisters of these speakers (the Fluance Signature HFHTB) in a 5.0 setup in my family room. I found them a mixed bag but eventually I managed to punch them into a good sounding system. This involved extensive equalization so they got in the end a couple of stars off (while still recommending them because of the excellent price/quality ratio).Then the time has come to replace the speakers in my living room (in a 2.0 configuration). There was no way I would allow the Signature beasts in there; I mean, those are incredibly massive speakers that totally dominate any space they are in, which was in my book not the right move for my living space. Going on the devil you know route I thought I would try the smaller Fluance Reference speakers. That turned out to be a good move.My problem right off the bat was that as opposed to the Signature series there are virtually no hard, detailed reviews of these speakers to guide my decision. Still, I expected them to feature a similar response so I bit the bullet. I was a bit worried about the slightly lower sensitivity (by 2dB), but that turned out to be a non-issue in my setup; my Denon AVR-2113C1 drives them just fine, with power to spare.Physically these speakers are considerably smaller (and lighter) than the Signature series. The workmanship and materials used are about the same (very good). They still are on the large size, but nonetheless they blend well enough into the background. They have the same rear-firing bass reflex ports (so that placement is more of a challenge), but virtually all the good speakers out there have the same setup.Subjectively the speakers sound quite similar to the Signature series. They took less break-in time (about one day). Just like for their big sisters I performed an Audyssey calibration which offered virtually the same calibration curve (showing the same quite uneven frequency response). Like before I also needed to adjust the curve manually by toning down the highs and bumping up the bass a bit. I ended up with virtually the same listening experience as on my Signature system: very enjoyable though not necessarily exhilarating. Given the price point I think that these speakers do an outstanding job. In particular to my surprise the down-firing woofer of the Reference series is very nearly just as good as the monster double woofer of the Signature speakers.In all, I am impressed with these speakers and I therefore recommend them. Were I to purchase another system at this price point I would most likely go for a Reference rather than Signature setup.

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