Review Details

Reference Series High Performance Three-way Floorstanding Loudspeakers

Product Rating:

Product Review (submitted on November 20, 2015):

I could easily run out of superlatives here. This gets lengthy, so here is a synopsis for the quick read:These speakers are absolutely amazing. I still cannot believe I obtained such an amazing set of speakers for this price. It still seems impossible. I doubt any speakers can be had that are significantly better for even triple the price. I'm a bit of a cynic and have not been very happy with the typical value I get for my money in the gutted US economy in the past few years. But here I am thinking: "Have I EVER gotten a better value than 500 bucks for these speakers?" If I have, I don't remember it.End synopsis.Details:My new XL7F main speakers arrived today. UPS gave both boxes a good beating with some holes in the outer. Gasp... I kept the UPS guy here while I unboxed them in case I had to refuse them due to damage. However, Fluance had the speakers double boxed and well encased in foam, so the speakers are in perfect shape. One puncture made it all the way into the foam layer but NOT through it. Sigh of relief. I let the UPS guy escape. ;-)Sound and performance:I'm observing the 10 hour normal volume break in period as per Fluance, so I can't report on what these speakers sound like when cranked. Just like the Fluance center channel review I did a few days back where I said the Fluance XL7C was grossly better than 2 Klipsch reference models I'd tried and one Infinity I owned, the XL7F mains have far better tonal balance, clarity and overall sound than some older Klipsch mains I had and some JBL4800's I've had around forever. And Fluance does it for less than 1/3 the cost of the others I mentioned.I'm flabbergasted. How can this be possible? That I cannot answer. But it is truth. More:I'm blown away. The crossovers in these things must be leagues ahead of my previous older speakers.I'm not an audiophile, so I lack the vernacular to give these speakers the praise they deserve. Everything from high frequency treble tones to mid range to mid bass to bass is stellar and exceptionally well balanced. Low bass is so well done and powerful, I turned my Yamaha subs down 1 notch each to "3". Playing Avatar right now and I have to say: I really am watching it again "...for the first time...". The sound absolutely sends chills down my spine.I've tried music, of course. Everything from Alan Jackson to AC/DC to classical, and again, it is an epiphany. I don't want to say it is good as being there live because frankly, concert sound and acoustics almost always suck. There's my cynicism again... I suspect what I'm hearing is something like it would be to experience these performers in a professional recording studio. Yeah, I know, I probably can't imagine that. My point is: It far exceeds anything I've ever heard in concert with one exception: Power. I haven't cranked it up yet due to break in ~ and obviously, concerts can get loud enough to damage or destroy hearing. I doubt I'll ever know how loud the Fluance's can go because I'm not going to damage my ears for the sake of a review.But I'll try to remember to update this review when I've tried these speakers out for power after the break in period.I've demoed some other speakers at stores, but I don't think that is a fair comparison because the acoustics of most store demo chambers isn't usually optimized for one set of speakers. I see such environments as pretty good but kind of mediocre for all. I can't set up all those speakers in my home for direct comparison, so I'm leaving my subjective observations of those out. Suffice to say: I didn't find anything that sounded this spectacular. But again, all were in mediocre listening environments comparatively, IMHO.Appearance:I'm a former auto body guy and auto painter, so I'm arguably pretty detail oriented. The speaker cabinets are beautiful. I find it hard to believe they are MDF. I can find a few waves and dimples here and there, but I really have to look for them. Just as with the sound quality, I am amazed at the cabinet quality for the price.One thing the pictures just don't show: The speaker cones aren't just bright white. Instead, they appear about like a Mitsubishi pearl white metallic (auto paint) but with a subdued sheen - semi-gloss, I'll call it. That is a good thing; no glare from the cones during home theater. There is some glare from the piano gloss black front panels but it is not distracting and just plain makes the assemblies look classy. IOW, I think the gloss is ok on a dark color like black but might not be had they made the bright pearl white speaker cones glossy. So just as with other features and sound, it appears Fluance was determined to make smart design choices throughout.Final thoughts on appearance: The pictures make the XL7F look kinda' fat or stodgy. Maybe it's because of the comparison with my old speakers, but in person, they look pretty sleek. So glad I didn't go for the super skinny/tall cute little towers. There is no way I can see that tiny drivers could sound like these. The appearance is gorgeous and I'm proud to have them in my home theater.One note on color: Like the center channel, I would describe the color more like a rich medium mahogany than cherry. I do believe cherry can go this dark, but it isn't what I usually see when a maker says "cherry". I'm glad for this. It matches my homemade TV riser's stain perfectly. Not that anyone else cares about that part, just sayin'. To me, they are in the mahogany range of colors and I really like that, too.Conclusion:If you are on the fence about ordering speakers without getting to demo them ***like I was***, fear not. In this price range or even 3x, I doubt there is anything this excellent.Are they perfect? I don't have the training and background to say that. But I sure can't hear ANY bad habits whatsoever. The sound is vastly better than any other speakers I have owned or ordered/returned.Another excellent perk for me: I have an old Yamaha R-V1105. A pretty good pre-HDMI AVR with some 5.1 features. Reset to 4 ohm for the Fluance mains, the Yami supposedly puts out 170 watts per channel on the mains. One thing sadly lacking in my Yami AVR: No graphic or parametric equalizer and no YPAO to adjust such tones/frequency balances automatically. Here's the big plus for me: The Fluance speaker absolutely NAIL the balance of tones/frequencies, IMO. So for me, it is like the speakers gave me something the Yami AVR never did before -- perfect tone/frequency balance.My purchase sequence went like this: Fluance center channel speaker XL7C was excellent - far better than the others I owned or tried and returned. On that basis, I ordered the mains. I'm blown away. Continuing the inevitable sequence, I got in on the great pre-order half price deal on the XLBF wide dispersion bipolar surrounds for my back channel speakers. Those are a couple of weeks out from shipping, but that kind of price chop from these value masters and I had to do it.I give Fluance XL7F and XL7C speakers my **highest recommendation**. The jury is still out on the XLBF's because they haven't shipped yet.If you think maybe I work for Fluance, I don't. I'm an early retired guy living out in the sticks in the SW Colorado mountains. Check out my few other Amazon reviews and you'll see that I'm real.Please remember before ordering to check if your AVR can be set to tolerate 4 ohms. Lower dollar AVR's may or may NOT have this capability. Tip: Furthermore, please remember to have your AVR turned off and maybe even unplugged before you switch impedance - and make sure the switch goes all the way. My AVR has a not great quality switch and it kinda' wanted to stick half way. Switching impedance with the unit on can damage some AVR's like my older Yamaha. -Verified purchase from Fluance trusted store.