Review Details

Fluance AB40 Black Ash Sound Base Main

Average Customer Rating:

Rating:
84 % of 100

AB40 High Performance Soundbase

Product Rating:

Product Rating
Overall Performance
80%

Product Review (submitted on March 27, 2017):

I purchased this model based on decent reviews for both TV and Bluetooth audio quality, as I use it connected to an Echo Dot. While I make no windy claims to being a 'golden ear' audiophile, I've dabbled in decent quality audio equipment since before CDs. This is not a life-changing piece of gear by any means, but for this price it's unfair to expect that, and it performs both tasks quite admirably.Modern TV speakers almost by definition are very poor, with insufficient space to move enough air and awkward directional placement. Stringing a 5.1 system across your living room is not an aesthetic choice I'm happy with, and not even all that useful unless you principally use your TV as a display for Blu-Ray or DVD content. Hence soundbars/soundbases. Since I prefer to look directly at a screen at home rather than look up at a wall-mounted TV, the latter made more sense with my setup.Sonos' new base then? Good reputation, fancy innards, but a persistent refusal to use Bluetooth even by offering an auxiliary port for a receiver killed them from consideration. I'm often streaming local content not just Spotify et al. ZVox in various sizes? Like the volume-leveling and dialog features but music playback quality is far from the greatest and reputation is...variable. This then competed for my business with the usual variety of Yamaha, Sony, Bose equivalents. It was the music playback reviews and relatively modest price that swung the deal.Everyone wants to justify their choice retroactively but I am trying to be objective. This I feel is a very good match for my needs. The audio quality is just fine in the upper consumer range with nice tonal separation, a fairly good soundstage for a combo unit, and more than ample power for anyone not trying to rattle their neighbors' windows. In the current bass-obsessed zeitgeist I should mention that it has a solid even hefty low end given the lack of dedicated subwoofer, especially with bass boost selected, although I personally prefer the cleaner and less needlessly boomy standard EQ setting. Again likely not enough for the folks who like to shake their black Escalades to bits with garbage-can sized subwoofers, but more than enough for anyone who actually likes music, even in percussion-heavy genres. On the TV side of things it provides a huge improvement to the TV speakers. Admittedly this is not difficult, and soundbases or bars at half the price can make the same claim, but the discount versions are often either muddy or weak or both. No such problems here as we get good response and clarity across the frequency range, with much more distinct volume in the all-important spoken registers all too often lost in the mushy middle with TV audio.Physical setup is childishly simple as is operation of the unit itself. You may need to fiddle with your TV's settings however, especially to get the audio from external HDMI connected devices like DVD or Blu-Ray passed through the optical connections here. Be sure to check the dimensions of your TV base or feet of course, as this is likely too tall to sit between the wide-set TV feet of most models. Luckily mine can be moved from the edges to only a couple of feet apart.It's not perfect, admittedly. The lack of feedback from control settings is a bit of a niggle. What volume level am I on? (It will likely need to be higher for Bluetooth than TV by the way, as the former was initially barely audible even with the Dot turned up to 10 until I pressed the Fluance's volume up button a whole but unguessable bunch of times, but luckily switching from Bluetooth to optical inputs remembers the relevant audio settings and my feared deafening on return to TV listening never happened). There is no indication either on the screen, on the unit or on the remote. Same for 3D or Bass Boost settings. The latter is immediately apparent most of the time but the former seems to vary in how much difference it achieves so often hard to know current setting. The switching from various Bluetooth sources is a bit fiddly, and I'd prefer an option to eliminate the initially slightly distracting LED source indicator light altogether or at least make it turn off a few seconds after any change.. I'm pretty sure I can tell which input the sound is coming from without Fluance's help.All in all though a good choice if you want to combine very respectable Bluetooth music streaming audio quality with a solid mid-level TV audio upgrade in one easy cost-effective package which is handsome and well constructed. - Verified Store

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