Review Details

Ai40 Powered 5” Bookshelf Speakers

Product Rating:

Product Review (submitted on August 31, 2018):

I’ll preface this review with the acknowledgement that I am not an audiophile by any stretch. I do, however; know what I enjoy listening to and that includes some bass. My unsophisticated ears need said bass to truly enjoy any music that I’m listening too. My musical tastes are eclectic, ranging from Hip Hop to Jazz to Ambient to Metal to Podcasts and even some country occasionally. The speakers don’t need to have cranium rattling bass, but they need to provide some lows without a subwoofer.

The background: I wanted a replacement for the 2.1 computer speaker set-up in my home office (approx. 8x10). Although my current 2.1 Altec Lansing setup served me very well, were minimalist and offered nice sound – they were 15+ years old. They did not have Bluetooth and could only be connected to one source. I spend several hours in this room daily and wanted to upgrade the sound and have more flexibility in sources. Further, I thought that I might be able to find a minimalist set-up that would have competitive sound quality (sans subwoofer). My criteria were that the new speakers be minimalist, have Bluetooth or enough inputs that I could simultaneously connect to my 2017 27” iMac and my Echo Dot, and sound good, of course.

I tried a competitor product before getting the Ai40s. I did not like the competitor's offering and returned them.

I kept hearing about the Fluance Ai40 and how fantastic they were. I read several reviews and watched a couple of YouTube reviews that all raved about these things. So, I went ahead and purchased – I went with Ai40W. I actually wasn’t expecting much as they were cheaper than the setup that I previously auditioned. I got the Fluance’s quickly (Prime) and hooked them up immediately. My first impression: I was blown away. I could not believe the sound that they produced. Truly sublime! They are bigger than I originally wanted, but the sound is so warm and full that I threw the minimalist requirement out the window – good riddance. The highs are clear and I now hear details that I hadn’t noticed before. The mids and lows compliment the sound and combine with the highs to produce the type of soundstage that I was looking for. Again, audiophiles might say that the music is being butchered by DSP. I suppose that’s a matter of opinion, and to each his own, but I don’t really care, as this is the way I want to listen to music. All of this without a subwoofer. It really is quite amazing….and there’s a remote too!

These may not be Studio Monitor or Reference level speakers. Again though, if you’ve read my preface and requirements, you’ll know that’s not what I was looking for. Honestly, I cannot believe the value that the Ai40s represent. I would find it very hard to believe that anything else could compete at this price point (even at higher price points). Buy these things, seriously. You won’t be disappointed. I’m considering purchasing another pair for my living room and maybe even the garage.

I have to give a huge shout out to Sean in Customer Service. I reached out to Customer Service over chat, as I was getting a hum when my iMac was connected via Aux. We troubleshot a bit – he asked me to try different receptacles on my powerbar and try directly in the wall. Neither worked. He suggested it was the speaker’s power adapter and said he’d ship a new one out, no questions asked. Honestly, I was skeptical that the issue would be caused by something like that. I received the replacement power adapter a few days later, swapped out the old one and the hum was gone – problem solved! He even followed up with me to make sure I received the replacement adapter and to ensure that it solved the problem. Thanks Sean! And thank you Fluance! Go Canada!