Fluance SX6 High Definition Two-way Bookshelf Loudspeaker Review

Big speakers with pointless shiny things on them... this should be good. Note that the speakers are not actually splotchy, they were covered in condensation from the Louisiana humidity.

Component Overview:

Tweeter

The tweeter looks promising, we have a real 1 inch dome with extra surround material that should help with a smoother response if crossed over low.

Looking at the back of the driver we can see a large magnet with another magnet glue to it. Hold on what is going on here, I thought I read somewhere that the SX6 had neodymium magnets on the tweeters.

Yep, that's what it says on the box. Well, they lied. Not a big deal if the speakers sound good, right?

Woofer

Textured dust cap, rubber surround, and what looks like a poly cone that has been coated or painted.

Woofer is supposed to be 6 inches, but comes up a bit short once you discount the massive frame. With a surround to surround diameter of 4.5 inches, if it had a normal sized frame it could pass as a 5.25 inch driver.

Pretty big spider.

Port

Yep, it's a port. The port is on the back of the speaker and is about 2 inches wide and 5 inches deep.

Terminals

The wires go here, no problems.

Cabinet

Let's take a moment to discuss the outside of this box. There is the speaker which is vinyl covered MDF, then feet, then for no apparent reason, another flat piece of vinyl covered MDF. I mean I guess it looks cool, but you are still going to need more feet or blutack on the bottom if you want to keep the speaker from vibrating on a desk surface. Also, this is a budget speaker, I'm sure the money used to church these up could have been spent better.

Crossover

A pair of iron core inductors and some shitty caps. Looks like a very simple second order crossover.

Grills

Grills are good on the Fluance SX6, with no shit in the way of the drivers and using a mostly transparent material.

Listening Notes:

The Fluance SX6 are big, bigger than the Pioneer BS-22, and even bigger than the JBL LSR305. Putting these on the desk it really a stretch for most, but I can swing it.



I pulled the SX6 straight out of the box and hooked them to the cheap onkyo receiver that gets a optical signal from my computer and gave them a listen.

Very bright.



No bass.



There is a massive rising response issue, but it seems to be smooth.



Donna Summer sounds like a chipmunk.



There is bass, it's just way behind the rest of the music.



Let's see if the grills fix the problems.



The grills calmed things down a little, but there is still a huge tonal issue.



Putting on some bass heavy music... The Fluance are running out of steam around 70Hz, and blasting treble.



This is unlistenable, and embarrassing.

Measurements:

Little bit of truth in advertising. Here you can see my measurement laid on top of the measurement that Fluance publishes on their website.

DSP Correction:

Little cuts did not do the job, so I pulled out the chainsaw, and just started hacking until I had something that could play passably deep without a subwoofer. Took about 9dB out of the speaker, but if you have an amp to drive them they fucking rock now.

Natural response and the new corrected response.

Corrected Listening Notes:

Eight Oh Eight by Mason gets the woofers to finally move.



Got to 110dB near field and backed off because I was done.. speakers have more in them.



Crazy good clarity, I like this tweeter now.



Sick by Rex the Dog is driving nails, chest pounding Bass.



Pulled them out from the walls about a foot and they lost a lot of impact. I think these are gonna need to be at a maximum of 10 inches from the wall to give enough kick to the bass.

Final Thoughts:

Out of the box I would never recommend the Fluance SX6, they are shit. In a living room Receiver correction systems may be able to do something with these, but it's never going to be right and you are going to need a subwoofer.



If you are going to run the DSP correction and have space then buy them and a good amp(50wpc). The Fluance SX6 are a very good, almost full range speakers once corrected.

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