Fluance Ai60

amazon Fluance Ai60 reviews

Most wireless speakers we test today are all-in-one mono designs — they could technically have both left and right channels, but if they lack a lot of separation, the picture stereo sound is lost when not heard at close range. That is where bookshelf speakers like the Fluance Ai60 come in. That pair of speakers is priced competitively with many of these all-in-one options but offers more versatility, including connectivity via optical and aux-to-RCA cables in addition to Bluetooth. The sound quality is solid, with clear, well-defined highs, a nice presence through the mids, and rich bass depth that still leaves room for the subwoofer to join the mix. If you want the convenience of Bluetooth built into a classic stereo bookshelf design, you’re looking for a strong option.

Design

Available in ash black, black and walnut, white and bamboo, or white and walnut, each speaker in the pair measures 13.1 x 7.8 x 9.2 inches (HWD). The front panel is white or black and houses a 6.5-inch fiberglass composite woofer and a 1-inch silk soft-dome tweeter. Each speaker receives 50 watts from a class D amplifier located inside the right unit for a combined output of 100 watts. Frequency range from 35Hz to 20kHz, and the ability to add a subwoofer. Fluance sells several models of subwoofers directly, although none are offered bundled with the Ai60 speakers.

There are connections on the rear panel of the right speaker for RCA input (3.5mm aux-to-RCA cable included), an optical port (cable not included), and a micro USB port (for audio playback, no charger, and no cable for this connection). The back also features a Bluetooth pairing button, a connection for the included power adapter, and an output connecting the active right speaker to the passive left speaker, including an 8-foot, 18-diameter speaker cable.

Fluance also includes a remote control that runs on two AAA batteries (supplied). It’s bigger than the typical credit card-sized wands we’re used to seeing. It has rubberized buttons for power, mute, volume, track navigation, and play/pause (which acts as a pairing button when pressed and held for three seconds), as well as controls for adjusting LED brightness, dedicated treble and audio source switching, and bass plus/minus buttons. The volume on the speaker and the volume of your paired Bluetooth device are independent of each other.

The pinhole status LED on the right speaker is located below the woofer and lets you know what listening mode. All the flashing colors and meanings can be confusing without consulting the manual. Still, there are visual markers for bass and treble levels, letting you know when at -6, +6, or at 0, as well as the audio source you’re monitoring, whether the Bluetooth source is paired and whether the Mute feature is connected. The right speaker also has an infrared sensor for the remote. With the iPhone 8 paired, there’s a bit of a lag in pausing tracks, but otherwise, the remote works pretty well.

Pairing for the Ai60 is simple and quick, and if you switch to a different audio source, the connection paired with your device will break, but it will pair again when you switch back to Bluetooth.

Performance

The Ai60 speakers can get exceptionally loud, and on tracks with intense bass content, such as The Knife’s “Silent Shout,” the drivers deliver a powerful bass response. At the highest volume, the bass can be distorted at a high level of distortion, and the woofers move significantly, but with a slight adjustment of the levels, the bass is clear, powerful, and consistent with the high sounds. DSP (digital signal processing) here, but it doesn’t overwhelm the mix’s dynamics.

On a track with a more subtle, deep bass in the mix, like Panda’s “Dolphin,” the deepest basses get solid representation through the woofers, though you probably know that. The purpose here is for those frequencies to be handled by a connected subwoofer. So you get a serious sense of their depth, but there’s still room for the extra person to step in and push out these deep frequencies.

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Bill Callahan’s “Drover,” a track with less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better sense of the Ai60’s overall tonal character. The drums on this track sound more punchy than they can through a true flat feedback system, but they never sound too thunderous or unnatural. There’s also a very clear, bright presence, so the drum rumble is balanced with acoustic guitars and higher register percussion.

In Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild,” the kick drum gets enough high-mid presence to sustain its powerful attack. There’s some added weight to the loop’s durability, and we also heard the vinyl crackle/squeak that would normally be in the background in the foreground a bit more here. Beat-splitting sub-bass synth hits didn’t deliver with the same subwoofer-like presence—again, those frequencies seemed to be squished down to the subwoofer output. However, no one can accuse these speakers of sounding thin or weak – it’s a rich, powerful sound, with plenty of depth in the lows and some enhanced highs to match. The vocal performances in this track are very clear.

Orchestra pieces, such as the opening scene of John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary, illustrate this well — the lower register instrument gets a little extra depth, with some styles. Lovely richness is pushed through in the lows and mid-lows, while the higher-end copper registers, strings, and vocals retain a bright, crystalline presence. There’s room for a subwoofer to occasionally add to the rumble of a larger percussion instrument or the presence of very low registers. Still, for the most part, the speakers enhance the richness of the lower-end devices subtle way and keep things bright and clean. They never tilt too clearly towards one end of the frequency range.

Conclude

As mentioned earlier, most of the Bluetooth speakers we tested were all-in-one models and are generally portable and built to withstand outdoor conditions. Therefore, the Fluance Ai60 speaker is somewhat unique in its bookshelf design and Bluetooth integration. But they are not alone. We’re also fans of the Audioengine A5+ Wireless and the Audioengine HD3, while the Edifier R1280T is a powerful pair of bookshelf but not wireless. For the price, the Ai60 speakers are a strong choice in this group, and with a well-tuned subwoofer in the mix, they could form the right home system for you. Even if there aren’t, they’re worth considering.

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