Fluance Fi50 Review

Introduction

High-end, in-home wireless Bluetooth speaker systems aren’t cheap, that’s for sure! Normally, these units can easily range between $500 and $1,000 depending on the brand you’re getting, as well as the kind of features that accompany it. Well, for those looking to pick up a sweet offering without shelling out a fortune, the Fluance Fi50 aims to shake things up with its combination of delivering high-quality audio on a budget.

Packaging contains:

• Wall charger
• Charging cable
• 3.5mm stereo cable
• Quick start guide
• Rubber feet attachment
• Metal floorspikes attachment

Design

While there are certainly other comparable speakers with designs that exude styles from modernistic to industrial, the Fluance Fi50 opts for a slightly more conventional approach with its design. Knowing that it’s offered at considerably less the cost than other premium end speakers, we’re not too critical about it sticking to a design that’s generic. To its credit, though, the wood-like finish of the Fluance Fi50 can definitely blend perfectly into all sorts of home entertainment system setups – it’s universally adaptable honestly.

Three color options are available, natural walnut, black ash, and lucky bamboo, which all have a sticker price of $199.99. Our particular unit, the black ash option, is just as adaptable to your living room furniture, as well as the natural walnut. However, for those fancying an edgier appeal, the lucky bamboo can achieve that with its significant contrast.

And boy let us tell you, it’s gigantic in size over other similar premium end speakers! In fact, it makes past speakers that we’ve reviewed, like the Wren V5PF and Cambridge Audio Mix Air 100, look quaint in comparison to this one. You might have trouble having it clear the height of a cabinet or something in your entertainment center.

At the very least, its casing exudes a tough construction thanks in part to the MDF Wood Cabinetry, which also helps to suppress resonance. Internally, it features dual 5-inch woven glass fiber composite drivers, dual premium coaxial tweeters, a 40W integrated power amplifier, touch sensitive controls, a full-sized 2.1A USB port for rapid charging of other devices, 3.5mm auxiliary port, and an illuminated LED display. While the USB and 3.5mm auxiliary ports are nice additions, they’re commonly found incorporated nowadays into speakers of this caliber. In comparison, though, it lacks some of the other amenities we find with the competition – like NFC for quick paring or Wi-Fi direct connectivity.

Speaking of its touch controls, there are only four on the top surface of the speaker that adjusts the dim level of the LED display, cycling between volume/bass/treble, volume down, and volume up. Similarly, the illuminated LED display is pretty straightforward in what it does – so it mainly functions to display the volume level.

Connectivity

Pairing it with a Samsung Galaxy S6 Active is a snap, as all that’s required is to flip the switch on the back to the on position – and then sniff out the Bluetooth connection through our phone to pair it. True to its claim, the Fluance Fi50 achieves a maximum range of 33 feet with its Bluetooth connection. Degradation becomes more pronounced as we move past the 50 feet mark indoors, where it has to deal with penetration through walls and such.

Performance

By default, the Fluance Fi50 and its aptX audio technology favors audio in the lower range, which becomes more profound as the bass is manually cranked up – that’s expected, of course. Heavy bass lovers won’t find any fault in this! Still, it never sounds like it’s straining to produce dynamic tones at the loudest setting, so it’s quite tolerable to the ear.

In helping to neutralize things a bit, adjusting the treble helps to clear things up a little bit more so that the lows don’t overpower the mids and highs. Depending on how you tune the Fluance Fi50, it has the potential to produce a very robust, neutral quality where all audio ranges are represented equally. And that’s a quality that helps it to be differentiated, as other speakers are tuned to a single specification by the manufacturer.

Battery

Actually, the only battery related thing with the Fluance Fi50 is its ability to charge various devices with its full-sized 2.1A USB port. From smartphones to tablets, just as long as rapid charging is supported by them, they’ll be able to charge in a relatively hasty manner. Like we said, though, this feature isn’t anything new or anything.

Conclusion

Although it doesn’t lay claim to a diversified features set, nor does it sport a design that’s attractive as others, we can’t argue the fact that the Fluance Fi50 dishes up a ton of value at $199.99. That alone, undercuts many of the in-home wireless Bluetooth speaker offerings from the competition, which can start easily at $500 a pop. Reminding ourselves about that, it makes the Fluance Fi50 far easier to pick up, since it’s not going to be a tough investment.

At the bare minimum, its solid construction in conjunction with its acceptable audio quality and power output makes the Fluance Fi50 something worth checking out. The savings alone is appreciated on so many levels, made more pronounced knowing that its audio quality is pretty poppy. Buy this for the savings and reasonable quality, but look elsewhere if you’re looking for something more attractive and bears a deeper roster of features.