Current testing methodology is v1.2
October 2, 2001
$119.99
SXBP2
6.8 lb
5.5 x 11 x 10.2 in
These Fluance surround sound speakers aren’t young but they still rock it for the price
A couple of years ago now, I bought my Concept 40 Q Acoustics speakers and a Denon AVR X400H amplifier. The Denon is a pretty powerful beast, and I decided to level up my game by getting some decent surround sound speakers.
Initially, I went out and actually bought the Q Acoustic 3010i’s for surrounds, but it wasn’t long before I realized that actually the Q Acoustic 3010i’s, was a delightful bookshelf speaker that was completely wasted sitting behind my listening position for a home theater.
My rear listening position is quite close to my speakers. I’m about 2 feet off the wall and so there isn’t a hell of a lot of room for my surround sound speakers to sit. I’ve tried them on the rear wall and also on the sidewall. I’ve currently got them on the sidewall.
Fluance Elite High Definition 2-Way Bipolar Surround Speakers
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TL:DR;
At this price it’s so hard to find anything but good things to say about the Fluance bi-polar speakers. They make the perfect addition to my home theatre as the best rear surrounds. The bi-polar design almost makes them seem like rear and side surrounds all in one. Epic and highly recommended.
The Specs
- Speaker Configuration: 2 Way – 4 Driver Passive Bipolar Surround Speakers
- Tweeter: Dual 1″ Neodymium Balanced Dome Ferrofluid Cooled
- Woofer: Dual 4″ Polymer Treated w/ Butyl Rubber Surrounds
- Power Handling: 20 – 100 Watts RMS
- Frequency Response: 130Hz – 20KHz
- Sensitivity: 88dB @ 2.83V / 1m
- Impedance: 8 Ohms
What’s in the Box?
- Two Bipolar Surround Sound Satellite Speakers
- Instruction Manual
- Full Lifetime Parts and Labor Manufacturer’s Direct Warranty
- Lifetime Customer Support
Stuff I like
- Price is really excellent
- Build quality is solid
- Sound quality is great for both music and surrounds
- The Bi-Polar configuration really makes for a nice surround disperse sound
Stuff I like less
- Could possibly be smaller but the build is quite dense which may help reduce unwanted resonance
Where to get it
Comparable products to consider
A good looking and versatile speaker with slim, uniquely curved design with rich sound
The Fluance bipolar surrounds are perfect for this positioning because this sound doesn’t bore directly into you rather it is slightly dispersed left and right. So it does make for an even more effective surround sound listening experience.
Price
One of the reasons that I switched to Fluance was the affordable price. Surround sound speakers really do only deliver ambient noises when it comes to your movie-watching experience. So there is a limited value in putting incredibly high-quality speakers in your surroundings or even at heights.
This would change if you were doing a lot of Spatial Dolby Atmos music listening, where the distribution of the music is more important.
I chose the Fluance bipolar surround sound speakers because of the price first but when I received them, I was so impressed that even in a music listening experience, they stack up really well. There are a few soundtracks and a few movie soundtracks that sound absolutely fantastic through these units.
Build quality
The build quality for such an affordable speaker is definitely good. They feel solid. The casing is a decent size and weight. And the speaker cones feel capable of handling a lot of what you would throw at them. You can mount these on the wall.
I have them sitting on stands, but it would be very easy to create a template to mount them on the wall.
Some people have commented that it is a little bit difficult to get the screw positioning right, so I would advise you to get a piece of paper and a pencil, put it over the back of the mounting bracket, and do a pencil sketching of exactly where the screws are going to go to hold these things up.
I personally have a disposition to monkey hooks which you can buy at most hardware outlets, which make a very small incision in your drywall but provide plenty of weight-bearing capabilities for hanging your speakers on.
The sound of these as I say is excellent
The bottom end is definitely there, although you won’t hear that for a lot of the movie watching that you will be doing. There are times when it kicks in, but most of the sounds that are being distributed around the back are going to be mid and high-frequency sounds.
When there is a good soundtrack pumping, you can definitely hear the bottom end settling in, which compliments nicely with the subwoofer and towers that I have also powered my movie watching and music listening experience.
The mids and trebles are crisp. And I wouldn’t hesitate to use these as front-facing speakers or particularly, ambient speakers that you could put in your kitchen or in a second living room. Anywhere where you’d like to have some music playing, but maybe you aren’t listening to it in a focused audiophile manner.
If you’re looking for an affordable surround sound pair of speakers, I can’t recommend the Fluance enough.
The 3010 bookshelf speakers were a delightful speaker to have at the back, but I also found that sitting closer to the back of the room, they were too directional for me, and it was just really pointing straight into my head, and I had to balance the sound a lot more so this reduced their ability to drive decent levels.
Because the Fluance is bipolar, you have much more of an all-encompassing surround feel with ambient noises being sent in four different directions from your surround position. It’s almost like you’re getting twice the bang for the buck.
They’re not unattractive and have been available in a couple of colors historically. I went with the black of course because that matches the rest of my units.
They would also do quite well as height speakers, certainly not from a top-down position, but definitely for an elevated mounting position.
I’m currently running them both on a wireless surround sound speaker kit which is the Dynasty ProAudio, and you can read the full review on that here. If you have any questions about the Fluance bipolar surround sound speakers, don’t hesitate to ask.
As I say, they’re a great build quality, good pins, terminals, etc. And I would highly recommend them, especially at the affordable price that they are.
You definitely will feel they’d punch above their weight.
Endless hours of experimentation, professional work, and personal investment in Home Theatre, Hi-Fi, Smart Home Automation and Headphones have come to this.
Former owner of Headphones Canada, a high-end headphone specialty retailer.
This post was last updated on 2025-01-09 / Some images from Amazon Product API & some links may be affiliate links which may earn us a commission from purchases.
Hey, nice post! Thanks for sharing this information. Keep Sharing!
Could u use 2 of these speakers on a vintage quadraphonic receiver? I’ve got the Sansui qrx 9001 receiver u can switch from stereo to quad trying to work out if I can cheat and use 2 speakers instead of 4 and get the same quad experience?
Regards jax