Fluance SXBP2 Home Theater Bipolar Surround Sound Speakers (Black Ash)

I had a tight budget for a home theatre installation and thought I'd give these speakers a try and was glad I did. For under $200 I didn't have high expectations going in but I must say these speakers exceeded my expectations considering their price and did a great sound for surround sound on a 5.1 theatre setup. First off surround sound speakers are used infrequently and therefore are not as important as the Center Channel Speaker or Left and Right front speaker. A good quality subwoofer is also much more important than surround sound speakers. If you have a tight budget like I did, put 75-90% of your speaker budget into the front speakers and sub and only 10-20% of the budget into the surround sound speakers. My surround sound system consists of some Monitor Audio Speakers for the LCR, an NHT Subwoofer and yes the two Fluance SXBP2 speakers for surround. My Receiver is a Marantz AVR with Audyssey Speaker Equalization and that my friends is one of the secrets to getting good sound from your theatre system. Proper speaker calibration will equalize the speakers in the room and often compensate for various acoustical differences. Speaker calibration can sometimes make average or mediocre speakers sound great, especially when used in non-critical applications like surround sound. Fluance Speakers are Made in Canada .. I was surprised to learn this and didn't know prior to purchasing. Build quality is good considering the price. The speaker cabinets are built out of particle board and covered in a black, wood grain semi flat vinyl laminate. Each speaker has a two screw hanging bracket on the back and the speakers have binding post connectors. I did find the speakers to be rather frustrating to mount. First off there is no template in the box so I had to make one up. Seconding the mounting bracket requires two screws and is wider than a single stud so you will need at least one drywall anchor to mount the speaker. Next you have to be very careful to get your mounting screws level otherwise your speaker will look crooked on the wall. Lastly the binding posts are not recessed enough to allow for the use of banana plugs when wall mounting. SOUND: The first word I would use to describe the sound of these speakers is Bright. There is not much base from the 4" woofers but that's ok since most surround sound is effects and not full range. The bipolar driver arrangement provides a wide sound field and good dispersion making them excellent speakers for surround sound. Overall I'm highly impressed with these Fluance Surround Sound Speakers for the price. If you are on a tight budget have an AVR receiver with a good speaker calibration program these Flunance speakers will sound great and definitely do the job. I would recommend these speakers for home theatre surround sound on a budget and would use them again.

Good all round product and have integrated well in my surround system

I had originally bought these speakers for my rear-channel speakers, to complete a 7.1 surround sound set-up. After a great deal of testing, I realized the rear-channel speakers aren't that significant, so I am just using a cheap pair of Dual indoor/outdoor speakers to cover the rear. Before these speakers arrived, I was using a pair of Sony SS-B1000 bookshelfs for my surround sound speakers. They did an OK job because they are decent and powerful speakers. Still, the sound was loud and harsh and subtle surround sound details were often lost in translation, against the backdrop of my subwoofer and main speakers. After reading all the rave reviews on Amazon, I decided to use my Fluance AVBP2s for my surround speakers in the home theater I have set up in my family room. I have just purchased a brand new and more powerful receiver, a set of new main speakers, a new center channel speaker, and a new subwoofer. I have since moved the Sony SS-B1000 bookshelf speakers, my old Pioneer receiver, and my old Sony subwoofer into my garage, where I have recently set up a sound system. I instantly noticed a huge difference in sound engagement. For example, when I turned my system up at full blast during a movie, the sound delivery was suddenly much cleaner and the surround effects were significantly brighter and clearer, like they were intended to be. Instead of sounding like a stereo system trying to play movies like it had before, now my system sounds like a THX setup in a movie theater. These speakers not only have great range, but also surprisingly, subtle timbre. The tonal quality is both unexpected and superb... at least in my opinion anyway. The most outstanding feature is that they play so well with my new main speakers (Sony SSF-5000s), my new center-channel speaker (Cerwin Vegas XLS-6C), and my powerful new subwoofer (Klipsch Sub 12HG). They tend to move out of the way and let my main speakers and sub drive the deep and pounding base, but still manage to play in complete harmony with my center channel speaker, in order to deliver crisp dialogue and finely detailed sound effects. In conclusion, I highly recommend these speakers. Note: I would also recommend that you specifically use them as surround speakers, as these Fluance speakers are well made, they sound great, and the bi-directional capabilities could not be a better way to derive great sound from your 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound setup.

Little expensive when u import from US. However, the sound is amazing.using it as a surround speaker. It simply compliments my HT with its sound and design.

the speakers arrived well packaged .after unwrapping they looked well made and finnished with wall hangings, set them up as surround speakers sound realy good would recommend to those on a budget