Ok guys, I'll start by saying my experience with audio is that I use to sell it at Best Buy (Yes I always told customers to stay away from bose and Yamaha Speakers!) I also knew that the combination of Yamaha receivers and Klipsch was way too bright, and thats why I always and only sold Athena setups.
My last Setup was Athena As-F1's, As-c1, As-r1's and a Klipsch ksw 10 woofer with a Yamaha htr-5790 receiver.
My current setup and the one I'll will discuss in this review is the New Fluance SX-HTB+ package and the Pioneer Elite VSX-52TX AV receiver.
My dvd player is a Denon 1910 and my Cd player is the Onkyo CDX-390(currently the only one they offer)
I have a Monster Power HTS 3500 Reference surge center with full monster cables and 16 gauge wire.
Ok on to the receiver: My initial thoughts were that this pioneer looked really classy and high end without the price to go with it. I was right. Setup was a breaze and the calibration took me around 10 minutes once I got the hang of the remote. The remote just plain sucks...cluttered and confusing and doesnt include video 1 and 2 on it, I have to change it to those inputs from the front panel of the receiver. Its weight is a good 34 pounds and it has a good amount of inputs including component video upconversion, which I really needed. The downside is that it only has 3 fiber optic inputs and dvd and SAT are not on them that way. You have to use the Coax for the CD player and Dvd player if you want everything to run smooth. Not a big deal, Coax is very comparible to fiber optics anyway. Getting the cables in their corresponding area was a snap too. The subwoofer input is in the very middle of the other inputs instead of being seperate from them, like on my yammie. But the instructions label it very well. Lots of different DSP modes to choose from including loudness/midnight with bass and treble control. The MCACC is very good with the exception of the speaker frequencies, those I had to tweak alittle bit. Other than that it's a HUGE improvement over the Yammie.
Now on to what so many of you frugal cheapos want to know, The Fluance speakers.
I will start by saying this.......OH MY GOD. The build, weight, material, size, depth and ability to bi-wire them is great! They came double boxed from Fluance in 7 business days with tracking too. I was use to the width of the Athenas in exchange for the height. Now the Fluance towers are not much higher but they are much thinner which makes them look higher. The tweets are a nice silk construction, while the woofers have a good rubber material around them. The cones themselves I'm not too sure about, but I would have liked them to be out of polypropolene for better flexibility. The center Channel matches perfectly in size and construction aswell as the rear surrounds. The surrounds are quite small and are easily wall mountable but I have stands anyway.
Now on to the Best part, the combination of both. Once I got everything set up and everything wired correctly with the calibration finally done, I fired up my cd player. My first test was Hip-Hop. Why? Because Hip Hop generally sounds like crap because it is crap and seems harsh no matter what speakers they are played on. I put in T.I. and to my biggest surprise, it sounded very detailed, clear, precise and wide. My Athenas were tough to listen to when it came to this cd so I was expecting worse from Fluance on it. NOT A CHANCE!
I turned up the volume alittle bit, while still observing the break in period and the speakers just sound like pure gold with the 52tx. I have them playing right now too! WHAT WHAT! LOL
I ran frantically downstairs and grabbed my left over AS-B1'S and put them in the Rear surround input to do some A/B testing. I played each section for 20 seconds before switching again.
Fluance won hands down!
I tried some 70's like steve miller band "blinded by the light", SteppenWolf "Magic Carpet Ride" and to my COMPLETE SURPRISE I could almost understand the words on magic carpet ride! Anyone who has listened to this without reading the lyrics knows exactly what I mean.
Blinded by the light sounded open, detailed, very warm and neutral and easy on the ears. The little crazy mini techno beats were very clear and precise while the imaging stayed very open.
Then I put in some good ole' beach boys, Cars, beatles, rolling stones. Everything sounded very realistic and believable. Some people have said that Fluance sounds bright, but not at all with this combination I have. Its a completely new way to listen to the same music and actually really enjoy it! haha
Lastly I switched back and forth from some Classical music because something, as I figured, had to bring Fluance down a knotch. NOPE! While on the Athenas and Fluance, Beethoven, Bach and some various Opera sounded very similar, Fluance was just alittle bit ahead in clarity. The highs were high without making my ears bleed or making my dog look over at the speakers, while on the Athenas it sounded alittle harsh.
Movies: I popped in Pearl Harbor (cuz i hate Josh hartnet and enjoyed seeing mr hero get shot! jk) and put it towards the scene with the Jap planes coming in from the back. I was completely emersed in the experience and it sounded true and accurate. There was no delay and everything moved with the speakers effortlessly. Im going to do the Matrix later tonight and we shall see how that sounds too.
The total amount that I spent was $336 for the speakers shipped to me.
$430 shipped for the Pioneer Elite receiver. I payed a grand total of $766 for a new setup and my God was it worth it.
The speakers still have some more break in to do but that means its only going to sound better when I've had them for a week or so.
I know that in this day and Age if its too good to be true....run away from whatever it is. A Kia may be a good car (not really though) but it isnt a ferrari either. What I mean is that we as consumers are use to paying out the butt for quality merchandise because inexpensive things are crap. 95% of the time this is true.
HOWEVER! This is one of the very few products still left out on the market where you get a lot more than what you pay for. I was initially very very very very skeptical, being that I worked at Best Buy and was use to selling crap to people for cheap. I didnt want to do the same to myself. I called the techs at Fluance about 5 times and chatted with them over my concerns and they answered all my questions. They were willing to stay on the phone for 20 minutes at a time when I already told them that I wasnt buying that day.
I would COMPLETELY AND HIGHLY recommend this setup to anyone who thinks that inexpensive things are still crap.
Overall, this is so far, one of the best all around sounding systems that is under the $1200 mark that I have heard. I would highly encourage anyone to give Fluance a test in their own home. Shipping is expensive but I will say right here and now, that if you try it, you are going to love them.
If you guys have any questions or comments, I will be happy to answer as best I can.
great to hear that you're enjoying the new setup. A few thoughts:
It's possible that the famously warm Elite is "taming" those Fluance speakers.
It's also possible that the rear channel or "B" amps on the Elite are not nearly as good quality as the "A" mains amps...I've heard some people report that for a number of different receivers. Try an A/B test with the Athenas on the same "A" mains speaker outputs (if you have banana plugs for easy plugging/unplugging of course).
I'm not discounting the possibility that the Fluance speakers might indeed be better than the B-1s, of course. Anything is possible these days, if someone had told me that $230 Panny outpowers my NAD separates a few months ago I would've thought they were nuts...LOL
gotcha....i dunno though, the athenas were pretty bright even with the new receiver. I would have to say probabaly no.
I mean in most cases with the music i used, the fluance just sounded more pleasing in many aspects, whereas the athenas sounded the same in most areas, alittle bright somtimes.