Fluance XL8F review: Aesthetic beauty and beastly sound

We’ve reviewed many Fluance products in the past but this is the first time we’ve taken a pair of its loudspeakers for a spin. The Fluance XL8F are a pair of beautifully crafted floor-standing loudspeakers that deliver in both beauty and sound.

Floor-standing loudspeakers aren’t for everyone, especially if you’re short on space. But for those who are in the market for this sound solution, well, then the Fluance XL8F are certainly a pair to consider.

Before we move into the review we should mention two things. We tested these speakers mostly with movies, TV, and gaming. While we did play music on these, it wasn’t the primary use. Also, we tested these speakers using a Sony STRDH790 A/V receiver. Read on for the full review of the Fluance XL8F floor-standing loudspeakers.

Specifications

The Fluance XL8F has the following features and specifcations:

SPEAKER CONFIGURATION	3 Way – 4 Driver Floorstanding Main Speakers (pair)
TWEETER	1 inch Neodymium Balanced Silk Dome Ferrofluid Cooled
MIDRANGE	Dual 6.5 inch Woven Glass Fiber Composite Drivers with Butyl Rubber Surrounds
WOOFER	Isolated Down-firing 8 inch Polymer Treated High Excursion Driver with Butyl Rubber Surround
POWER HANDLING	80 – 160 Watts RMS
FREQUENCY RESPONSE	35Hz – 25KHz
SENSITIVITY	87dB @ 1W / 1m
CROSSOVER FREQUENCY	100/3000 Hz Phase Coherent – PCB Mounted Circuitry
IMPEDANCE	8 Ohm Compatible
ENCLOSURE	Tuned Rear Dual Port Bass Reflex Tower Design Dampened
DIMENSIONS	45.86 x 9.25 x 12.99 inches (HxWxD)
SPEAKER WEIGHT	47.70 pounds/speaker
SERIES	REFERENCE
CERTIFICATIONS	CE Certified
DOLBY ATMOS	Ideal for use as front speakers in a Dolby Atmos Surround Sound System

What’s In The Box

• Two High-Performance Floorstanding Fluance XL8F Speakers
• Eight Isolation Floor Spikes
• Two Magnetic Front Grills
• Instruction Manual
• Lifetime Customer Support
• Lifetime Parts and Labor Manufacturers direct Warranty

Design

The Fluance XL8F loudspeakers aren’t exactly compact, standing at just over 3 and a half feet tall and just over a foot deep. This type of sound solution is certainly not going to be for everyone, especially if you’re short on space. But, if you’re reading this, you’ve probably taken size consideration into account.

The company says the Fluance XL8F enclosure is designed with rigid internal bracing to avoid unwanted resonance and dual rear ports for a controlled low-frequency response. Silk dome neodymium tweeters are made to produce crisp, natural highs while providing spacious off-axis dispersion.

Fluance offers the XL8F in Black Ash or Natural Walnut, both high-quality wood enclosures. The front of the loudspeakers is made of a high-quality glossy black plastic that is pretty easy to clean with a soft micro-fiber cloth.

You’ll find dual 6.5 inch woven glass fiber composite drivers with butyl rubber surrounds in the front. You’ll also find a 1-inch neodymium balanced silk dome ferrofluid-cooled tweeter. Covering the front is a magnetic grill that protects the speakers, although it looks better without it.

The enclosure is sitting on four posts, which allows the sound from the isolated down-firing 8-inch polymer treated high excursion driver with butyl rubber surround subwoofer to resonate.

The Fluance XL8F are not only large in dimension, but they also weigh in at just over 47lbs. That’s not light, and it could take two people to move these around.

Overall, the design is beautiful. The materials used are high-quality, and attention to detail is most obviously there.

Setup

Setting up and unpacking the Fluance XL8F loudspeakers is fairly easy. The hardest part is their size and weight, so you may need a second set of hands to help.

Once unpacked, it’s just a matter of screwing in the isolating floor spikes, which help with vibration, and then placing the speakers where you want them. Once placed, all you have to do is connect them to your receiver.

You can buy basic speaker wire for the job and screw the bare wire into the connectors, or you can invest in a decent to high-quality banana plug speaker wire. We opted for the GearIT 12AWG Premium Heavy Duty Gold Plated Speaker Wire. Banana plugs are great and make the connection super simple.

Overall, not many other tech devices are this simple to set up; most anyone can handle this setup.

Sound

As I mentioned in the intro of this review, I tested the Fluance XL8F loudspeakers mostly with movies, TV, and gaming. I did listen to some streaming music as well but not nearly as much as I did movies.

That being said, music sounds fantastic on these. Using only streaming sources, I could hear details on albums that you can only hear with high-quality headphones. These are very dynamic speakers and reproduce music faithfully and accurately. At least in my estimation.

Movie playback is amazing. The down-firing subwoofers do an excellent job of producing that rumble in intense scenes, and the sound was immersive and dynamic overall. The same goes for TV shows and series we watched.

Gaming was also great. You get the sensation of being in the game, and as mentioned before, the dynamics were outstanding.

Overall, the sound these loudspeakers produce is just beautiful and beastly. They handle music amazingly well, but they also make movies sound stellar, along with games and TV.

Price/Value

The Fluance XL8F is priced at US$599.99, and that’s a big hit to the wallet. But in reality, most people looking at these loudspeakers are already invested in their audio, so this is no surprise. I believe these speakers are priced appropriately and competitively. They offer a lot of value to the user looking for this type of sound solution, and they sound amazing.

Overall, the Fluance XL8F are full bodied with great dynamic range for the price being asked for them.

Wrap Up

Floor-standing loudspeakers aren’t for everyone and the Fluance XL8F loudspeakers are certainly beastly in both stature and sound. I think users who are in the market for this sort of sound solution will absolutely love these for the price to value ratio.

That being said, I think if you’re considering dabbling into a pair of floor-standing loudspeakers and receiver, the XL8F are an excellent starting point. There are many other brands and speakers that cost far more and the XL8F stand toe-to-toe with a lot of them.

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Last Updated on February 3, 2021.