Fluance SVHTB Home Theater Speaker System Preview

If someone were to tell you that they had a full 5.0 speaker system and that it cost less than $630 with free shipping, you'd probably immediately label it a Home Theater in a Box. That price point? All it needs is an included receiver of some sort and it's good to go. But if you were then told that the speakers were floorstanding mains, wall mounted surrounds and an oversized center channel, you'd understand how we felt when we looked at the new Fluance SV complete home theater speaker package. Sort of confused and not really sure what to think.

Fluance is a company that has a long history of lower cost speaker systems and have been, for many years, the "go-to" recommendation for the question, "I'm new, I'm cheap, and I want speakers. What should I buy?" The biggest obstacle that Fluance often faces is the disbelief of potential customers that any speaker can be quality at Fluance's price points. Our recent review of the Fluance XL7F has helped answer that question in the affirmative.

How new are the Fluance SV series speakers? They don't even have a real photograph of the speakers on their website. Instead, we are treated to the rendering we attached to this preview article. But even from the rendering, you can see that you aren't getting just another HTiB solution. Each of the speakers are constructed out of MDF and are horizontally and vertically braced. The SV series feature a ported, bass-reflex design, 1" Neodymiun balanced silk dome tweeters, and 5" polymer treated midranges. The floorstanding front speakers also have side-firing 8" drivers and house the midrange drivers in their own enclosures.

Fluance has thought about your speaker placement with the new SV series. The towers include 1" floor spikes for use with carpet. The drivers are also magnetically shielded for placement near legacy displays and some media storage solutions. The center channel is front ported so that it can be more easily placed in entertainment centers and on the wall (it is actually wall mountable). The specifications page says that the surrounds are rear ported (like the towers) but the picture suggests otherwise. Since the surrounds are also wall mountable, we tend to think the picture is correct.

The front speakers weigh in at nearly 39 lbs a piece and are 40.3 X 6.4 X 14.4 inches (H x W x D). The center is a hefty 14 lbs and is 6.5 x 21.6 x 9.8 inches (H x W x D). The surrounds are the size of a medium sized bookshelf speaker at 12.6 x 9.8 x 6.3 inches (H x W x D) and weigh 16.3 lbs. From a performance standpoint, the SV series looks to be very impressive. The towers are rated down to 42Hz, the center to 60Hz, and the surrounds to 60Hz. Even if these claims are overstated, what this tells us is this system will have no problems blending in with a subwoofer (which you'll have to buy separately) crossed over at 80Hz.

The entire line of SV speakers is rated 8-ohm nominal, ensuring they'll play well with just about receiver. At this price point, that is an important feature as consumers are likely to pair these with an entry level receiver. The drivers are all flush-mounted to reduce baffle related diffraction. The grilles are also flush fit to reduce other coloration of the sound reproduction. The SV series only come in a natural beech vinyl wrap, which means that if you were hoping for Black or Dark Cherry you'll have to keep waiting.

Conclusion

It would be easy to discount the new SV series speakers from Fluance simply because of price. At $629.99 with free shipping, how could any 5.0 system be good? Add to that floorstanding speaker bragging a response down to 42Hz and we'd understand your skepticism. But after hearing some Fluance offerings for ourselves, we can't help but be excited. The email we got from Fluance claimed that "the SVHTB is Easily our best 5 speaker home theater system to date." If that is even close to true, this could be the next go-to recommendation for those on a budget. Look forward to a review of the Fluance SVHTB here on Audioholics.com soon.

For more information, please visit www.fluance.com.

Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.