The Fluance Reference XL8S ranks #88 out of 177 total Medium Size Bookshelf Speakers for sound quality. See all Passive Home rankings for every top pick.
Brand: Fluance
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#88 Fluance Reference XL8S: $179.99 per pair Fluance $179.99 eBay
Pros: An inexpensive two-way bookshelf with a soft dome tweeter and a 5-inch woofer that reaches 54.5Hz at -3dB in Archimago’s measurements, deep for its size and price. Measured bass extension of 54.5Hz (-3dB).
Cons: The on-axis response is uneven (0.79 band deviation) and the predicted in-room response is not smooth (0.58), giving a score of 3.53, or 5.60 with an ideal subwoofer, behind most current budget bookshelves. Fluance showed it out of stock when checked, and the measurement is a home test rather than an anechoic one.
| Bass Extension (-10dB) | about 39.4Hz (derived, log-interpolated between spinorama.org -9dB/-12dB points) |
|---|---|
| Bass Extension (-3dB) | 54.5Hz (measured, Archimago) |
| DIY Kit | No |
| Drivers | 1” neodymium soft dome tweeter, 5” woven glass fiber woofer |
| Spinorama Preference Score | 3.53 (spinorama.org) |
| Spinorama Preference Score with Perfect Sub | 5.60 (spinorama.org) |
| Woofer Cabinet | ported |
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Frequency Response
How the Fluance Reference XL8S measures across the audible range. A flatter listening window (the sound arriving straight at you) is more neutral: peaks sound forward or harsh, dips sound recessed. The estimated in-room response adds what a typical room does, and there a gentle, even tilt down toward the treble is ideal. Both curves are shifted so their 300 Hz to 3 kHz average sits at 0 dB.
Measurement data: spinorama.org, measured by an independent reviewer.
EQ for a Neutral Response
Flattens the measured listening window from the Fluance Reference XL8S's own bass extension up to 16 kHz. Set a preamp of -3.1 dB, then add these filters to any parametric equalizer in the signal path: the speaker's app or DSP if it has parametric EQ, a miniDSP, Equalizer APO or Wavelet. Boosts are kept to 3 dB, and EQ cannot fix how evenly the speaker spreads sound off-axis, which is why some speakers gain more than others. Predicted preference score with this EQ: 4.1, up from 3.5 (6.2 with an ideal subwoofer, up from 5.6). Calculated by Speaker Ranking from the spinorama measurements above.
| Filter | Frequency | Gain | Q |
|---|---|---|---|
| High shelf | 8,000 Hz | +1.6 dB | 0.70 |
| Peak | 99 Hz | -1.7 dB | 2.00 |
| Peak | 1,114 Hz | -3.6 dB | 3.05 |
| Peak | 3,194 Hz | +3.0 dB | 1.14 |