Fluance Ai41 Speakers Review
Who Are The Fluance Ai41 Speakers For?
- The Fluance Ai41 speakers are ideal for someone who wants incredible speakers for a decent price
- The Ai41 speakers have a warm tone and a surprisingly strong bass response
- The Ai41 speakers have a number of connection options including Bluetooth, making them great for multiple devices
Speakers! They're like headphones, but for a room instead of a person. Or something. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but we're looking at some fantastic speakers from Fluance today. The Fluance Ai41 speakers offer some fantastic audio quality while also providing a number of ways to be used.
Classy Looks
The Fluance Ai41 speakers are pretty attractive and elegant, allowing them to fit into just about any decor. There are four different styles for the Ai41, some light and some dark, but they're all made out of wood.
While it is very likely intentional, the Ai41 speakers pair beautifully with the Fluance RT85 turntable or any of the Fluance turntable options. Similar wood types are options for both turntables and speakers, allowing users to really coordinate their audio hardware.
At a little over 10 inches tall and a little over six inches wide, the Ai41 speakers don't take up much space either. They are a little heavy, but nothing too unwieldy. They are also powered speakers, meaning they don't require any additional receiver or amplifier to be used. That said, they do need to be plugged in themselves. Thankfully, only one speaker needs a power cable.
Easy Set Up
The Fluance Ai41 speakers are very easy to set up. The biggest problem I had was making sure I had enough outlet space for the Ai41 power cable. However, once I had rearranged some plugs all I had left to do was plug my turntable into the speakers via RCA cables and connect the speakers to each other with the included wiring.
There are a few playback modes on the Ai41, each indicated by a different color LED light. For example, red means the speakers are off while green means the speakers are using the RCA connection. To pair a phone or laptop to the Ai41, simply change the mode until the LED light is blinking blue. From there, the speakers should be available to pair like any other Bluetooth speaker or headset.
Multipurpose Use
One of the nicest parts of the Fluance Ai41 speakers is that they have a number of ways to connect to them. There is the obvious connection with the RCA plugs, but there is also a less obvious connection with the optical audio port. As a nice bonus, there is also Bluetooth support built right into the Ai41s. This means I can easily hop from my record player to my phone or laptop in seconds.
Fine, If Unnecessary, Remote
The Fluance Ai41 speakers come with a remote control which is fine enough, though a little unnecessary. The remote is capable of adjusting playback volume, skipping or repeating tracks (assuming the device playing audio is capable of skipping tracks), jumping between input sources and adjusting bass and treble. The last function the remote can do is adjust the brightness of the LED on the front of the speaker. This may seem like overkill, but that LED is surprisingly bright. I had to dim it so I won't be blinded by it when the other lights in my apartment are off.
Almost all of these functions can be performed right on the Ai41 speakers themselves. The only feature that the remote is absolutely necessary for is the bass and treble adjustments, as there aren't any knobs or dials on the Ai41s to make these adjustments manually.
Lovely Sound Quality
We've covered just about every detail and feature the Fluance Ai41 speakers have except for the big one: sound quality. So let's dive in here. My most immediate reaction to the Ai41 speakers is that they are tuned to be a fairly warm sound. This is made all the more noticeable thanks to the use of wood for housing the speakers.
What really impressed me with the Ai41 speakers is that the bass response is fantastic considering there is no dedicated subwoofer on the basic set of speakers. When listening to music, I actually managed to get my couch to start vibrating. Granted, that was listening to some bass-heavy music. When listening to something more mellow, like a podcast, the speakers produced a warm, almost glowing sound. The podcast host's voice was crystal clear, but it almost felt like I was listening to a live performance on a sunny day. If someone wants even more bass there is a port to plug in a subwoofer on the back of the Ai41s.
Outside of bass performance, the Ai41 speakers offer some fantastic quality. Mids and highs come through perfectly and never feel like they are fighting for a presence in the audio mix. The overall mix is still on the warm side, but it makes listening to audio such a nice experience. It truly feels like I was ready to lay out in a hammock whenever I put something on, regardless of what it was.
If I had one complaint about the Ai41 speakers, it's that quiet parts of songs like whispered vocals can sometimes get lost among everything else. This can be adjusted a little by changing up the bass and treble with the remote, but doing so could cause issues when listening to other audio.
Final Thoughts
The attractive looks of the Fluance Ai41 speakers are matched only by their performance. For a set of speakers without a dedicated subwoofer, the Ai41s can really pump out some impressive audio. Bass response is punchy, but warm, and doesn't overpower the rest of the mix.
The fact that the Ai41 speakers have three different methods of connecting to other devices is impressive, and having the ability to jump from a record to a podcast on my phone within seconds is awesome. I do wish adjusting bass and treble levels wasn't tied exclusively to the remote, but other than that the Ai41 speakers are practically perfect.
