Fluance ES1 Tower Loudspeaker Review

Fluance ES1 Floorstanding Loudspeaker Introduction

With its quad 5-inch woofers and 1-inch silk dome tweeter covering the top half of the loudspeaker, the 51-inch tall Fluance ES1 tower speaker system is anything but vertically challenged.  Bordering anorexia, the ES1 is sensitive and colorful but stays surprisingly composed for a $449 pair of pillar loudspeakers.  With an interesting variety of loudspeakers offered, Fluance ES1’s design diverges significantly from the form of other Fluance offerings such as their XL7F towers.

The 15-year-old Canadian based company offers a 30-day satisfaction guarantee and a lifetime warranty on all of their passive loudspeakers.  After examination of their build quality and attention to detail, it is evident that offering a lifetime warranty is a low risk proposition for Fluance.  One thing is clear; Fluance has selected a market segment and builds quality loudspeakers at value prices relative to the components used.  While build quality is important, the subjective value of sound quality is often the deciding factor for many consumers.  Fluance considers the ES1 “Higher Fidelity” loudspeakers.  We will do our best to objectively and subjectively interpret this statement.

Fluance ES1 Floorstanding Loudspeaker Design Overview

 Initially, I was very curious about the guts of the ES1 cabinet.  Specifically, I wanted to know where the extra weight came from as we are dealing with an extruded aluminum enclosure with a medium density fiberboard baffle. At 31.9 pounds, the ES1 is hardly a heavyweight but it seemed heavier than expected having experience with extruded aluminum.  I removed one of the four mid-bass drivers exposing the inside of the extruded aluminum cabinet and it was clad with vertical strips of medium density fiberboard attached to the sides and back of the extruded aluminum.  Manufacturing curved cabinets in wood products is very time consuming and expensive.  Fluance has come up with an inexpensive method to manufacture curved cabinets in aluminum using fiberboard to modify the resonant properties of the cabinet.  The cabinet is not free of resonance, but the presence of the composite material definitely helps.  It is advantageous to design a loudspeaker cabinet that is curved inside because it reduces standing waves and re-radiation of the speakers back wave through the speaker cone.  Since the ES1 is composed of flat fiberboard panels, these benefits are not fully realized .  However, the curved structure does increase the strength of the cabinet and is aesthetically pleasing.

This loudspeaker is exceedingly thin and tall.  They look pretty unobtrusive next to a flat panel television and fit in well with the look of modern electronics.  Due to the height, footprint and relatively low weight of the loudspeaker, the ES1 is extremely prone to tipping if bumped on either hard floors or carpet.  This speaker is absolutely not compatible with toddlers without further consideration.  The ES1’s center of gravity is slightly forward from the speaker’s centerline making it easier to tip forward than any other direction.  Each speaker sports 5 quality gold plated floor spikes that do what they can to stabilize the speaker but a wider base or outriggers would be helpful here.

The ES1 has the highest quality 5-way binding posts I have ever seen in this price range.  The loudspeaker supports bi-amplification via 4 binding posts.  The jumper wires between the low frequency and high frequency inputs are large diameter and tinned.  Since the jumper wire occupies the bare wire connection, it is difficult to securely connect the tinned jumper wire and bare speaker wire in the same connection.  I simply made my own jumpers out of standard speaker cable when testing with the bare wire input.  The banana terminal inputs worked flawlessly and were much easier than messing with the bare wire terminal.  It is important to note that the attention to detail in the workmanship is second to none; even the solder joints were well executed. 

ES1 High-Quality Binding Posts

The cabinet face, top and base plate are finished in a well-executed piano black.  The 4 yellow woven fiberglass mid-bass drivers and silver faced tweeter faceplate are readily visible against the black backdrop when the loudspeaker grills are off.  The grills are standard but attach to 5 chrome studs that add a nice touch when the grills are off.  The cabinet is ported to increase power handling and low frequency output.

Fluance ES1 Drivers

Four identical 5-inch yellow woven fiberglass mid-bass drivers ornament the front baffle of the ES1.  The mid-bass drivers are made from a stamped metal frame that is chromed to improve appearance.  All speakers in the ES1 are magnetically shielded.  The mid-bass driver quality is on par with what is expected at the low price these speakers are offered for. 

ES1 Mid-Woofer and Tweeter

The 1-inch ferro-fluid cooled silk dome tweeter is, in my opinion, the star of the ES1.  If the faceplate were made of metal instead of plastic, I could have easily been fooled into thinking it was a very expensive tweeter based on its build quality alone.  At this price point, most tweeters are 1/3^rd the weight of the ES1’s tweeter.  While weight does not mean everything, the construction and design just look like something you would find on a much more expensive speaker. 

Three mid-bass drivers are positioned below the tweeter and one above. The vertical array of mid-bass drivers is physically large and requires some distance for proper summing.  These are not speakers you want to sit a few feet from. 

Fluance ES1 Floorstanding Loudspeaker Sound Quality Tests

Set-Up

The Fluance ES1 pillar loudspeakers arrived double boxed with custom adequate Styrofoam collars supporting the speakers along with extra material at the top and bottom.  After unboxing the loudspeakers in my office, I screwed in the five carpet spikes and placed the speakers about 6 feet from my listening chair to get an initial impression.  During this process, I realized that the spikes and the carpet in the office were not very compatible.  Worried about the ES1’s falling on their face, I placed a piece of medium density fiberboard under each speaker to stabilize them a little more.  On plush carpet, the ES1’s need a little help.  On a solid surface the ES1’s footing is sufficient so long as no one bumps into the loudspeaker.

Listening Environment

As part of the review process, I first connected loudspeakers to the system in my home office.  This affords me the opportunity to generate an initial impression listening to background music for long listening sessions while I work on other things.  The office listening system consists of a do-it-yourself Buffalo III SE DAC with volume control connected directly to an ATI AT1505 amplifier.  I use a MacBook Pro running Audirvana connected to the DAC via USB for all music tests.  I do not typically use any form of equalization but do have the capability to use extensive equalization using Audirvana plugins.  The speakers are positioned approximately 6.5 feet apart with the listening position 8 feet away in a 12’x13’ room.

The main listening room is a large 24’ x 20’ great room with hardwood floors throughout.  The room itself is not acoustically treated.  A 12’ x 10’ area rug with thick foam padding sits between the loudspeakers and listening position.  This space is pretty reflective but has worked very well for my reference open baffle dipole loudspeakers.  Traditional loudspeakers have a tendency to sound a little harsh in the high frequency range due to reflections, but reducing the listening distance reduces this effect.  The system signal chain for testing the Fluance ES1’s was an Oppo BDP-105 connected directly to an ATI AT6012 amplifier using unbalanced connections.  The volume control in the BDP-105 was used for all listening impressions.  For high-resolution music sessions, a MacBook Pro running Audirvana was connected to the BDP-105.  The speakers were approximately 8 feet apart and just slightly toed in.

Fluance ES1 Towers

Sound Quality Tests

Looking at 4 bright yellow mid-bass drivers in a 51-inch tall cabinet, I initially expected sensitivity, low frequency extension and significant dynamic capability.  To my surprise, the lower registers were completely absent and overshadowed with an overabundance of clean high frequency reproduction.  While the sensitivity and dynamic capability met expectations, the low frequency extension did not.  The manufacturer rates this loudspeaker’s frequency response from 72-20kHz; this loudspeaker should be used with a quality subwoofer.

Norah Jones – Waiting from The Fall

When Norah Jones starts singing in this track, it is easy to immediately determine the character of a loudspeaker.  If something is out of balance, I can usually hear it in this track.  In the first 30 seconds, the words were crisp and clean with excellent imaging.  After 30 seconds, I simply had to turn the volume down.  This tweeter sounds really good at this price point and you are definitely given the opportunity to assess this.  The percussive strike of the piano only confirmed my initial impression.  I agree with Fluance’s assertion regarding the ES1’s as higher fidelity if it means pumped up high frequencies.  Since Audirvana has graphic equalizer plugin capabilities, I enabled an equalizer and reduced the high frequencies by 3 to 6 dB from 5kHz to 20kHz.  This substantially improved my listening experience and facilitated a much better response to my ears.  Since listening impressions are subjective, I will note that I tend to prefer a slightly downward sloping response curve with low frequency output slightly exceeding high frequency output.  I prefer a 3 dB to 6 dB downward slope from 20Hz to 20kHz depending on the listening environment. 

In further tests, I disabled the equalizer in Audirvana and integrated a HSU VTF-3 mk2 subwoofer at 80Hz with the subwoofer output set approximately 3dB above the 20kHz measurement using a calibrated RTA.  This definitely improved the listening experience for me.  I experimented with different listening positions and found that sitting further away from the loudspeaker improved the presentation.

David Chesky - New York Descargas from The Body Acoustic

Given the abundance of clean sounding treble, I gave this well recorded album a spin with the subwoofer still in place.  Here the high frequency reproduction aids in providing a nice airy soundstage. This recording is full of horns, a piano, an upright bass and congas.  The instruments sounded light and pleasing with plenty of depth.  As expected, some of the body of the instruments is missing due to recessed midrange relative to the high frequencies.  There was a little hint of extra mid-bass punch that is not familiar to me in this recording but was not at all offensive.  This type of recording works well for the ES1’s.

At this point I wanted to see what I could get out of the ES1’s before they cried for help.  With an underrated 150WPC ATI AT1505, I played them at levels with transient peaks well over 100dB in-room from the seating position without any hints of problems.  These speakers appear to easily handle power and do not sound strained at loud playback levels.

Radiohead – Karma Police from OK Computer

This song has a great balance of complexity, solid bass lines and some pretty decent sound staging.  The ES1’s with the subwoofer in place sounded pretty good on this recording too.  At a few busy points in this song, the high treble became unpalatably bright, but it was only for short intervals.  That same mid-bass punch that was heard on the Chesky record was also present on this song.  It is strange because it doesn’t sound like it shouldn’t be there.  However, it is not in high quality headphones or my reference system.  It is best described as the punch that definitely starts above 100Hz.

Blu-Ray:  Master and Commander

This blu-ray is an audiophile movie classic.  Since I was using a capable subwoofer during these tests, I thought it would be fun to play a movie with plenty of cannon induced low frequency thumps to the chest.  The dialog and cannonball destruction were easily handled at very high playback levels by the ES1 loudspeakers.  The high frequency extension of the ES1’s seemed at home in movies and actually enhanced the experience compared to speakers that are tamer.  However, the tradeoff is that I could only handle it for a short time.  I went back down into the 80-85dB range within the first half hour.  If the ES1’s are going to be used primarily for movies with a subwoofer, by all means this is a good speaker for home theater playback.  This is especially true if your home theater receiver has some form of room correction.

Blu-Ray: Master and Commander

Fluance ES1 Floorstanding Loudspeaker Measurement and Analysis

The measurements were conducted in conformance with Audioholics Loudspeaker Measurements Standard

Fluance ES1 On-Axis Frequency Response

The on-axis frequency response of the Fluance ES1 was conducted with the measurement microphone at 2 meters with a 2.83V excitation signal.  The results are scaled to 1 meter mathematically.  The manufacturer rates this loudspeaker’s sensitivity as 90dB at 1 meter with a 2.83V input according to their website or 86dB+/- 3dB according to the loudspeaker tag.  This discrepancy is likely attributed to measurement techniques or interpretation of results.  At some frequencies the ES1’s exceeded 90dB sensitivity however there is significant variability in the response of the speaker.  Audioholics measures sensitivity as the average sound pressure level (SPL) from 300 to 3kHz.  The ES1’s Audioholics rated sensitivity is decent at 87.6dB.  Listening tests clearly confirm a peak at approximately 150Hz as confirmed by the impedance peak at the same frequency.  This resonant peak is due to the enclosure volume and tuning configuration in conjunction with the mid-woofers resonant frequency (Fs).  This is a very high resonant frequency for a 5-inch mid-bass in a 2-way design.  The average high frequency output of the loudspeaker from the crossover at 3.5kHz to 20kHz is substantially higher than the average sensitivity from 300 to 3kHz contributing to the bright treble impression.  Since the loudspeaker can be bi-wired, it may be possible to add an L-pad attenuator to the tweeter if high frequency response is too forward.

Fluance ES1 Tag

Fluance ES1 Listening Window

The listening window response for the ES1 was conducted with a 2.83V input signal at 2 meters from 7 locations.  The measurement provides a picture of how the loudspeaker performs from seating locations that are not directly on axis with the speaker.  The top curve is the average of the other positions and provides an average of how the speaker performs throughout the listening area.  The off-axis response within the listening window area is pretty uniform in the horizontal plane.  The 15 degrees vertical measurements have suck outs due to lobing error based on the driver arrangement.

Fluance ES1 Polar Response

The polar response graph shows how a loudspeaker performs at various angles.  The polar response graph above is generated by measuring a loudspeaker at 7.5 degree intervals around a circle on the tweeter axis from 2 meters.  The Fluance ES1 has excellent polar response from 0-60 degrees.  The color variations at given angles versus frequency are solely due to the uneven frequency response and are not due to changes in off-axis performance.

Fluance ES1 Impedance

The impedance of the Fluance ES1 remains above the IEC 8 ohm minimum threshold of 6.4 Ohms throughout the entire audio band.  At approximately 9kHz, the loudspeaker reaches a minimum impedance just below 7 ohms.  This loudspeaker represents an easy load for the majority of amplifiers on the market.  Due to relatively high sensitivity, a 100-watt amplifier is a good match to drive this loudspeaker to very loud volumes.

Fluance ES1 Harmonic Distortion

The harmonic distortion graph was generated using a 90dB stepped sinusoid sweep measured at 2 meters.  The above harmonic distortion is marginal with 3^rd order distortion products reaching over 2% in the high frequencies.  This may be attributed to cabinet resonance issues.   

Fluance ES1 Cumulative Spectral Decay

Cumulative spectral decay is derived from the impulse response measurement made with a 90dB excitation signal at 2 meters.  The cumulative spectral decay shows how sound at various frequencies dies out as a function of time.  It is important to note that the left most ridge is not valid and is a product of the measurement technique.  A strong ridge is noticed between 2kHz-3kHz and the subsequent harmonics.  Although the extruded aluminum cabinet is suspected, this measurement does not pinpoint the source.

Fluance ES1 Group Delay

The group delay graph shows the rate of change of the slope of a loudspeaker’s phase.  As a rule of thumb, values below 1.6ms in the mid to high frequencies will likely not effect perception of sound quality.  Increasing group delay in the low frequencies is not as objectionable as it is in the mid to high frequency ranges.  

ES1 Conclusion

The Fluance ES1 loudspeakers are definitely an interesting design.  The build quality is on the very high side for this price point.  The slim and tall cabinet is attractive and looks good sitting next to a big screen television so long as they do not get knocked over on accident.  Sensitivity is on the high side so they can be used with most home theater receivers or standalone amplifiers. If you are inclined, they fully support bi-amplification into substantial binding posts. 

The ES1’s produce an excellent soundstage although the treble is definitely a little too high compared to the mid and low frequencies.  There is a substantial resonant peak at 150Hz that doesn’t really sound terrible, but the low frequency response rolls off below 150Hz.  This loudspeaker requires a subwoofer for music or for home theater.  The ES1 shines as an attractive and affordable home theater main loudspeaker.  With room correction or equalization, the ES1’s sound pretty good for music too, especially considering the price.

Fluance ES1 Tower Review

MSRP: $449/pr

1.888.61.SOUND (1.888.617.6863)

Fluance ES1 Product Page

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Dynamic Range
Performance
Value