Canadian hi-fi audio gear makers Fluance is making a play for the discerning listener with two new additions to its Reference Series powered speakers — the reasonably-priced Ri71 bookshelf speakers and the Ri91 tower speakers that the company promises will deliver power, clarity, and music the way the artists intended it to be heard.
With its sights set on the cost-conscious audiophile crowd, both the Ri71 and Ri91 feature the company’s Air Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeters, which it says will deliver crisp, detailed high frequencies. The speakers also feature Fluance’s custom-engineered waveguides around the tweeters to “guide” the sound, broaden its dispersion, hence creating a wider soundstage. Think of it as filling the room with sound, not just blasting it from a single point.
The two new Reference Series offerings are also big on connectivity, with Bluetooth aptX HD onboard for high-quality wireless streaming, HDMI ARC for easy home theater integration, and RCA inputs for connecting additional sound sources like the best turntables and CD players. If big bass is your thing, a subwoofer output lets you add one with ease. The Ri71 and Ri91 also come with a remote, giving you control over those bass and treble adjustments, as well as other basic features.
Breaking down the models, the $400 per pair Ri71 bookshelf speakers are powered by a 120-watt amplifier and feature 5-inch woven glass fiber drivers that Fluance is touting as having rich midrange and deep bass, “making listeners feel as though they are in the studio with the artists.” Fluance’s digital signal processing (DSP) helps to fine-tune the vocals, low frequencies, and overall balance.
The MDF wood cabinets are rigidly designed to be acoustically dead to minimize unwanted resonance, and a front-firing port clears things up even further by reducing resonance.
Stepping up to the $800 Ri91 tower speakers gets you a more powerful 150-watt amplifier and dual 6.5-inch woven glass fiber drivers. These floor-standing speakers pick up where the Ai81 Elite powered speakers left off. They’re built for room-filling sound and also use the improved AMT tweeters, DSP, and a front-firing bass port for excellent clarity and frequency response. Like the Ri71, the Ri91 also features an acoustically inert MDF wood cabinet.
“Our new Reference Series Speakers are a testament to our commitment to fidelity, emphasizing sonic balance, intricate detail, and clarity in sound reproduction,” said Saied Swalee, Audio Engineer at Fluance. “This series appeals to the refined tastes of true sound connoisseurs, providing an unmatched listening experience without compromise.”
The Fluance Ri71 bookshelf speakers will set you back $400, while the Ri91 tower speakers are priced at $800, and both models are available in Black Ash, White Ash, and Walnut finishes. They are available now at Fluance.com.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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