Fluance Ai41 Powered 5-inch Stereo Bookshelf Speakers Review: Solid sound, good wood looks

Wood accents on PC accessories (like the Fractal North case or the Keychron K2 HE Special Edition) are a fairly new trend — and one that I personally love. But companies have been using wood cabinets to enclose loudspeakers since before the invention of stereo sound. And speakers with wood veneer exteriors — usually atop manufactured wood shells — remain popular, though more so in the bookshelf category than in typical PC speakers.

But as a pair of powered 5-inch powered speakers with RCA, Bluetooth 5.0, and optical connectivity, Fluance's Ai41 speakers can do double duty as a partner for the Canadian company's popular turntables, and / or for use with a PC if you want something more substantial than, say, the AudioEngine A2+. And they're available in one of three wood varieties, with black or white face plates. After testing them for a few weeks, I found Fluance's speakers to be pleasant, if not ground-breaking, with their 90W continuous (2x 45W) Class D amplifier able to drive the speakers effortlessly — even at max volume.

Also of note for those who like to frequently adjust bass and treble to dial in the best sound for music or gaming: The included remote has separate volume, bass, and treble controls. That's a handy feature that my Audioengine A5+ speakers lack, despite costing more than twice as much as the Fluance Ai41's $249. Just make sure you have a good amount of desk space for these (or any 5-inch bookshelf speakers), because at 10.9 x 6.5 x 7.6 inches (HWD), they're quite a bit bigger than most traditional 2.0 desktop speaker setups.

Design and features of the Fluance Ai41

Fluance sells its Ai41 Powered 5-inch Stereo Bookshelf Speakers in three wood species shades: walnut (brown), ash (black), or bamboo, with walnut offered with either a black or white front plate, ash available just with a black front, and bamboo only available with a white front. The 5-inch main drivers are made of a glass fiber composite, while the 1-inch neodymium tweeters are soft dome silk. The speakers ship without any kind of protective grille, so they probably aren't the best choice for homes with young children or rambunctious pets, unless you plan on placing them well out of easy reach. And that can be tough to do, since you want speakers to be more or less in line with your head for the best listening experience. 

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Fluance shipped us the striking walnut / white color combo, and I appreciate that all color options are the same $249 price. I had to pay extra for the bamboo cabinet on my Audioengine speakers (have I mentioned I like wood accents?). I also think the Fluance speakers in this color look better than my Audioengine speakers.

That said, our review unit arrived during a rainy few days, with a big hole in the side of the box and a small dent on the front of the right speaker cabinet. It's not that noticeable from a few feet away, but it's prominent up close. Hopefully this is a fluke and not an issue with the packaging itself. However, the speakers shipped in their retail box, and a larger outer box may have prevented this issue.

Those unfamiliar with traditional speakers may be a bit surprised to see that these speakers connect to each other via ordinary 18-gauge speaker wire, but the screw-down connectors feel solid and substantial, and there's eight feet of included cable, which should be more than enough for proper separation. (If you want your speakers further apart than this, you should probably be buying larger speakers.)

As for other connectivity, there's a sub output for turning this into a 2.1 system with more bass thump, RCA jacks and optical inputs for physically connecting to equipment or a PC, and Bluetooth 5.0. There's no mention of AptX for higher-quality, lower-latency audio streaming, but I connected the speakers to my 4K projector via Bluetooth and noticed no audio sync issues over days of use while watching various streaming services. And I had the speakers in the front of the room and the projector on the ceiling at the back — about 14 feet away.

Also on the back of the right speaker is a power cable for the internal power supply, a reset switch for Bluetooth control, a power switch, and a cute little Canadian flag tag. Up front, there's a single volume knob that can also be pressed to switch between wired and wireless connection modes.

Then there's the slim Amazon Fire TV-like remote that has more functionality and fine controls than remotes that ship with most speakers that cost considerably more. You get the usual power and mute buttons, track controls, and volume buttons in a circular pattern. Below that is a source button as well as a brightness control for the connectivity-indicating LED that sits next to the volume wheel on the speaker (super handy to keep the glow under control when watching movies or sleeping), as well as separate controls for volume and bass.

I found the out-of-the-box balance of the speakers to be good for movies and most music. I imagine the bass and treble controls will be a lot more useful if you also have a subwoofer connected. Still, this is a very nice remote for a $250 set of speakers.

The only thing that really feels missing out of the box is any kind of RCA cable for wired connectivity — I had to supply this myself to do our PC-based testing. Fluance's turntables come with RCA cables, so you won't need a set if you're pairing the Ai41s with a record player setup. But for PC and other uses, it would be nice to see an RCA-to-3.5mm cable included.

AptX support would have also been nice, but I honestly didn't miss it when using the speakers with my projector, connected over Bluetooth. The sound was never out of sync with people talking on the screen. And the sound quality and separation were much better than when using my $200 Yamaha YAS-108 soundbar.

Specs

Performance of the Fluance Ai41

Music and movies played through the Fluance Ai41s sounded very good for speakers in the $250 price range, if not quite as loud as I expected, given their size.

Don't get me wrong. We measured Fluance's speakers at 89.2 dBA at just 50% volume. That's louder halfway up than the excellent (but much smaller) Audioengine A2+'s maximum measured output of 85.6 dBA. And at max volume, the Ai41s 94 dBA is more than enough for anyone sitting at a desk (unless they have some kind of profound hearing loss). That said, we measured the Blueant Soundblade at up to 104 dBA (which, as we said in the review, is arguably too loud for desktop speakers).

Measurements aside, the first word that comes to mind about the Fluance Ai41's sound output is "effortless." At whatever volume level you prefer, these speakers pump out pleasing sound, with no discernable evidence that the 90W (total) amplifier hardware is struggling to keep up. There's also a good amount of bass, thanks in part to ports on the back of the cabinets.

If you really love bass, consider adding a subwoofer. And, if you like your music loud and will be listening to your speakers from across the room, you may want to consider the larger $299 Fluance Ai61. You'd need even more desk space (or speaker stands) for those 6.5-inch speaker cabinets, making them more or less beyond the reasonable realm of desktop speakers – unless, perhaps, you have a very large desk.

Bottom Line

If you like how they look and can make room for them in your desk setup, Flance's Ai41s make for a great desk audio setup that can also elevate your workspace aesthetic. Audio output is a cut above most smaller desktop speakers in terms of quality and volume, and sounds clean and effortless at any volume level.

You also get a versatile remote with separate bass and treble controls, and even the ability to adjust the brightness of (or turn off) the status LED. A subwoofer port will let you add more bass, but I didn't find that lacking for desk-based listening. 

At $249 standard (and just $212 on Amazon when I was finishing up this review), Fluance's Ai41s are a great step-up in sound and looks from more traditional PC speakers, and are a good value for all they deliver.