The Fluid Audio FX8 is a clear full-range studio monitor from one of the audio world’s newest and most exciting manufacturers!
Fluid’s experienced head engineer, Kevin Zuccaro, has designed monitors for some of biggest global audio brands, before starting Fluid Audio to bring his vision of affordable audio excellence to the world. He has already designed some of Store DJ’s best-selling speakers, and the Fluid Audio FX8 is already one of our favourite monitors for electronic music production and DJ Studio use.
The first thing you’ll notice about the FX8 is that the tweeter is cunningly mounted within the woofer. In designing the FX8, Fluid Audio drew on many inspirations. In particular the design team were impressed by the Manley Tannoy speakers that used a co-axial drivers - they just wanted to do it at a price that put it in reach of everyone, not just those with professional studio budgets!
In fact, this co-axial (or dual concentric) speaker format is becoming popular with forward-thinking speaker manufacturers for 2 important reasons:
The first benefit of the co-axial design is that all frequencies (bass and midrange from the woofer and high frequencies from the tweeter) radiate from the same point in space. So wherever you are in relation to the speakers, you are the same distance from both the tweeter and the woofer, and the sound from both drivers reaches you at the exact same time.
This is huge because suddenly your off-axis response is much more consistent (meaning your sweet spot is bigger and more even), and the speaker's response doesn't change whether they are standing up of laying down.
Secondly, you can shrink the height of the speakers. It's not optimum to have huge, clumsy speakers on your console or stands...and most 2-ways are so tall that the tweeter is firing over your head anyway, then you have to tilt them down... and that notion is kind of scary when you are talking about a moving, pulsating music source in a room full of valuable music gear!
Of course you can put monolithic speakers on their side - but then the speaker imaging gets skewed because the high frequency energy is bouncing off the surface they're sitting on. Not to mention, what was the vertical off-axis response is now the horizontal off-axis response, minimising your sweet spot in the listening position. Another compromise! The FX8’s solve this with their co-axial design.
The tweeter waveguide was designed in such a way (using the same geometry as the F5 waveguide) to maximise the low frequency response of the tweeter and better integrate with the woofer.
Using a 4th order crossover we were able to make the drivers phase coherent, and create a seamless transition between woofer and tweeter. Getting the phase correct between the drivers is crucial to having great midrange, with depth and transparency.
The FX8's also include all of the great features and benefits of the other Fader Series speakers as well. The amplifier supplies 130 Watts of Class A/B power to each cabinet, and the heat sink and standby circuit allow them to operate conveniently and reliably.
The Fader volume control and bass reflex port on the front baffle allow for ease of use and placement. Whether you’re mixing music in a professional studio, a project studio, or you are using them to tighten up your DJ mixing at home, the FX8's work perfectly with all types of music.
Features
- Frequency response: 35 Hz – 22 kHz
- Crossover frequency: 2.4 kHz
- Low-frequency amplifier power: 80 watts
- High-frequency amplifier power: 50 watts
- Signal-to-noise: > 100 dB (typical A-weighted)
- Polarity: Positive signal at + input produces outward LF one displacement
- Input impedance: 20 k ohms balanced, 10 k ohms unbalanced
- Input sensitivity: 85 mV pink noise input produces 95dBA output SPL @ one meter with volume control at maximum (102dB Max SPL)
- Power: 115V ~50/60 Hz or 230V~50/60 Hz user swithable.
- Protection: RF interference, output current limiting, over temperature, turn on/off transient, subsonic filter, external mains fuse
- Cabinet: Vinyl-laminated MDF
- Size (single monitor): 340mm (H) x 254mm (W) x 270mm (D)
- Weight (single monitor): 9.8 kg