Fluid Audio FX50

Wonderful budget monitor speakers

I've been mixing music on these monitors for over a year now. I find them to very revealing and flat with excellent stereo separation. My experience is they need to be mounted in the sweet spot listening zone which is a simple task guided by the helpful front LED's. There is some noticeable hiss when active. However, this in no way interferes with the quality of the audio output. Loudness and bass response is superb for such a small footprint. Mids and highs are neutral, revealing and not fatiguing. The excellent auto standby feature works as it should when no audio signal is detected. The rear dip switches helpfully allow you to fine tune output frequencies to your acoustic space and choice of XLR, Jack and phono connectivity is is well implemented and appreciated. I can't possibly see how you'd find better quality monitors at this price. You can of course spend a lot more on small mid range monitors from bigger companies. But why bother? These FX50's are serious professional monitor speakers, look stylish and sound professional too

I expected a lot for the price given their design, and they still overdelivered.

To preface, these were bought to replace cheap but similarly-sized speakers as surrounds in my 4.1 setup. The setup is used for music, movies, and games.

The speakers came double-boxed and lightly but well packaged with dense, closed-cell foam.

The fit and finish is very good at any price, especially at just €159 each. There are no seams in the laminate which has a consistent matte finish and avoids the usual finger-print-magnet-ness that many cheaper monitors suffer with.

They feature dip-switch room/EQ controls, lessening accidental changes when moving. The volume potentiometer has firm steps, which at 12 o-clock didn't measurably vary, making level-matching is a breeze.

Now, onto the sound. To start, the amplifiers have very little hiss or noise, and I'm yet to push them enough to hear any noticeable distortion. The speakers, being coaxial and quite deep, means they have a very small frontal profile and easily fit almost anywhere, while still commanding a surprisingly deep and controlled low-end which caught me off-guard. It won't punch you in the chest like a sub or larger woofer would, but it is definitely there.

The highs/mids aren't anything groundbreaking, but are excellent nonetheless. While the mid-bass seems to be where most of their impact comes from, their sound is overall very well balanced.

The coaxial nature also lends itself to extremely good imaging, as with most coaxial speakers. They seem to have quite a wide sweet-spot, also, which is excellent if using for, say, a home-theatre or in any scenario where multiple seating positions are often occupied.

These speakers deal with boundary gain and room related muddiness better than most monitors I've heard . This can likely be attributed to their front-facing port and the much more rigid-feeling cabinet construction than most at this price-point. They still noticeably benefit from being given space, but you will not lose half of the sound by throwing them in a corner if that's your only option.

I’ve had JBL LSR-305s as my main monitors, and exchanged them for Adam A7Xs. The FX50s sit closer to the Adam’s in my experience, despite being far closer to the 305s in price. While they do not compete with the A7Xs' clarity or overall sound, they are 'smoother', giving a more relaxed sound without lacking agility or sounding 'slow'. Also, they're less than a third of the price!

They are slightly more expensive than the LSR-305s but I would say worth every penny if you’re looking for a still very affordable set of monitors.

Overall, I'm incredibly impressed at what was initially a throwaway purchase to get a little more from my surrounds. They are priced well, built well, and perform well. These would do well in any setup.