In this video I’m reviewing the Fluance Ri71 powered bookshelf speakers, and I’m doing it from a very real-world perspective: bad placement. My living room setup is where we share music casually as a family, and like a lot of smaller British homes, there’s simply no space for proper stands, distance from the wall, or ideal positioning. So these speakers are tested exactly where many speakers struggle—against the wall, inside an alcove, boxed in between chimney breasts—because I’m not turning the living room into a dedicated listening room and compromising my marriage. The big reason the Ri71 caught my eye is the front-firing bass port. Rear-ported designs can get boomy and muddy when they’re shoved up against a wall, so I wanted something more forgiving. I go through the key features (60W per channel Class D, AMT tweeter, 5-inch woven glass woofer, RCA/Bluetooth/HDMI ARC, tone controls, sub out, channel swapping, and the ability to turn off the LED), and then focus on what matters: sound. In my setup the bass stayed surprisingly controlled, the midrange was clean and balanced, and the top end had air and detail without turning harsh. Bottom line: if you want a simple, uncluttered, modern living-room system that just lets you get on with the music, the Ri71s make a lot of sense.