Destination: Moon
Senior Member
Aside from higher SPLs, what real listening advantage do towers have over the better measuring bookshelfs, if any?
Bigger is better!
Generally, you can get more bass out of a bigger woofer and/or a bigger box.
Exactly what I do. 2 channel music floor standers no sub. Movies and multichannel music use the sub. It’s about increasing the range of way to reproduce sound in various ways. In the end, it’s about what makes you happy."And if you already have a sub?
Remove the sub and enjoy a large Soundstage with fully integrated bass drivers.
It is obvious for music listening.
Keep the sub for movies.
Definitely not obvious to me that all floorstanders are better without a sub. I have fairly capable floorstanders but they're still better with my more capable subs. Might depend on what floorstanders you have, but just being a floorstander isn't very meaningful."And if you already have a sub?
Remove the sub and enjoy a large Soundstage with fully integrated bass drivers.
It is obvious for music listening.
Keep the sub for movies.
I find the whole subwoofer thing too hard to get right; either overpowering or ineffective.Definitely not obvious to me that all floorstanders are better without a sub. I have fairly capable floorstanders but they're still better with my more capable subs. Might depend on what floorstanders you have, but just being a floorstander isn't very meaningful.
Definitely easier not to spend time properly integrating the sub, or using suitable gear for doing so. Properly integrated is an improvement IME in any case.I find the whole subwoofer thing too hard to get right; either overpowering or ineffective.
Floor standing speakers for me. No subwoofer.
"And if you already have a sub?
Remove the sub and enjoy a large Soundstage with fully integrated bass drivers.
It is obvious for music listening.
Keep the sub for movies.
IMHO floorstanders bring higher sensitivity which is a big deal unless you are actually 1 meter away from your speakers. So in a open concept living/kitchen space for example, you get much better sound quality at lower levels when further away from the speakers. Meaning bass notes and dynamics are higher SPL at a given volume position. Much nicer to listen to as background music or for a cocktail party when you want people to enjoy the music but not be dominated by it.
Also I have a subwoofer with mine and it's definitely a big improvement. especially to get those bass notes to carry at low levels around the room.
Sensitivity is an outcome of all the different decisions that the manufacturer makes. Cone material, magnet size, crossover design, Cabinet volume etc. These all impact how much SPL can be generated by the speaker at 2.8v/1m. If you look at Amir's measurements they are all taken at 2.83v/1m. What you find with the floor standers vs. the bookshelf speakers, is the floorstanders almost always have much higher DB levels (90-95db) range in the frequency response slope on the Y axis than bookshelf (85-90db) range. this tends to be due to the volume of space in the cabinet. That's where my knowledge ends I'm afraid as I don't know the engineering math on cabinet volume impact on speaker SPL/efficiency.I'm not sure what your trying to say. Aren't bookshelves made with various sensitivities? And doesn't the low end fall off universally as a function of lower volumes? I thought that the "loudness" switch on many amps (maybe old school?) was there to try and compensate for this??