What do floor standers really bring to the table?

[snaimpally]

There are a couple of things you get with a floorstander. You usually get more drivers, especially woofers, for extended bass. In addition, you have more volume if it is a ported box which also gets you extended bass. Further, a floorstander will (if designed well) deliver a larger soundstage.

Ideally, a well designed floorstander does not have to be used with a subwoofer. For example, look at the new BMR towers that have response down to 25Hz.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

I think its presentation its different.

I prefer a floorstanding sounding, its more dynamic and bigger rather than something in the middle... floorstanding speakers tend to have more tactile bass and bigger sounding... its more about the fun and enjoy the music...., personally i find the '' tower '' presentation more realistic with more tactile sounding instead of something in the middle without weight.
I had the R300 and now the R7, really big difference in SPL and weight in the bass
I don't wanna use subs. Too many things, i like the idea of 2.0 channel music setup with floorstanding speakers.. but if i got a really good place, the floorstanding still can cross with subs .

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

Big speakers just sound bigger than smaller ones...

That's very true!

 

[GDK]

I dealt with this very recently. I had a pair of small Sonus Faber floorstanders and a pair of Kef R3s, both crossed to a pair of SVS subwoofers in my small listening room. When they were both EQ’ed (with Audiolense), I could not tell the difference between them in sighted, fast switching. The floorstanders did not have more punch at all. So I sold the SFs as they were worth more and kept the Kefs.

I think if you are going to cross to a pair of subs, which is necessary to get a full range out of nearly all speakers, then you might as well save the money and get bookshelves.

 

[Martin]

The speaker designer has already taken care of the bass frequency integration. I like the looks of floor standers and I love the sound of my Von Schweikert VR4 Gen III HSE.

Martin

 

[Kvalsvoll]

Aside from higher SPLs, what real listening advantage do towers have over the better measuring bookshelfs, if any?

Part from anything performance related, they are simply much more practical to place. I have some quite small speakers, that are floorstanding, simply because it is a better overall design.

 

[Bob from Florida]

Bass response and you can't knock the speaker off the stand.

 

[Kaval]

I am using Cadence Diva floorstanding speakers 2.0 (two-way, 8-ohm, front-ported speakers with a stated frequency range of 42 Hz to 25 kHz, a sensitivity of 88.5 dB, and a power handling range of 50 to 200 watts).

I have recently got an SMSL DA-9 Amplifier that has a sub out.

Some days back, I thought of using sub out of amp by adding Edifier T5 subwoofer (8" Speaker Driver, low pass filter with 38Hz frequency response). I can only afford this subwoofer and is readily available in my country. So other subwoofers are out of my consideration.

A forum member who is well versed in these matters suggested I won't gain much in terms of lower frequencies by adding a T5 woofer into my setup as my floorstanders' frequency range starts from 42 Hz while of Edifier at 37 Hz.

Plus, the subwoofer may require proper adjustment and tuning to gel with my floorstanders, which may not be worthwhile the efforts, money, and space.

So I dropped off the idea.

After reading this thread, I thought of seeking your expert advice too.

Do you think T5 is worthwhile in my existing 2.0 audio setup?

 

[MattHooper]

I wasn't talking about speakers like the above, but I bet that my four 18" subs, each in an 8 cubic foot cabinet would beat the bass shit out of that Wilson and leave it as roadkill. No brag, just fact.

Good Lord!

 

[Galliardist]

I wasn't talking about speakers like the above, but I bet that my four 18" subs, each in an 8 cubic foot cabinet would beat the bass shit out of that Wilson and leave it as roadkill. No brag, just fact.

Must do a great job with your emasculated vinyl bass, rumble, and any warped records..

 

[sigbergaudio]

That's very true!

Or is it?

Why would that be?

 

[Ultrasonic]

I've used subwoofers with both floorstanding speakers and standmounts. A key benefit not mentioned so far is the freedom to position them in the room where the bass performance is best, whereas no matter how 'integrated' the drivers are on floorstanding speakers their placement is still restricted by where you want them for stereo imaging.

One aspect that I feel tends to cloud the standmounts vs floorstanders debate is the general tendancy for companies to increase performance across the frequency range as speakers get bigger and target more bass extension. I'd be interested in say a high-quality 3-way standmount (or floorstander) that made no attempt to go below say 60 Hz (since I'd use a sub), but I don't believe such things exist?

 

[sigbergaudio]

I've used subwoofers with both floorstanding speakers and standmounts. A key benefit not mentioned so far is the freedom to position them in the room where the bass performance is best, whereas no matter how 'integrated' the drivers are on floorstanding speakers their placement is still restricted by where you want them for stereo imaging.

One aspect that I feel tends to cloud the standmounts vs floorstanders debate is the general tendancy for companies to increase performance across the frequency range as speakers get bigger and target more bass extension. I'd be interested in say a high-quality 3-way standmount (or floorstander) that made no attempt to go below say 60 Hz (since I'd use a sub), but I don't believe such things exist?

M&K Sound makes passive speakers like that, admittedly targeted mostly towards home cinema. We make active speakers like that, targeted to the hifi/music audience.

 

[TLEDDY]

you can't knock the speaker off the stand.

^^^^^ this

Small children and mind-altered adults can do catastrophic damage! Speaking from sad experience.

 

[abdo123]

From my understanding, a speaker with larger / additional woofers would have either:

1) higher sensitivity

or

2) lower frequency extension

and in both cases the speaker would have higher max output / linear excursion than a speaker with less / smaller woofers.

 

[Kaval]

Attached is a pic of my living room where I listen to music.

Since there is hardly any place to keep a woofer next to my speakers, I was thinking of keeping the woofer inside a no-door wooden closet (see red circle) that is located behind the curtain, which means at least 1 foot behind the speakers and also behind the curtains.

What do you say about the proposed location of the woofer? Your gut-feeling comments are also welcome.

 

[cany89]

I don’t get where people got the impression of floorstander without subs are ok. There is a big difference listening to music and being in front of the stage. If you want to get that feel you need more than 8 inch woofer sitting in a small cabin.

Get a big woofer and set it up correctly. Bookshelf or floorstander, doesn’t matter. They all need a woofer.

 

[Ultrasonic]

I don’t get where people got the impression of floorstander without subs are ok.

Errr, because people have been very happily using speakers that way for decades? It's the concept of using a subwoofer with floorstanding (or even standmount) speakers domestically that it comparitively recent. Modern DSP for integration also makes the proposition much more viable than it used to be.

 

[killdozzer]

I think approaching this subject from a different angle gives you good, straight answers. First you decide which room in the house will be your listening room. Then how big it is. Then you buy appropriate speakers. Bigger speakers are for bigger rooms. You don't buy them for your neighbor's envy or for bragging rights. That's the advantage of towers. Bookshelves + sub still miss the woofer in most cases and that might show in a large listening area.

Moving on; towers don't have subs, but bass. Most towers could also benefit from subs as subs cover the part of the audio band below the bass. Subs are, of course, not obligatory, but none of this is anyway. OTOH, if you ask can a tower benefit from a good sub, the answer is almost always yes.

So, you don't put massive towers in a small room. Having KEF Blade in 4x6m (12x18 feet) is simply useless. You won't be using 40% of what they could do. Also, you don't put KEF LSX in a 9x12m (27x36 feet) room. You match the dB output and enclosure volume to the volume of the listening room.

 

[Matias]

I don’t get where people got the impression of floorstander without subs are ok. There is a big difference listening to music and being in front of the stage. If you want to get that feel you need more than 8 inch woofer sitting in a small cabin.

Get a big woofer and set it up correctly. Bookshelf or floorstander, doesn’t matter. They all need a woofer.

When I bought my new sub I was very curious to see how much it would contribute to extend the lows of my main towers, which already go to 32 Hz. So I cut it there too, put on some bass heavy music and turned up the volume. Was sounding great and all, so I turned off the speakers amp just to hear how much the sub was contributing. To my surprise nothing at all! I had to stick my ear next to the sub to hear the low frequency low amplitude rumble it brought, but it was like 0.001%! At the same loud volume I was hearing before!

This experience convinced me that my speakers are fine for stereo and the sub would be used for HT only.