Bookshelf or tower speakers for a small room?

[Darwin]

I’ve read that tower speakers in a small room can overwhelm the room causing reflections and less stereo separation among other things.
I’m using Revel Concerta 2 M16 bookshelves right now and they sound great but I was thinking of getting the F35 towers instead. They are connected to the new Sonos Amp with Sonos Sub and rear Sonos Ones. I turn everything to stereo only for the front speakers and sub for music. The only time I use 5.1 and turn on the rear speakers is for movies. Most of the time it is a 2.1 setup.
Thoughts on this?

 

[RayDunzl]

I'd think if you have room for (apparently) 5.1, you'd have room for a floorstanding speaker.

I'd think the issue is "are you far enough away" so the sound from the more widely vertically spaced drivers arrive with the proper relative timing.

Reflections should remain about the same between a floorstander and stand mount/bookshelf if occupying the same position in the room.

Room nodes might be differently excited if going from single sub to stereo or even three-way woofing.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it too much, and get what I want.

"Overwhelm the room" - there's usually a little knob to twist in the counterclockwise direction, or some buttons to push, to control that.

 

[soundwave76]

Take the DSP room correction route and you will never look back. Trust me. I recommend Genelec monitors.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Room reflections aren’t going to change much, if at all, with any speaker. It’s a function of how “live” or “dead” the room itself is. Rooms with large glass windows, cinderblock walls and ceramic tile floors will have lots of reflections. Rooms with wall-to-wall carpet, heavy drapes and large over-stuffed furniture - not so much.

Stereo imaging is a function of the speaker’s design. Assuming an identical driver array (except for additional low frequency drivers), imaging wouldn’t change much, if at all, with a bookshelf vs. tower speaker from the same model line.

The main difference between the bookshelf and tower will be bass output. Presumably the tower speaker would be designed to sound “correct” in a larger room, so the same speaker in small room may well end up sounding “bass heavy.” That may be the “overwhelm” factor you heard about. Even high-passed due to the use of a sub, the bass output above the crossover frequency might still be prodigious enough to not sound right in a smaller room.

Personally, it sounds like what you currently have is ideal for your room, unless you feel the mid- and upper bass from the M16 is lacking.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Darwin]

Thanks for the replies. Wayne you are probably correct that I’m good with what I have.

 

[andreasmaaan]

Unless the room is very small, smaller tower speakers like the F35 are unlikely to overwhelm it with bass output IMO. What are your room dimensions and what are the general construction materials (e.g. brick, stone, drywall etc)?

 

[LightninBoy]

Concerta to Performa line itself would be a step up. From 2 way to 3 way would be another step up. As Ray said, the only concern I would have is can you sit far enough away so that the drivers integrate. I wouldn't worry about bass output overwhelming the room.