Do you prefer floorstanding speakers or bookshelf speakers? Which do you find sound generally better at the same pricepoint?

[Deleted member 5620]

Is it ok to use bookshelf speakers as monitors, on a desk, by the way?

Why not? As long as you get some sort of isolation to reduce desk coupling and can deal with reflections.

All that to say, don't put your speaker boxes directly on your desk.

 

[daftcombo]

Why not? As long as you get some sort of isolation to reduce desk coupling and can deal with reflections.

All that to say, don't put your speaker boxes directly on your desk.

It is only temporary but yes you are right I should put something between the boxes and wooden desk.

 

[gfx_1]

Floorstanders in the living room, bookshelf speakers on the desk. I prefer the diy route bought a couple of kits over the years from a shop in a nearby city.

 

[Sal1950]

At the same price point? The lower the price point the more stand mount speakers will have an advantage because the cabinet is the most expensive part. At high price points stand mounts are low value compared to floor standers. At medium price points floor standers will most likely sound better in large rooms, stand mounts in small rooms.

I often scratch my head wondering what any manufacturer can put in a small stand mount speaker for it to cost in multiples of thousands of dollars? Wilson TuneTot's $10k a pair? The Duettes are $22.5k a pair???

 

[stunta]

I often scratch my head wondering what any manufacturer can put in a small stand mount speaker for it to cost in multiples of thousands of dollars? Wilson TuneTot's $10k a pair? The Duettes are $22.5k a pair???

Diamonds and pearls.

 

[aarons915]

I often scratch my head wondering what any manufacturer can put in a small stand mount speaker for it to cost in multiples of thousands of dollars? Wilson TuneTot's $10k a pair? The Duettes are $22.5k a pair???

I agree for the most part, a good example is the Revel M126be, they are good speakers no doubt but the build quality doesn't seem much better, if any, than the Performa3 series at half the price. On the other hand, I finally got a listen to the KEF Reference 1 and even though I think 8k is a bit ridiculous for a pair of speakers they were the most solidly built speakers I've ever seen and sound better than anything I've heard as well. It's hard to justify the price though when the LS50's with subs get me close at 1/8 the price.

 

[prerich]

Floorstanders and for the really deep bass, I have a coulple of subs, but I've resently listened to the Whispers without subs and they can still dig down around the mid - upper 20's without shame.

 

[Bknop]

I have generally used bookshelf speakers due to portability/space/finding used for cheap. For a main room, I personally prefer ones with a 10 or 12 inch woofer. The common 6 1/2" woofer and dome tweeter bookshelves are generally not my cup of tea. I personally like vintage design, paper drivers, first order crossovers and higher sensitivity. Sure they are not as accurate as modern designs, but they have character.

 

[MattHooper]

Ultimately, I prefer floor standing speakers for the scale of sound, wider frequency range, and greater ease of dynamics.

I still love stand mounted speakers though.
I have three different pairs of stand mounted speakers that I will throw into my system for a while and there’s always something somehow refreshing about the presentation. The effortless way they disappear as a sound sources among them.

Also, I truly love how easy they are to move around when I want to play with or dial in speaker positioning. It’s a joy after trying to do that with larger speakers in my room.

However, as much as I love the sound of the stand amount of speakers and I might live with a pair set up for maybe a couple weeks or a month or so, I inevitably start missing the scale and impact of my bigger speakers, and they go back in the system.

 

[BobbyTimmons]

Ultimately, I prefer floor standing speakers for the scale of sound, wider frequency range, and greater ease of dynamics.

I still love stand mounted speakers though.
I have three different pairs of stand mounted speakers that I will throw into my system for a while and there’s always something somehow refreshing about the presentation. The effortless way they disappear as a sound sources among them.

Also, I truly love how easy they are to move around when I want to play with or dial in speaker positioning. It’s a joy after trying to do that with larger speakers in my room.

However, as much as I love the sound of the stand amount of speakers and I might live with a pair set up for maybe a couple weeks or a month or so, I inevitably start missing the scale and impact of my bigger speakers, and they go back in the system.

One of the advantages of book shelf speakers is being able to adjust their vertical height if you have height adjustable stands so you can the get the tweeter to the perfect height for your listening position. With floorstanders you have to adjust the height of your seating position.

 

[BobbyTimmons]

I agree for the most part, a good example is the Revel M126be, they are good speakers no doubt but the build quality doesn't seem much better, if any, than the Performa3 series at half the price. On the other hand, I finally got a listen to the KEF Reference 1 and even though I think 8k is a bit ridiculous for a pair of speakers they were the most solidly built speakers I've ever seen and sound better than anything I've heard as well. It's hard to justify the price though when the LS50's with subs get me close at 1/8 the price.

The M126be sound significantly more detailed than the Performa3 series. It's due to their beryllium tweeter. You notice with classical chamber music and acoustic instrument recordings.

 

[MattHooper]

One of the advantages of book shelf speakers is being able to adjust their vertical height if you have height adjustable stands so you can the get the tweeter to the perfect height for your listening position. With floorstanders you have to adjust the height of your seating position.

Yes, potentially with stand mounted speakers you can adjust the height up or down with your choice of stands.

Still, there’s some manipulation you can do with floor standing speakers using footers or other materials underneath the speaker.
Generally, though this means manipulating the speakers higher, but never lower (unless you mimic that perhaps by tilting the speaker more towards you).

My floorstanding speakers are actually quite small about 36 inches high. A while back I built a marble isolation base to place them on (they were sitting on springy wood floors).
Not only did I manage to tighten up the bass, but I enjoyed the raised sound stage height as well, which gave him more expensive and realistic sound stage and imaging. And I was also able to manipulate the height to get exactly the tone I was looking for as well.

 

[Sal1950]

With floorstanders you have to adjust the height of your seating position.

Ah, there are any number of ways to adjust floorstanders.
Any type of riser underneath them works. A minor tilt by raising the rear a bit will lower the MLP focus.

 

[BobbyTimmons]

Yes, potentially with stand mounted speakers you can adjust the height up or down with your choice of stands.

Still, there’s some manipulation you can do with floor standing speakers using footers or other materials underneath the speaker.
Generally, though this means manipulating the speakers higher, but never lower (unless you mimic that perhaps by tilting the speaker more towards you).

My floorstanding speakers are actually quite small about 36 inches high. A while back I built a marble isolation base to place them on (they were sitting on springy wood floors).
Not only did I manage to tighten up the bass, but I enjoyed the raised sound stage height as well, which gave him more expensive and realistic sound stage and imaging. And I was also able to manipulate the height to get exactly the tone I was looking for as well.

In concert halls you often have a raised stage and the players above you. Many instruments also project sound upwards like pianos, French horns, violins. I have found sitting below the tweeter axis creates more of a sense of being in a real concert as sound is often coming from above in live events. Although for many speakers being too far below the tweeter axis is unfortunately bad for their tonality and for some the tonality is slightly better above the tweeter axis.

 

[MattHooper]

In concert halls you often have a raised stage and the players above you. Many instruments also project sound upwards like pianos, French horns, violins. I have found sitting below the tweeter axis creates more of a sense of being in a real concert as sound is often coming from above in live events. Although for many speakers being too far below the tweeter axis is unfortunately bad for their tonality and for some the tonality is slightly better above the tweeter axis.

Yup.

One loudspeaker I was considering before I bought these ones was significantly shorter (Devore 0/96) and they were designed with the expectation that the listeners ears would be above the tweeter, and so the crossover and drivers were designed to cohere with the ears above the tweeter height.

Fortunately my Joseph Persoective2 are actually pretty lenient in the vertical domain, and in fact the optimal sound has the ears below the tweeter slightly.

 

[Bknop]

Larger speakers win. For example, experiencing open baffle speakers with 3x15 inch vertically stacked woofers per side gives a new understanding reproducing soundstage. It's the closest I've come to live music.

 

[BobbyTimmons]

Yup.

One loudspeaker I was considering before I bought these ones was significantly shorter (Devore 0/96) and they were designed with the expectation that the listeners ears would be above the tweeter, and so the crossover and drivers were designed to cohere with the ears above the tweeter height.

Fortunately my Joseph Persoective2 are actually pretty lenient in the vertical domain, and in fact the optimal sound as the ears below the tweeter slightly.

In the old jazz clubs where the records were made the musicians would be quite far above ear level even without acconting for the fact instruments like the piano instrinsically project sound upwards. With speakers that tonality is often best with the ears at or slightly below the tweeter level but the sound stage when listening to "Sunday at the Village Vanguard" should ideally be above the listener.

 

[NTK]

In concert halls you often have a raised stage and the players above you. Many instruments also project sound upwards like pianos, French horns, violins. I have found sitting below the tweeter axis creates more of a sense of being in a real concert as sound is often coming from above in live events. Although for many speakers being too far below the tweeter axis is unfortunately bad for their tonality and for some the tonality is slightly better above the tweeter axis.

Aren't the best seats in concert halls usually located in the balcony?

 

[Snarfie]

"I prefer floorstanding speakers for pure listening enjoyment, despite pricepoint. It really depends on what you want to use them for.

Bookshelf speakers or monitors are designed to sound direct and precise because of the short listening distance i presume, which is likely where the term 'monitor' comes from.

They act almost like high-end headphones in their immediacy. Compared to floorstanders, there is a significant difference in the listening experience regarding imaging and soundstage they offer a completely different dimensional audio experience.
In my workflow, I primarily use monitors for mastering tasks as a hobby.

They are essential for accurately assessing LUFS levels and the precision of instruments and vocals. In this context, they are honest.

However, for immersive listening and relaxation, floorstanding speakers are my absolute favorite.
Crucially, this preference holds true only under one condition the room acoustics must be properly corrected (using room treatment and or DSP) for both types if your room acoustics are questionable imo.

 

[BobbyTimmons]

Aren't the best seats in concert halls usually located in the balcony?

In the opera house. From the lower balcony the voices of the singers blend with the orchestra and you could see the whole stage, the expressions on the faces of the singers and follow the drama. The sound blends with the hall and comes from all sides.

If you're listening to Miles Davis, or a violinist or pianist from a seated position close by the sound is coming from above your ears.