Floorstanding speakers for desk: yay or nay?

[wolframite]

11 x 14 feet room used as study. Soft surfaces abound (carpet, sofa, window treatments). Planning to upgrade my speakers.
Distance from speakers to listening position (my chair) will be 3 feet max.

Options (regardless of specific speaker models):

1. Monitors, two-way

2. Monitors, three-way

3. Floorstanding speakers, three-way

-- I have been living with 1, am leaning towards 2, and keep thinking about 3.
(yes technically there is an option of two-way floorstanders as well, but I am really missing the dynamic range in music = which three-ways deliver on)

Photo of desk setup attached.

Thoughts welcome?

 

[tmtomh]

Is option 3 to put floorstanding speakers on your desk, or on the floor next to the desk?

 

[wolframite]

Is option 3 to put floorstanding speakers on your desk, or on the floor next to the desk?

On the floor next to the desk, max 3 feet from listening position (chair)

 

[Joe Smith]

Don't do floorstanding speakers...that just is a poor use case for your room and listening distance, when so many good options abound with bookshelves.

 

[OldTimer]

I’d rather put a soundbar right at the middle between the two monitors. Put the soundbar behind them. It’s because your position is in the corner of the room.

 

[rationaltime]

If it were for me I would consider this.

The speakers would sound better if placed forward. I would push the laptop
off to the circular table at the side. Then slide the video monitors to the right
which opens a space on the left side. Look for some studio monitor speakers
to go left and right. Five inch might be too large. Adam Audio has the A4V
at about 6 inches wide. There are probably other brands at that size. I would
not use floor mounts for this setup.

That is my opinion.

 

[wolframite]

I’d rather put a soundbar right at the middle between the two monitors. Put the soundbar behind them. It’s because your position is in the corner of the room.

Stereo sound imaging is a pet peeve of mine (alongside dynamic range and bass extension) = a soundbar is inferior to stereo speakers in that area.
If my requirements were different, I would totally consider a soundbar.

 

[OldTimer]

Stereo sound imaging is a pet peeve of mine (alongside dynamic range and bass extension) = a soundbar is inferior to stereo speakers in that area.
If my requirements were different, I would totally consider a soundbar.

There are some that can fulfill your requirements. It also can be a center speaker.

 

[wolframite]

If it were for me I would consider this.

The speakers would sound better if placed forward. I would push the laptop
off to the circular table at the side. Then slide the video monitors to the right
which opens a space on the left side. Look for some studio monitor speakers
to go left and right. Five inch might be too large. Adam Audio has the A4V
at about 6 inches wide. There are probably other brands at that size. I would
not use floor mounts for this setup.

That is my opinion.

The laptop is something I use for conference calls = facing the laptop, and glancing sideways at the other two monitors.
Moving it to the round table (a creative idea, to be sure!), would have me either (i) angled too far away from conf calls, or (ii) being unable to looks sideways.

Is to say: laptop isn't going anywhere = hard constraint

Appreciate your creativity here still!

PS. External webcams are a no-go either, I don't want to be fighting with connecting / reconnecting / etc

 

[nerdstrike]

I imagine a muliti-way speaker of any great size would give you a very complex and possibly horrible sound field if you introduce a table very close by. With some designs you would also get no direct sound from the lower drivers.

Your common studio monitor design usually packs all the drivers in tight so that they remain coherent when you're closer to them.

With that in mind surely you could pop a sub between the tables? The omnidirectional frequencies get the big driver they need, and everything else comes from tightly clustered tweeter and mid positioned just so on the desk. You might also benefit from smaller cabinets on the desk, and with Neuman/Genelec small monitors you would also do away with the amp down in the bottom left.

Doubtless you have a reason this wasn't option 4!

 

[wolframite]

I imagine a muliti-way speaker of any great size would give you a very complex and possibly horrible sound field if you introduce a table very close by. With some designs you would also get no direct sound from the lower drivers.

Your common studio monitor design usually packs all the drivers in tight so that they remain coherent when you're closer to them.

With that in mind surely you could pop a sub between the tables? The omnidirectional frequencies get the big driver they need, and everything else comes from tightly clustered tweeter and mid positioned just so on the desk. You might also benefit from smaller cabinets on the desk, and with Neuman/Genelec small monitors you would also do away with the amp down in the bottom left.

Doubtless you have a reason this wasn't option 4!

The sub is already there alright
Bottom left corner = under the small table with the amp.

Sub will stay in place, regardless of option.

Do you mean that — even three-way monitors can struggle in this room?