Never owned towers, should I stay with monitors?

[sneabs]

I have been looking at purchasing some speakers with the ascend sierra lx on the top of my list. I have a large subwoofer to go with it. But im
Also interested in some full range towers as another option. Arendals, ascend towers, philharmonic. Or are there any other full range towers that would be woth looking into or just stay with ascends and subs.

 

[G|force]

I use Genelec 8341's in a bedroom and I use modified JBL4343 with 8 ch. DSP and 8 independent amplifier channels in another room.
They both serve their purpose and are equally satisfying to listen to.

 

[MarkS]

A lot more info is needed to give a useful answer: room size and speaker placement, system use (music only? what kind of music? how loud?), how sub will be integrated, current speakers and how satisfied you are with them (eg is there some specific sonic attribute you are going for with an upgrade?), etc.

 

[Looneybomber]

A sub just adds an extra “way” for the sound to be split between drivers. A 2-way monitor becomes a 3-way with detached, powered woofer. A 3-way tower becomes a 4-way with detached, powered woofer. While the subwoofer negates some of the benefits you get with a large 3-way tower, the 3-way is still going to have enough differences that they should not be excluded from consideration. There is more to a speaker than just the bottom one or two octaves of output. Consider all of your options if your budget permits.

 

[Oddball]

You have to pick your poison yourself. Good towers will for sure play louder and with less distortion than good bookshelves, but do you care for it is what you need to decide. Bookshelves might have better "imaging" whatever that means, although good towers can excel in creating the "bigger" soundstage.

Take a look at Amin's review of Revel 328 towers. Some people just fall in love with towers and that's it.

 

[DVDdoug]

A sub just adds an extra “way” for the sound to be split between drivers.

Good answer!

Note that you NEED a subwoofer to get the "point one" LFE in movies. The downmix includes "regular bass" but the LFE is thrown-away.

 

[Multicore]

I have been looking at purchasing some speakers with the ascend sierra lx on the top of my list. I have a large subwoofer to go with it. But im
Also interested in some full range towers as another option. Arendals, ascend towers, philharmonic. Or are there any other full range towers that would be woth looking into or just stay with ascends and subs.

You should be able to get good results either way. We went with towers because there's really nowhere to put subs in the room without them being in the way.

 

[BJL]

I also use floor standing (i.e. tower) speakers. I find that they fill the room with sound both stereo and multichannel. They also eliminate the need to bother with speaker stands. The only disadvantage is that they are a bit heavy and awkward especially if you need to move, and they tend to visually dominate the room. But as far as sound quality is concerned, they are great. I do not use a subwoofer other than for the .1 LFE channel for multichannel music/movies, and not at all for stereo, but this is a personal matter. I found that using the sub with the towers spoiled the imaging.

I have Revel F208 (stereo/LR) and F206 (everything else), but there are many good choices available.

 

[sneabs]

A lot more info is needed to give a useful answer: room size and speaker placement, system use (music only? what kind of music? how loud?), how sub will be integrated, current speakers and how satisfied you are with them (eg is there some specific sonic attribute you are going for with an upgrade?), etc.

Sorry I did not provide more context

1. They would be used for HT and music

2. Can’t comment on room placement and size because I plan on moving soon

3. I want to avoid speakers that would be bright/fatiguing at all

4. I have some small Cambridge audio bookshelves that were modded by Dennis Murphy

5. I like many types of music. I do like mid bass slam

6. I was thinking I might like a speaker that would be full range enough to the extent where I could turn off the sub and still have satisfying bass

 

[AVKS]

Sorry I did not provide more context

1. They would be used for HT and music

2. Can’t comment on room placement and size because I plan on moving soon

3. I want to avoid speakers that would be bright/fatiguing at all

4. I have some small Cambridge audio bookshelves that were modded by Dennis Murphy

5. I like many types of music. I do like mid bass slam

6. I was thinking I might like a speaker that would be full range enough to the extent where I could turn off the sub and still have satisfying bass

What is your budget, given you've already mentioned the Sierra LX? I have the a pair of LXs and love them on my desk, but for a regular system I will likely never go back to monitors due to preference for clean headroom and (typically) greater efficiency.

 

[LTig]

Sorry I did not provide more context

1. They would be used for HT and music

2. Can’t comment on room placement and size because I plan on moving soon

Then wait with any purchase until you know the size of the future room. Then come back and ask for advice.

 

[geek101]

I have been looking at purchasing some speakers with the ascend sierra lx on the top of my list. I have a large subwoofer to go with it. But im
Also interested in some full range towers as another option. Arendals, ascend towers, philharmonic. Or are there any other full range towers that would be woth looking into or just stay with ascends and subs.

what are your budget considerations?

 

[MarkS]

I replaced my Ascend Sierra Towers with RAAL Tweeter with Revel F228Be and it's a HUGE difference.

Which model Sierra Towers did you have? Currently, they sell two different ones, the v2 and the ELX (and both have a RAAL tweeter option).

 

[dlaloum]

If you use Room EQ, some of the EQ systems leverage the additional SUB capabilities of full range / tower speakers.

Many other setups simply cross over to the sub and let the sub handle the bottom end.

I am looking at moving to Dirac ART sometime over the next couple of years, and as such, have focused on having full range speakers as my base layer in a 5.1.4 setup... this means I now have 4 speakers capable of 24Hz in addition to my sub... it also means that I have 4 more locations providing bass (in terms of working around room nodes/nulls)

For Stereo, I run as 2.1 using "double bass" (bass is fed to both speakers and sub) - with EQ to get the levels right... the results are excellent

 

[sneabs]

what are your budget considerations?

Let’s say $10,000

 

[geek101]

Let’s say $10,000

Kef r11 meta (amir review)
Mofi source point 888 (Erin review)

Look at the passive towers list suggestion thread , it is bucketed by price ranges and sorted by SQ score.

Good freq response, good horizontal and vertical dispersion, no serious directivity errors. Distortion is controlled.

Some people prefer much more horizontal dispersion at expense of vertical dispersion.

Your room and placement makes a big difference. Try using REW simulator to find out optimal speaker and listening position placement along with your sub.

from my understanding there aren’t any true 20hz to 20khz towers for below $10k. You will need 12” woofers (depends on room size), large cabinets and high amplification. Hence sub is always needed , among other things.