Tower with good bass extension vs. stand-mount with a sub?

[highender]

I would think that cabinet vibration induced by the woofer(s) in a full range floorstander has a negative impact on midrange and treble performance when all sharing the same enclosure. Isolating/decoupling the low end by the use of a seperate subwoofer cabinet eliminates/reduces this issue and therefore might be an advantage for the stand-mount with a subwoofer? Not sure though, I could not find much info regarding this topic.

 

[terryforsythe]

I would think that cabinet vibration induced by the woofer(s) in a full range floorstander has a negative impact on midrange and treble performance when all sharing the same enclosure. Isolating/decoupling the low end by the use of a seperate subwoofer cabinet eliminates/reduces this issue and therefore might be an advantage for the stand-mount with a subwoofer? Not sure though, I could not find much info regarding this topic.

It can have a negative impact. It comes down to how well the cabinet is designed. Measures can be taken to mitigate cabinet vibrations, and to isolate the midrange and tweeter from vibrations. Most budget speakers, however, probably don't do much in that regard. KEF seems to do a pretty good job of it, though, with the LS60 Wireless speakers.

My Elac bookshelf speakers have cabinet vibration issues. In fact, in stock form they vibrated more than my LS60s, which are floorstanders. I have taken some measures to mitigate the Elac vibration issues, though, and this definitely has improved their sound.

There are a couple of speaker companies I have heard of, e.g., Acora, that make their cabinets out of granite. I have not heard them, but I suspect that they perform well at keeping cabinet vibrations at bay.