JustAnAudioLover
Active Member
- Joined
- Mar 25, 2021
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Hi there!
(Let's preface this by saying that, as some of you may have seen, I'm currently asking a lot of questions about audio on the forum ; I want to be sure I understand everything before spending actual money on serious gear)
From what I understand, the main benefit or floorstanding speakers over bookshelf speakers is the low-end part of the spectrum. For instance, if we take KEF's R3 Meta vs R11 Meta, or Monitor's Audio Gold 50/100 vs 200/300/500, or Mofi's Sourcepoint 8 vs 888, the main point of having bigger speakers seems to be the bass.
But subwoofers can achieve even deeper bass, especially thanks to huge drivers, and as someone pointed out in another thread, they can be positioned freely in the room to find the best position in order to avoid having too much problems with the room's acoustics.
Also, if we take KEF's example, the R3 Meta sell for 2200 €. The R11 Meta, on the other hand, are 6500 €. 3 times as expensive ! They are of course way bigger, with bigger woofers, but they seem to work in a similar fashion. Same goes for Monitor Audio : the Gold 50 are 2000 €, the Gold 500 are 6500 €. More than 3 times the price.
For way less than that price difference, you can get yourself a really high-end subwoofer, or two high-quality subwoofers to place wherever you want.
So, my question is:
Why do floorstanding exist when we can just use bookshelves with (one or two) subwoofers?
Especially given:
* Subwoofers can go lower
* Bookshelves + subwoofer = cheaper
* You need way less power for bookshelves
Some of the reasons I can think of are:
* Subwoofers take some additional place in addition to the speakers themselves
* You need an amp with one or even two (that's a lot less common) subwoofers output
* Floorstanding may be nicer-looking to some people
* Floorstanding don't require a stand (and custom stands are often ridiculously expensive)
* Some people may not want to have super deep bass if they live in appartment
But even with these, it seems like the vast majority of people should prefer bookshelves over floorstandings.
Any idea on that subject?
(Let's preface this by saying that, as some of you may have seen, I'm currently asking a lot of questions about audio on the forum ; I want to be sure I understand everything before spending actual money on serious gear)
From what I understand, the main benefit or floorstanding speakers over bookshelf speakers is the low-end part of the spectrum. For instance, if we take KEF's R3 Meta vs R11 Meta, or Monitor's Audio Gold 50/100 vs 200/300/500, or Mofi's Sourcepoint 8 vs 888, the main point of having bigger speakers seems to be the bass.
But subwoofers can achieve even deeper bass, especially thanks to huge drivers, and as someone pointed out in another thread, they can be positioned freely in the room to find the best position in order to avoid having too much problems with the room's acoustics.
Also, if we take KEF's example, the R3 Meta sell for 2200 €. The R11 Meta, on the other hand, are 6500 €. 3 times as expensive ! They are of course way bigger, with bigger woofers, but they seem to work in a similar fashion. Same goes for Monitor Audio : the Gold 50 are 2000 €, the Gold 500 are 6500 €. More than 3 times the price.
For way less than that price difference, you can get yourself a really high-end subwoofer, or two high-quality subwoofers to place wherever you want.
So, my question is:
Why do floorstanding exist when we can just use bookshelves with (one or two) subwoofers?
Especially given:
* Subwoofers can go lower
* Bookshelves + subwoofer = cheaper
* You need way less power for bookshelves
Some of the reasons I can think of are:
* Subwoofers take some additional place in addition to the speakers themselves
* You need an amp with one or even two (that's a lot less common) subwoofers output
* Floorstanding may be nicer-looking to some people
* Floorstanding don't require a stand (and custom stands are often ridiculously expensive)
* Some people may not want to have super deep bass if they live in appartment
But even with these, it seems like the vast majority of people should prefer bookshelves over floorstandings.
Any idea on that subject?