Is there any noticeable difference between a floorstanding speaker (say, a Polk Monitor 50) and a bookshelf speaker (Monitor 40) that's raised to about the same height? Both of these speakers are essentially the same, same size/number of drivers. (Actually, I think the Monitor 50 is ported, but you get my idea)
Difference between floorstanding speakers and bookshelves on a stand?
- Thread starter enwar3
- Start date
While typically the case, this is not always true. It completely depends on the parameters of the driver used. Some drivers need very little box volume to reach their ideal extension. In these cases, using the driver in a floorstanding speaker would yield very little improvement.
With the popularity of a separate sub for HT purposes, using floorstanding speakers yields little to no benefit over a good bookshelf design.
Very true. Considering most floorstanding speakers can not extend as far in the LF range as a separate subwoofer, the difference between bookshelf LF extension and floorstanding LF extension is moot.
Which is what I was getting at. Running a floorstanding speaker as "large" and not using a sub for movies is typically worse LF range-wise rather than using a sub and crossing them somewhere around 80 which you said.
If a speaker only uses a 6-7inch driver and a tweeter a bookshelf speaker can often be built with enough volume so as to not restrict the LF performance of the speaker.
- Oct 28, 1999
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FWIW, I have floor standing speakers up front and I run them on the "large" setting. I just like having a little more "full" sound up front. And the bigger reason is that when I go and stream MP3's from the PS3 the sub when set to LFE doesn't really do a lot of work for some reason.
I don't know if it is do to having music set to LPCM or if it's a crossover problem or decoding problem on the receiver, but when set up that way streaming audio just sounds blah.
If I go in to the receiver and set the sub to "LFE + L/R" then it will kick in and play, but when just set to "LFE" it just sits there and does nothing. Setting the fronts to large at least gives me a little bit of extension without fiddling with any settings.
I don't know if it is do to having music set to LPCM or if it's a crossover problem or decoding problem on the receiver, but when set up that way streaming audio just sounds blah.
If I go in to the receiver and set the sub to "LFE + L/R" then it will kick in and play, but when just set to "LFE" it just sits there and does nothing. Setting the fronts to large at least gives me a little bit of extension without fiddling with any settings.
If its from the same manufacturer, same drivers, same overall design, the floorstander (generally) will play deeper. Although being in direct contact with the floor can also cause more unwanted resonance (which is why people buy risers for their florstanders to decouple from the floor).
Some receivers don't do any DSP on PCM direct/pure audio modes so you have to manually select a "stereo" setting to get subwoofer output for sources without a 0.1 channel. It's a bit annoying but that could be the case for you.
So if I were facing this decision (bookshelfs vs. floor standing speakers), where a floorstander cost at least twice, three times as much as a single bookshelf speaker, I'd be better off using the money to get a pair of bookshelfs and a sub instead of two floorstanders. Is that right?
- Oct 28, 1999
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The problem with the lower end of the market (and the Polk Monitors fall in this area) is that the price difference between floor standing and bookshelf is pretty equal once you factor in the cost of quality stands or wall mounts.
When you start moving upscale the price disparity between models gets greater and the advantage starts tipping more in favor of bookshelf + sub for overall costs and performance. At the lower end where you are talking bookshelf + stands + sub your aren't doing it to save money.
Example: the monitor 40 bookshelfs are $230, the monitor 50 towers are $300 for the pair. A good set of stands is going to run $50-$100 for a pair. It's a wash cost wise.
When you start getting into the higher end where a set of bookshelfs cost $1000 and the towers are $1000 a piece, then yeh. The value and benefits really start becoming more obvious.
sdifox
No Lifer
- Sep 30, 2005
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Your problem then is a poorly designed speaker, nothing to do with topic at hand. I still prefer floorstanding since I am into HD music. But then dvd-a and SACD are dead so it may be a moot point. I just prefer how floorstanding ones don't sound 'forced'.
There is nothing poorly designed about a speaker that doesn't need the volume of a floorstanding speaker to have its full extension. Sometimes the convenience of not needing speaker stands is part of the intended design.
I would disagree with you. It's set at 80 Hz because ideally the sub and speaker would be able to extend at a flat frequency response one octave above and below the crossover point. Asking a speaker to go to 40 Hz before completely dying out isn't too hard, asking a speaker to go to 30 Hz is fairly rare.
Look at the Dayton Reference 7" woofer(RS180). Works fine for bookshelf or floorstanding designs. As I said, sometimes the design of a speaker is to incorperate its own stand. That does not mean its poorly designed. Sometimes the dimensions can be made into a bookshelf but are deemed more practical for a floorstander. There are many possibilities.
sdifox
No Lifer
- Sep 30, 2005
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Speaker design has a lot of variables. Most of the time it's akin to pick 3 out of 4 features you want. If you care going to cut off the lower end, then yeah, you are right, floorstanding won't help you. But if you want to move some serious air, floorstanding is the only way you can afford to. Amps are very expensive.
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