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Floorstanding or bookshelf with a good sub?

post #1 of 8
10/12/11 at 8:23am
Thread Starter 
I'm looking into getting 3 LCR speakers for my fronts and a good quality sub (HSU,Rhythmik,SVS,...). I'm considering getting 3 LCR's for all 3 or two floorstanders and a center. The room is 24'x16' 3500 ft^3.

The thing I like about bookshelf is I can put them on a shelf (duh). It means the floor is less cluttered.

Floorstanding seems like you get more bang (and bass) for the buck.

All things being equal, I would prefer bookshelf.

If I have a good sub, is there any advantage to having floorstanding speakers?
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post #2 of 8
10/12/11 at 8:33am
Other than the fact that some floorstanders have more drivers than their bookshelf counterparts and the fact that floorstanders will dig deeper in bass, no i guess there isn't an advantage. I want floorstanders because I want the extra head room for the bass and I love the look of floorstanders. Floorstanders may let you xover the speakers at say 60hz to the sub instead of maybe 80hz with LCRs.
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post #3 of 8
10/12/11 at 9:43pm
It really depends on which standmount and which floorstander your comparing. generally If its from the same brand / series then the FS would have more mid bass, low bass would be the same as you would be cutting over to the sub.
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post #4 of 8
10/13/11 at 4:12am
Because I had two ported 15" subwoofers in a relatively small HT room, I used bookshelves as my replacement for a large floorstanding system. The 10+ year old floorstanding went to a beach house.

Some bookshelves that you might consider are the SHO-10 or PRO-10 from Chase Home Theater (new models are scheduled), the new offerings from eD, or speakers like the JTR8s. All are very efficient and play very loudly.

The floorstanding from Klipsch, Polk, and Infinity (all recommended in this forum) will play louder than their closely related bookshelves.
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post #5 of 8
10/13/11 at 5:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by KidHorn View Post

The thing I like about bookshelf is I can put them on a shelf (duh). It means the floor is less cluttered.

Then you will need sealed or front-ported bookshelves, as most bookshelves can not be placed on bookshelves due to rear ports and the need for distance to rear wall.

I have 3 Kef iQ3 front-ported bookshelves as my front with a Rythmik F12 sub and iQ1 as rears and it is wonderful.
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post #6 of 8
10/13/11 at 6:43am
What is best for you is determined by your space. In other words what you have for available positioning of speakers. As others said, often times you get larger (or more) drivers in floor standing speakers, so you get a little more output in the mid bass and low end. This in turn helps to make sure that you do not have a hole in the response at the subwoofer crossover point. Another thing to consider when looking at floor standing speakers is the construction of the cabinet. With some companies, the difference between their book shelf speakers and their floor standing speakers is mainly just a larger cabinet. In these cases, you need to consider that the larger cabinet may not be braced as well as the smaller speaker.
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post #7 of 8
10/13/11 at 7:52am
I would add that you have already sidestepped the problem that many people have with their budget allocation by asking this question. Prioritizing towers makes sense in a speaker setup where music will be a priority, but not as much for HT. I see a lot of people on the AVS speaker forum who are building a 5.1 setup primarily for HT who are not balancing the need for a strong center and good subwoofer in an HT setup. Many people who are doing that would be better to shift their spending to a slightly better speaker line by buying monitor/bookshelves with a better center (or LCR speakers), and then spend more money on the sub.

And I think part of this problem comes because they forget that when buying a sub, one is purchasing a speaker AND a built-in amplifier. Subs take a substantial portion of a budget.
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post #8 of 8
10/13/11 at 11:36am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by rick240 View Post

Then you will need sealed or front-ported bookshelves, as most bookshelves can not be placed on bookshelves due to rear ports and the need for distance to rear wall.

I have 3 Kef iQ3 front-ported bookshelves as my front with a Rythmik F12 sub and iQ1 as rears and it is wonderful.

I'll check out the Kef's.

I was thinking of getting 3 energy RC-LCR's
http://www.energy-speakers.com/na-en...-lcr-overview/
and plug the rear ports

or

3 emotiva ERM 6.2
http://emotiva.com/erm62.shtm
They're sealed.

Both of these are on the large size for bookshelves so hopefully they'll have something in the 50-100Hz area. I'm not even sure if they would be called bookshelves, but as far as I'm concerned, if they can be placed on a bookshelf, they're bookshelves.
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