an old question - floorstanders v/s bookshelves

Haven't researched much on BookShelves so cant say much....
But I think its difficult to Beat Wharfdale Diamond 8.4 or Sonodyne sonus 2605 by a bookshelf speakers in that price...there are other stuffs from Kef Cresta 30, Acoustics Energy or even Dali in this price range who have done well as towers.....
As for bookshelves there are stuffs in 25k from Jamo, Kef (Q series), Wharfdale (Evo series) and some others but I havent auditioned them....

Old Answer- depends on the room & music preference

http://www.crutchfie...r/home/speakers.html

wealth of info here..

http://www.ecoustics...rs/Speaker_Articles/

Both are diffrent in characteristics and Floor standers are anyday better because of the cabinet volume and of course who doesn't want a goodlooking fstander in their room instead of a small sh*t box farting in a shelf.

Not at all true..u need to do some more reading..your statement could be very misleading to the newer members

TROJAN_HORSE schrieb:

Both are diffrent in characteristics and Floor standers are anyday better because of the cabinet volume and of course who doesn't want a goodlooking fstander in their room instead of a small sh*t box farting in a shelf. :D

very much so. listened to a pair of Elac bookshelves some time back(maybe two years) at my dad's colleague's place. totally blew me away. though it cost a bomb.
actuallly the Quad 12L itself is a very commendable speaker and it can(with the proper electronics) out perform my diamonds in almost every aspect except the bass.
Ben

listen to the cadence aritas. there's only one thing to beat them. the electrostats! beats floorstanders of many well knows foreign brands

on an average though, the bass would be more from a floorstander than a bookshelf. but i'd compare intra brand only ie. bookshelf of cadence to floorstander of cadence cos diff brands then the quality of sound itself varies. too many factors of variation occur to do a fair comparison.

people!
Recos for Bookshelves fr about 12 k?
thanks

tidel power wrote :

So which speaker and why? Also, price should be under 25 k per pair.

Ya I agree i require more reading but his requirements are diffrent.At this price point it's better to go for a fstander than a book shelf.

horsey,

you are misleading newcomers and not others here, so hold your horses before let your tongue loose. and there are many budget book shelves like wharfedale which are really worth.

tidelpower,


first pick up the amp or av receiver and then go about matching speakers to its charateristics. there's no arbit 'best' speaker out there. for 22 k though you'd probably get yourself a complete wharfedale diamond set. well at least two pairs for front and rear. at 12k per pair in bombay. they're among the better brands that are good for music and have centres and subs for home theatre that match the speakers.

TROJAN_HORSE schrieb:

tidel power wrote : So which speaker and why? Also, price should be under 25 k per pair. Ya I agree i require more reading but his requirements are diffrent.At this price point it's better to go for a fstander than a book shelf.

Again not true. for 25 K you could do much better with a High quality Book shelf than a lower quality floorstand.

U need to do more reading..

Yes Troy, I would quite agree with Arj that a 25k bookshelf would probably be a better buy than a 25k floorstander. At this price level the F/S would most likely be constructed from thinner MDF panels, and reduced internal bracing, resulting in more cabinet resonance / coloration than it's smaller sibling

All those who seem enamoured of floorstanders should note that standmounts (I prefer calling them standmounts because that is how they should be sited - book shelves are for books and magazines) image much better. As for bass, well one only has to hear Dynaudio's Audience 42s and 52s to understand how much quality bass can be wrought out from such small speakers.

Nice one Arj.... but then please elaborate on this topic as to at what budget does one forget (almost forget) bookshelves and seriously look for floorstanders....I know it depends from person to person and budget to budget and also there are other factors but then considering other factors to be neutral (i.e room size etc), and musical taste somewhat universal, and person to be a standard indian looking to go beyond the Sony stuff but cant go real high...
I know its too many parameters but then please put some thought... If you think there are more parameters, please consider them to be somewhat neutral (generic) and evaluate.

here the budget actually does'nt come into the equation. u can find excellent standmounts which can cost over 5 lakhs. at this pricepoint it more so becomes a matter of preferences and all the other factors u have mentioned. the Elac speakers i heard was over 2 lakhs. amazing speakers.
u can find good quality floorstanders at 40k onwards. but at the same price u will probably find standmounts which use better drivers and crossover networks. the finish too would be better. it all comes down to preferences and all the other factors. am i right guys?
Cheers,
Ben

Big-Ears, I take your word but still have a point,
When you speak of something as high-end Dynaudio, the Audience 42 and 52 if I am not wrong is close to 60k, at that price point they may to their job but when point is some what at the entry-level (below 30k) then what ? If it is below 40k then what ? These are the ranges where things are considerably confusing. A person churning out his best possible budget for a speaker wont be happy to compromise on Bass (generally speaking) and also cant compromise much on clarity...at this price point how would you suggest the way to go ?

Benks you are playing around with diplomatic statements ....but do understand that I have just put forward a general situation which is very common in our forum i.e "Budget Setup" I mean consider the typical indian mentality where we cant shell out lacs....but want a better system.......cmon man you know what I am saying..

Abhi, I wish there was a simple answer.

Easier to find a wife than a truly satisfying hifi system, and that's saying a lot

Best way, IMHO, is to do a lot of reading, find out which equipment / manufacturers are talked about by accredited reviewers in a positive light, and then choose from those products after some serious auditioning. There is a lot of riffraff out there which is generally ignored by the audiophile press, you can safely eliminate those products which do not get any mention.

dude, let me say this clearly . yes u can find very good standmounts like the dynaudios but they need good accompanying electronics which can set u bak by quite a bit. that does'nt mean that there are not good ones for lss than 30 35k. u have the diamond9.1. superb. it is really very good. there are also some monitor audio and tannoys at that price. u make ur pick. again it all comes down to whether u like a punchier sound and compromise on accuracy and clarity or the former. u have to keep a good amount of ur budget aside for stands(atleast 8-10k). there are too many factors. the best way to resolve this is to decide on the amp and source. what i would have ideally have done is keep 50% of the budget for speakers,40-45% electronics and the rest for cables.
u see as rod-elliot says the most important things in an audio setup are
1)source recordings
2)speakers
3)room acoustics
first firm up ur budget (max ur are willing to spend) then start ur listening tests depending on ur tastes.
u have to be diplomatic in such a very polemic subject. u canot make a firm stand and say 'this is the best'.
cheers,
Ben

Sure, Abhi, we've all been there at the beginning of our careers.

There are some excellent lower budget speakers from the Infinity Primus range, PSB, Paradigm, Triangle, and so on.

For amps and CDPs NAD is THE Giant killer. You can still have a pretty decent system on a smallish budget.

Sorry, you can check out the Wharfedales too - they are pretty good at their price level

No offence meant Benks..
Ok, Punch and Bass I think are seperate things....
Punch is something which is better suited for the Cheapo speakers and when we think high-end we should better consider the Bass as a parameter.
Ok...say, if the budget is below 40k then do you always say that for a particular price a bookshelf will most oftenly be better on clarity than a floorstander, considering BRAND NO BAR?

like i said there are too many parameters and criteria to consider.
regarding the clarity, not necessarily. there are some bookshelves that donot live up to the hype.
the best example of better clarity i have already given, is the Quad 12L and my diamonds.
Ben

Hello all,

Actually, there are no hard and fast rules for selecting speakers. Primarily, your own preferences, and some practical matters to consider.

The only reason to go to larger, floorstanding speakers is to get a more extended bass response. That does add fullness and warmth and depth to music, which is quite beguiling. The deeper you want the bass to go, the larger the drivers required, and the larger the cabinet. Getting good, deep bass then becomes quite expensive.

That's where your preferences come up - where do you want to compromise, and at what cost.

The practical matter - if you have a small listening room, can you aesthetically fit a large set of speakers in it. Also, low bass in small rooms can be very troublesome. The standing waves that are excited (the boom) extend into the lower midrange, and really muddy up the sound. That's no compromise - never let the midrange be affected!

Again, listen, and let your ears be the judge!

Viren.

Absolutely, Viren.

Perhaps, the only hard and fast rule in hifi is to trust one's own ears.