Do floorstanders provide a significant amount more bass than standmounters?

[admin_exported]

Am looking for some speakers to audition with Marantz SA8003 Cd and PM8003 hifi seperates. I listen to all types of music (from heavy metal and rock through to country and classical) but am most concerned in terms of musical presentation with classical (especially pipe organ and choral music).

Two speakers I have considered are the Monitor Audio RS6 (floorstanders) and the ATC SCM 11s (standmounters). Would the RS6s provided a significant amount of greater detail in the bass region?

Any suggestions please

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

The RS6 will give you a greater scale when listening to classical music though will not match the ATC on detail of any sort. Personally I'd go for the ATC, though as usual the recommendation would be to go and have a listen for yourself. You may also want to consider Sonus Faber and Opera, very fine all round speakers in your price range.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, I intend to audition a few and am just trying to construct a shortlist! I will have a look at the Sonus Faber and Opera as well. Cheers

 

[Anonymous]

The ATC speakers are light years ahead of the RS6s - but they are in different price leagues to be honest, Sevenoaks can do the RS6s for very good prices, but the ATCs are rarely discounted as their demand practically outstrips production.

 

[the record spot]

I'm not so sure about the idea that floorstanders do - the last few years have seen a bunch of boxes released that are light on the deeper end of the scale. Some of these speakers look the real deal too - a couple of drivers on them, but it's disappointing when they don't deliver.

On the other hand, there are standmount speakers that produce a realistic bass (the Dynaudio and ATC ranges seem to know what a bassline is from memory, to name but two, in years gone by, my old Mission 751s would hammer out bass like they were wannabe floorstanders).

I think part of the reason may be down to floorstander design; there's not a lot of call for hefty boxes in the home these days, so a lot of cabinets appear slimmer. I'm sure there's a whole lot more to the science of it than I'm even going to claim to understand (must read Peter Comeau's articles again...!) but where once this might have been the case, today the gap could be narrowing.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a pair of Mission E30s which are very small bookshelf/standmount speakers. They have a quoted lower frequency range at -3db of 78Hz...compared to speakers on the market these days, that's about as poor as it gets. However, they will still slam out bass like a pair of floorstanders (as the record spot said) and to be honest, after a few minutes, you don't notice your missing anything on accoustic music. However, put on some heavy, dance orientated music such as Pendulum or Groove Armada etc and there is something missing. But because the drivers still attempt to reproduce the bass, it gets a bit muddy at high volumes.

If you have a biggish room, I suggest floorstanders. If you have a smallish room (less than 200sq ft.) I would suggest standmounts.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the info, very useful. I will certainly take it in to account and audition some appropriate speakers. From what Hughes123 posted I understand that floorstanders are better in a larger space and my listening room would probably be classed as small to medium and the speakers might be quite obstructed in places. So standmounters might help to overcome this by isolating the speaker.

Thanks

 

[Andrew Everard]

I'd be looking at some C2 - cosmetically imperfect - Neat Motive 2s sold here. Fab little floorstanders, which I've just reviewed for a future issue of Gramophone, and very room-friendly.

But then I run PMC OB1s in a room about 4mX5m - let's say 215 sq ft - so what do i know???

 

[Anonymous]

to answer your question................It depends on your room / speaker placement / type of floor. (Suspended wood or Concrete?)

As a rule of thumb I'd say yes they do (provide more bass - floorstanders that is) But it is also massively dependant on your room acoustics and speaker placement, Rear ported floorstanders close to rear walls in corners can end up with too much boomy bass, Where as carefully chosen stand mounters in the right spot can sound v. good. The only advice I would offer is, if you can, get a home demo, try a pair in your room and see what you think. I heard a pair of Usher standmount speakers produce very! deep bass. Then again I've heard floor standers in the wrong place produce less than i'd expect as there was no wall for the rear relex port to work with. Front-ported designs are less critical about placement.

You have to try in your room to be 100% sure, Ask to borrow the shop demo pair over night, most dealer should be willing to oblige with a refundable credit card swipe deposit.

G.

 

[drummerman]

monkey023:
Am looking for some speakers to audition with Marantz SA8003 Cd and PM8003 hifi seperates. I listen to all types of music (from heavy metal and rock through to country and classical) but am most concerned in terms of musical presentation with classical (especially pipe organ and choral music).

Two speakers I have considered are the Monitor Audio RS6 (floorstanders) and the ATC SCM 11s (standmounters). Would the RS6s provided a significant amount of greater detail in the bass region?

Any suggestions please

Thanks

I find the bass of the RS6's woolly. Listen to radio and voices sound chesty/bloated. It is of course amplifier dependant to an extend but I tried a couple of good ones with the same result. Surprisingly (or not) Arcam's FMJ A38 was one of the better matches. Nothing however can make up for the cheap sounding tweeter which lacks both extension and delicacy. As always, my opinion only.

I haven't heard the 8003 Marantz components (nor the ATC's) yet but read a couple of reviews. A speaker under a grand which I would recommend for wideband replay are Kef's iQ9's, now available for far less than their original RRP and fantastic value for money. Clear with tight, deep bass and very musical. It's not an 'in your face' speaker but has a lovely see-through transparency, a second row speaker if you want that draws you into the music. Treble is very good and just lacks the last degree of extension. A seemingly easy load and good sensitivity too. It'll go loud. Add a good sub in the future and they are awesome.

regards

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks guys! All really good stuff. I think I have to be careful about speaker paring as quite often Maranzt products tend to sound quite forward and bright. Although according to some reviews this is not a problem with the SA8003 and it is as happy playing Rachmanioff as it is some club dance remix!

Does anyone know if Sevenoaks stock more speaker makes than they advertise on their website? As I would quite like to audition the ATCs and the Neat Motives 2s!

Thanks