Floorstander vs Standmount

[RobinKidderminster]

I have used FS since my DIY 12" monster cupboard and don't really like SM in my room.

SM are recommended for smaller room? FS overpower? FS are needed to fill a large room?

Are there any 'rules' or guidelines which determine the best option or is it totally speaker/room dependant?

I think my MS 8's are too big for my small room but would be interested in views.

 

[jjbomber]

Are there any 'rules' or guidelines which determine the best option or is it totally speaker/room dependant?

Only one rule - choose what YOU like. I have floorstanders in the upstairs bedroom.

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Are there any 'rules' or guidelines which determine the best option or is it totally speaker/room dependant?

Only one rule - choose what YOU like. I have floorstanders in the upstairs bedroom.

My floorstanders ARE my upstairs bedroom.

 

[jonathanRD]

For Home Cinema - if you have a decent subwoofer that allows your front left and right to concentrate on the mids - then in a medium sized room, or a smaller room, standmounts might be better - in that pound for pound you will get a better sound (better quality drivers) from them than a similarly priced floorstander.

And where floorstanders give greater scale can this be replicated by using small front height or Atmos speakers instead?

 

[Leeps]

I think it's about your own preferences too and what you particularly like about sound reproduction. I really like the qualities of a decent standmount and particularly with surround sound, speed, attack and fast delay of notes and sharp steering effects delivered by a decent small speaker can really add the wow factor. Although I do like a full natural sound from the centre speaker.

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Interesting thoughts thanks. I also wonder if the same rules (or lack of) apply when used for 2ch although I mainly use HT I guess my choice of 5.1 was based on the front speaker specs. Cheers.

 

[jonathanRD]

Interesting thoughts thanks. I also wonder if the same rules (or lack of) apply when used for 2ch although I mainly use HT I guess my choice of 5.1 was based on the front speaker specs. Cheers.

Back in 2011 when I moved my 2ch setup with standmount speakers into a new room in my extension, I realised that the speakers were a little 'lost' and I decided I needed the scale from floorstanders to fill the room. At the same time I stumbled into buying a tv and wall mounted it, and then thought about home cinema. But I could not reconcile my requirements for 2 ch with hc - well not with the budget I had available. So I decided to keep them seperate - this is not possible for many but as this is an extra room I have been able to accommodate both systems next to each other.

Life is full of compromises.

 

[richardw42]

My natural instinct is to opt for smaller speakers for HC. I have a 6.1 and have 6 x AVI AM5, so very small bookshelf speakers. My head tells me that small speakers + sub with a highish xover is the way to go.

I haven't compared a FS to a SM that share the same drivers.

Whats the point of a FS and then setting the Xover where any increase in bass performance is negated ?

I do have FS as part of a 2.0 in another room.

 

[RobinKidderminster]

Agreed FS in HC does seem counter intuitive tho if used also for music may make sense. My sense is that SM are a bit more focussed for HC. Not exactly my original question but maybe a better answer to a slightly differerent question???? Thanks. Food for thought.

 

[Leeps]

Interesting thoughts thanks. I also wonder if the same rules (or lack of) apply when used for 2ch although I mainly use HT I guess my choice of 5.1 was based on the front speaker specs. Cheers.

Back in 2011 when I moved my 2ch setup with standmount speakers into a new room in my extension, I realised that the speakers were a little 'lost' and I decided I needed the scale from floorstanders to fill the room. At the same time I stumbled into buying a tv and wall mounted it, and then thought about home cinema. But I could not reconcile my requirements for 2 ch with hc - well not with the budget I had available. So I decided to keep them seperate - this is not possible for many but as this is an extra room I have been able to accommodate both systems next to each other.

Life is full of compromises.

After a few different system combos over recent years, I'm beginning to reach similar conclusions to this. The major downside is the potential of your living room looking more like Richer Sounds than Richer Sounds.

It's not always possible but a nice combo would be to wallmount the satellites in a sub/sat system (like Apex A10's for example) and have your stereo speakers on the floor (standmount or floorstanders, whatever's your preference). This would look reasonably discreet put retain a decent performance for both uses. Active speakers for the 2-channel would help keep the box-count from getting too silly (a couple of Devialet Phantoms would do the trick I'm sure!!!!!! Sorry just dreaming there for a moment).

Although I think many people who choose wallmounting put the TV too high (they choose the location when they're stood up) and place the main L&R satellites too close to one another really reducing the soundstage.

The other facet of keeping things totally separate is cost: and that's quite counter-intuitive. My AVR is absolutely brilliant in multi-channel use but only cost me £500 (albeit reduced from an originally £800 machine). Most AVR's considered decent at music too are in the £1k to £2k range and still may not really hit the spot. (My own system's still a work in progress). So aiming at a midrange AVR and separate 2-channel integrated may not be more costly. Also AVR's get superceded spec-wise pretty quickly compared to an integrated. This can be eye-watering if you spent £1k to £2k on one only to see it become redundant (HDMI, DTS Master Audio, etc). I'm not gullible enough to buy into every new industry standard, but some (like HDMI) do get universally adopted. A certain amount of common sense can help prevent you buying into stuff that won't last, but keeping the bill down when it does become necessary does help.

Having bought a few Bluray Audios / SACD's, it is nice having the facility to enjoy multi-channel audio. I've been tempted at times to abandon surround altogether and go back to a conventional 2.0 system, but I convince myself not to everytime I watch a movie or listen to multi-channel music, even if that's comparatively a small percentage of the time. And I'd miss the all-engulfing sound of multi-channel stereo too, which really floats my boat for jazz.

 

[Deleted member 116933]

[/quote]

Having bought a few Bluray Audios / SACD's, it is nice having the facility to enjoy multi-channel audio. I've been tempted at times to abandon surround altogether and go back to a conventional 2.0 system, but I convince myself not to everytime I watch a movie or listen to multi-channel music, even if that's comparatively a small percentage of the time. And I'd miss the all-engulfing sound of multi-channel stereo too, which really floats my boat for jazz.

[/quote]

I 've just done it and to be honest i don't really miss it. Yes the engulfing sound was nice but It was just too much of a comprimise on my life and living requirements. So i sold the lot and bought a fairly extreme (money wise) one box solution hi fi in the form of a naim uniti 2 with a nice pair of SMALL PMC twenty 23 floorstanders bought mostly with the trade in money's..... with out it i would have never been able to afford to do so.

But in regards to floorstanders you get what you pay im affraid as with all things in life. The PMC's i have are fast with a massive stereo image (probably the reason i don't miss surround) these things snap in and out as good as any standmount speaker but have better and fuller bass.

I think under a certain price point i would never buy a floorstander minus the radius 270hds i had. I would much prefer to go for a standmount. But they don't make standmounts like they used to either size wise that is! They where fair more capable back in the late 90's early 00's but again it was a comprise on space with those as they where basically cut in half floorstanders. think B&W 603's or was it 602's? anyway they where massive.

The only thing i really miss is the sub bass so i may get a small sub to augment the PMC's when i have some time and cash.