Rooms Size vs Stand Mounts vs Floor Standers

[Witterings]

Trying to find out what effect going to Stand Mounts vs Floor Standers will have, whether they'll be big enough and changes I'm most likely to notice.

I've attached a room layout, the front area which is the main listening / critical area is 21.3 Sq M and the total including the dining area is 36.22 Sq M.

The left hand wall of the dining area is a wide doorway and half height wall opening into a large kitchen / living area so air can freely move through there as well.

As a general question, do people think Stand Mounts will be big enough for this area or are they likely to sound a bit lost and if I do go for them the most noticeable differences I#m likely to hear in the sound.

 

[Symples]

My bedroom (fnaar fnaar) system is in a room 20m sq.

I have a modest amp (Technics SA C600) which has about 40W in to 8ohms.

The speaker are bookshelf Tannoy Revolution DC6 Expresso.

They are more than enough to fill the room of that size.
In fact, I would be happy to use them as main speakers in the living room.

I think that it will really depend on the type of bookshelf speakers that you go for.

Reading online. The Kefs (you know the ones) sound great, but are bass light.

Another things is the type of music that you will be listening to, as some speakers are great for dance music etc, but not too subtle.

As others will no doubt advise. Get yourself a demo.

 

[12th Monkey]

I think you have enough room to notice the limitations of standmounters. Odd room shape so you'd need to demo stuff at home, but don't automatically be frightened of floorstanders.

 

[daytona600]

Stand or Floor speakers take up the same floor space
Married get stand mounted , single/understanding partner get the biggest you can afford

 

[podknocker]

Stand or Floor speakers take up the same floor space

This is true for speakers in the same model range, but consider the very tiny Spendor A2 (which almost need stands to get them at the correct height) compared to the B&W 606S3 which are very wide and deep.

 

[Revolutions]

Stand or Floor speakers take up the same floor space
Married get stand mounted , single/understanding partner get the biggest you can afford

Floorstanders all the way. They look like furniture. I’d struggle to sell speaker stands to a partner.

 

[plastic penguin]

Trying to find out what effect going to Stand Mounts vs Floor Standers will have, whether they'll be big enough and changes I'm most likely to notice.

I've attached a room layout, the front area which is the main listening / critical area is 21.3 Sq M and the total including the dining area is 36.22 Sq M.

The left hand wall of the dining area is a wide doorway and half height wall opening into a large kitchen / living area so air can freely move through there as well.

As a general question, do people think Stand Mounts will be big enough for this area or are they likely to sound a bit lost and if I do go for them the most noticeable differences I#m likely to hear in the sound.

There's no hard or fast rules regarding whether stand mounts or floorstanders. In my medium sized living room I've had both and likewise when I demoed stand mounts last year the demo room was about 17-20 feet in length and they sounded great.

Some of this I've put down to control from the amp, and unless you have a small box room either should work well. The only way to know for sure is demo some floorstanders.

 

[Gray]

I’d struggle to sell speaker stands to a partner.

☹️ Another under the thumb of a dictator.
Seems to be an epidemic of it 🤔

Show partner a picture of the original SE24 that I use and she'll think latest Atacamas look pretty 👍

 

[nopiano]

There’s plenty of room for some floorstanders in your space. Whether you’d prefer something on a stand is a separate issue. I’d be more interested in where you are starting from, what you’ve liked previously and what you intend to spend.

Our room is c. 25sqm, about 3.5 meters wide and almost twice as long. I listen in roughly one half, with the kit on the shorter wall.

Mine aren’t typical speakers, but the tall ones at the back are on stands. The shorter ones at the front are flooorstanders as you can see. The reason for the ‘Hifi shop’ look was a friend wanted to hear the ATCs, which had been stored for a while. Each has strengths and weaknesses. The ATCs are about four grand today; the Sonus fabers were about eight grand fifteen years ago.

https://imgur.com/C2eHlPh

View: https://imgur.com/C2eHlPh

 

[Witterings]

Cheers for everyone's input .... I have floor standers at the moment but am having some issues with bass and sparing others people a long story I'm at a juncture I have the opportunity to swap them for some standmounts instead which may help but won't get the opportunity to home trial before making that decision.

I have some "lesser" bookshelf speakers I can borrow from another room tomorrow night and at least see how they "present" which might give me some indication although I did do this very briefly quite a while back and from memory my initial impression was they seemed a bit lost.

I'll report back when I've tried it and also assessed if they help with the bass issue.

 

[nopiano]

Cheers for everyone's input .... I have floor standers at the moment but am having some issues with bass and sparing others people a long story I'm at a juncture I have the opportunity to swap them for some standmounts instead which may help but won't get the opportunity to home trial before making that decision.

I have some "lesser" bookshelf speakers I can borrow from another room tomorrow night and at least see how they "present" which might give me some indication although I did do this very briefly quite a while back and from memory my initial impression was they seemed a bit lost.

I'll report back when I've tried it and also assessed if they help with the bass issue.

Another example:- the KEF Reference 1 are a stand- mounted design. They have similar drivers to their floorstanding big brothers, the 3 and 5.

But they sound H.U.G.E!! Eyes shut, you swear they are floorstanders. But to work well you need an amp and source in the £5k+ range each, or more.

At the opposite extreme, almost, the Q Acoustic 3050i sounds quite rich and powerful. It’s a floorstander for around £500 a pair. Fine with a budget amp, say £350-450.

tl:dr the configuration is less relevant than you think. It’s the whole system that matters.

 

[plastic penguin]

Cheers for everyone's input .... I have floor standers at the moment but am having some issues with bass and sparing others people a long story I'm at a juncture I have the opportunity to swap them for some standmounts instead which may help but won't get the opportunity to home trial before making that decision.

I have some "lesser" bookshelf speakers I can borrow from another room tomorrow night and at least see how they "present" which might give me some indication although I did do this very briefly quite a while back and from memory my initial impression was they seemed a bit lost.

I'll report back when I've tried it and also assessed if they help with the bass issue.

What are your floorstanders and what amp do you use?

 

[Witterings]

What are your floorstanders and what amp do you use?

Speakers are ProAc D20R's and amp's an Arcam SA30 .... dealer I was speaking with today suggested the Arcam may not have enough to properly control the bass pn the ProAcs ... I do think it's a room issue though.

 

[Revolutions]

Show partner a picture of the original SE24 that I use and she'll think latest Atacamas look pretty 👍

Oh god, I had some I think, around 2003, with speakers that had a tweeter mounted above the cabinet. My first proper stereo. TBF it sounded awesome with rotel pre & power amps. But man, it was an ugly setup.

 

[landco]

The absence or presence of stands does not directly affect the sound, the location of the speakers relative to each other is important (affects the stereo base), the distance to the listener and the width of the speaker radiation (high-frequency and mid-frequency spectrum)

 

[JDL]

There’s plenty of room for some floorstanders in your space. Whether you’d prefer something on a stand is a separate issue. I’d be more interested in where you are starting from, what you’ve liked previously and what you intend to spend.

Our room is c. 25sqm, about 3.5 meters wide and almost twice as long. I listen in roughly one half, with the kit on the shorter wall.

Mine aren’t typical speakers, but the tall ones at the back are on stands. The shorter ones at the front are flooorstanders as you can see. The reason for the ‘Hifi shop’ look was a friend wanted to hear the ATCs, which had been stored for a while. Each has strengths and weaknesses. The ATCs are about four grand today; the Sonus fabers were about eight grand fifteen years ago.

https://imgur.com/C2eHlPh

View: https://imgur.com/C

 

[nopiano]

@JDL did we lose your reply?

 

[nopiano]

The absence or presence of stands does not directly affect the sound, the location of the speakers relative to each other is important (affects the stereo base), the distance to the listener and the width of the speaker radiation (high-frequency and mid-frequency spectrum)

We aren’t talking about the presence or absence of stands per se, but different speaker designs.

 

[plastic penguin]

Speakers are ProAc D20R's and amp's an Arcam SA30 .... dealer I was speaking with today suggested the Arcam may not have enough to properly control the bass pn the ProAcs ... I do think it's a room issue though.

Something like Totem Arros work a treat with Arcam. These are tiny floorstanders. Because of their diminutive size they wont have the depth of bass of your ProAcs but there's always a compromise.

 

[nopiano]

Speakers are ProAc D20R's and amp's an Arcam SA30 .... dealer I was speaking with today suggested the Arcam may not have enough to properly control the bass pn the ProAcs ... I do think it's a room issue though.

I auditioned these ProAcs when I ended up buying my ATCs. But I don’t recall any issues with the bass.

That said, it was in the dealer’s demo room, and his Martin Logan ELS also sounded great, but when I got some home they didn’t work for me at all. And, you guessed, it was the bass that overpowered the electrostatic panel.

I am slightly surprised at the implication from your dealer that the SA30 isn’t up to the job, though undoubtedly a better amp invariably improves the sound, even of budget speakers (and yours are way above that).

How close to the front wall and corners have you got them?

PS. I am a bit slow here…so you’re thinking of swapping D20R for a stand mount, because they’re too boomy?

 

[Witterings]

I auditioned these ProAcs when I ended up buying my ATCs. But I don’t recall any issues with the bass.

How close to the front wall and corners have you got them?

PS. I am a bit slow here…so you’re thinking of swapping D20R for a stand mount, because they’re too boomy?

I home trialed the ATC SCM40's a couple of weeks ago to see if a sealed box would help, it was "better" but certainly not enough to warrant changing them.

Too close to the walls if honest but unless they're in the middle of the room for people to trip over I don't have a lot of choice unfortunately

Yes, wondering if standmounts might help in any way, as I like the sound of the D20's was thinking about their D2R's.

 

[Deleted member 201267]

I home trialed the ATC SCM40's a couple of weeks ago to see if a sealed box would help, it was "better" but certainly not enough to warrant changing them.

Too close to the walls if honest but unless they're in the middle of the room for people to trip over I don't have a lot of choice unfortunately

Yes, wondering if standmounts might help in any way, as I like the sound of the D20's was thinking about their D2R's.

Apologies if i'm talking rubbish but is there any way of moving the speakers back to the wall when not in use, then, further forward for listening sessions ?

 

[nopiano]

I home trialed the ATC SCM40's a couple of weeks ago to see if a sealed box would help, it was "better" but certainly not enough to warrant changing them.

Too close to the walls if honest but unless they're in the middle of the room for people to trip over I don't have a lot of choice unfortunately

Yes, wondering if standmounts might help in any way, as I like the sound of the D20's was thinking about their D2R's.

I see, it’s all making sense now. Well, as you’ve a willing dealer and already like the ProAc tonality then it’s an obvious alternative to try, for sure.

As your positioning isn’t ideal, I’d consider the dome tweeter version, even though the ribbon seems ideal - and why I heard it. I think they may be more tolerant off-axis so might sound a little brighter in the room - hence enabling you to turn them down a smidge and reduce the boom further.

Or maybe the ATC SCM19, which is a similar idea but sealed again.

 

[Witterings]

Apologies if i'm talking rubbish but is there any way of moving the speakers back to the wall when not in use, then, further forward for listening sessions ?

Yes I can and sometimes do when "The Boss" goes to bed .... it does alleviate a large amount of the issue but they're on spikes which makes it a pain to move and have just bought cups due to the massive number of holes they're leaving in the laminate (looks like I've severe woodworm) but they make it more of a hassle.

To answer the question, yes I can but it's a PITA .... was thinking about try to put wheels on something to make it easier.

 

[WayneKerr]

The absence or presence of stands does not directly affect the sound, the location of the speakers relative to each other is important (affects the stereo base), the distance to the listener and the width of the speaker radiation (high-frequency and mid-frequency spectrum)

So a standmount speaker will sound just as good placed on the floor as it does on a stand? Rubbish.