Standmounts vs floorstanders

[insider9]

Assuming each used in its best environment and disregarding the price. Which do you prefer? What makes people chose one over the other?

 

[Gray]

People say standmounters (generally) sound faster don't they? (When the compared models use identical drivers, at least)

 

[chebby]

Bookshelf speakers for me.

I use stands (see signature) but would rather not.

 

[insider9]

Cno and Gray which do you prefer?

I've used floorstanders only for close to a year and find myself only considering floorstanders. But maybe I should try some standmounts again.

 

[CnoEvil]

Cno and Gray which do you prefer?

I've used floorstanders only for close to a year and find myself only considering floorstanders. But maybe I should try some standmounts again.

I am lucky enough to have Kef Ref 205/2s as my main 2 channel speakers...which I chose because I prefer the scale they give in a large room and are very well designed.

If my budget was less than 1500 GBP, I would rather have Standmounts - I have LS50s on my AVR600, which also sound great for 2 channel and produce a sound much bigger than they look as if they should...it's a clever trick.

 

[insider9]

I thought you did. I fancy trying something different. There's so much I've not heard and Dynaudios I had a brief opportunity to hear last week were lovely. Never owned a pair. So whatever I would get would be aiming for sound I've not had in my room. They are not to challenge my Red Rose as I'm not willing to spend that much. Hoping for a bit of fun.

Question is can you get good dynamics with standmounts?

 

[CnoEvil]

Question is can you get good dynamics with standmounts?

Depends on the speaker. Depends on the Amp. Depends on the Source

Kef Ref 1s are superb....but need an equivalently talented Amp.

 

[newlash09]

I do a lot of background listening. So floor standers with larger scale are suited to my needs. Never tried book shelves, except a short audition of monitor audio gold GX 50's. Sounded good to me.

If I didn't have the room, stand mounts + sub will do for me. But absolutely not without a sub. Iam a bass junky

 

[Sliced Bread]

I own floorstandrrs but have a fetish for how standounters look.

Dunno why, but whenever I’ve auditioned speakers, I’ve always auditioned floorstandrers.

A few months ago curiosity got the better of me and I took the atandmount cm1s off my rear channels and put them on the L&R channels and fired up some stereo music. I was actually quite surprised how those little things disappeared and filled the room with sound.

Will definitely throw some stand mounts onto the shortlist next time I come to demo some speakers.

 

[Blacksabbath25]

For me floor standing speakers win for me as stand mounted speakers sound like boxes when played and sound restricted but floor standing speakers just sound right

big soundstage , deeper bass , higher frequencies , handle more Watts , push a lot more air around inside but floor standing speakers in my mind paint a better picture .

and no stands to buy which stands still take up the same room as floor standing speaker does but understand if the person has not got the room for a big speaker in there room .

 

[CnoEvil]

Standmounts often sound faster, image better, are easier to design and work better in small rooms...but need stands that suit, properly set up (filled, blu-tak'd and heavy or light, dependant on speaker design). They are usually less Sensitive.

Floorstanders give greater scale and impact, work better in larger rooms, but are harder to design and often not a good option below about 1500 GBP.

So personal preference, room size and stand choice, are all factors.

 

[Gaz37]

What does that actually mean?

 

[Gray]

Cno and Gray which do you prefer?

I've used floorstanders only for close to a year and find myself only considering floorstanders. But maybe I should try some standmounts again.

I've only ever owned (English brands of) standmount speakers. Current speakers are PMC twenty21 standmounts and I really like them.

In a more suitable (detached) house, I wouldn't say no to a deeper bass - but certainly not at the expense of the tight, detailed sound I get now.

 

[Gray]

What does that actually mean?

As I've said before, to me fast just means right. Who'd want anything less than fast?

It's just a word used to describe speakers that reproduce transients well. You know, when you can really enjoy the leading edge of rhythm, because the speakers do seem fast to react. No overhang to notes. As the rhythm stops, the cabinets don't carry on with their own tune. No sluggishness to the sound.

 

[Gaz37]

What does that actually mean?

As I've said before, to me fast just means right. Who'd want anything less than fast?

It's just a word used to describe speakers that reproduce transients well. You know, when you can really enjoy the leading edge of rhythm, because the speakers do seem fast to react. No overhang to notes. As the rhythm stops, the cabinets don't carry on with their own tune. No sluggishness to the sound.

It's an odd term.

Saying a standmount is "faster" than a floorstander suggests that if, for example, your amp has speakers A & B, if you connect floorstanders to A and standmounts to B, play a track and the standmounts will finish the track before the floorstanders. Lol

 

[Macspur]

I've only ever owned a couple of floor standers, ATC SCM40 and with electronic music I've never heard anything quite like it, they were visceral, but were too thin for my favoured type of music and I owned ProAc Studio 130 which were a lovely small floor stander, but understandably lacked the scale and separation I was looking for.

The Harbeths, although a large stand mounter, work perfectly in my small listening room, but I'm sure would work just as well if not better in a larger space.

I wouldn't rule out ever owning a floor standing speaker in the future, particularly if, as planned, we move house in the next couple of years, but I expect I'd have to spend a lot to better what I've got.

Mac

www.realmusicnet.wordpress.com

 

[Nelis87]

Small floorstanders

 

[davedotco]

Unless I have a lot of space and a sustantial budget, I much prefer stand mounts.

So,naturally, I have a pair of floor standers!

That said, they are pretty small, 850mm high and just 135mm wide, piano black and no visible branding, very tidy indeed. The woofers are small, just 112mm (4.5in) and very fast and articulate. Bass is weightier than you might expect, their is some 'shaping' involved though the bass remains very natural.

I might add a 12in BK sub when I move but I shall want to see how the speakers behave in the new room. The last thing I want to do is slow them down, their rhythmic ability is important to me, bass extension, not so much. In an ideal world I would like a stand mount system with a 7 or 8in bass driver for the punch, but domestically speaking this is awkward.

 

[CnoEvil]

From Stereophile Glossary:

Fast[/i] Giving an impression of extremely rapid reaction time, which allows a reproducing system to "keep up with" the signal fed to it. (A "fast woofer" would seem to be an oxymoron, but this usage refers to a woofer tuning that does not boom, make the music sound "slow," obscure musical phrasing, or lead to "one-note bass.") Similar to "taut," but referring to the entire audio-frequency range instead of just the bass.

Floorstanders can sound boomy, with overhang in the bass, so they don't sound tight, but slow and ponderous. The amp of course has a role to play, but it is often easier for the Woofer in a small Standmount to Start and Stop more quickly.

Sealed speakers can also sound faster due to lack of Porting and the difficulties associated with it.

 

[seemorebtts]

You get more for your money with standmounts

 

[Al ears]

You get more for your money with standmounts

I would tend to agree, they come in all shapes and sizes so finding a pair to suit your room isn't too difficult and also you can invest more money by not buying those, sometimes, expensive stands.

......spoken like a true EB2 owner..

I should point out that I do also use floorstanders (Acoustic Zen Adagios)

 

[ChrisIRL]

I usually gravitated towards standmounts for the reasons listed in this thread, PMC twenty.21s being my favourites. I always wanted a bit more scale however without losing what the 21s offered. PMC twenty.23, problem solved. I would say they’re an ideal speaker for someone looking for the best of both worlds.

 

[Gray]

I usually gravitated towards standmounts for the reasons listed in this thread, PMC twenty.21s being my favourites. I always wanted a bit more scale however without losing what the 21s offered. PMC twenty.23, problem solved. I would say they’re an ideal speaker for someone looking for the best of both worlds.

They were the obvious choice Chris, glad to hear you're happy.

 

[seemorebtts]

You get more for your money with standmounts

I would tend to agree, they come in all shapes and sizes so finding a pair to suit your room isn't too difficult and also you can invest more money by not buying those, sometimes, expensive stands.

......spoken like a true EB2 owner..

I should point out that I do also use floorstanders (Acoustic Zen Adagios)

I'm selling my EB acoustics eb2s as IV just got some usher audio 63. I wish I could keep them but just can't afford to so someone else can experience how good the EBs are ;-)

 

[Al ears]

You get more for your money with standmounts

I would tend to agree, they come in all shapes and sizes so finding a pair to suit your room isn't too difficult and also you can invest more money by not buying those, sometimes, expensive stands.

......spoken like a true EB2 owner..

I should point out that I do also use floorstanders (Acoustic Zen Adagios)

I'm selling my EB acoustics eb2s as IV just got some usher audio 63. I wish I could keep them but just can't afford to so someone else can experience how good the EBs are ;-)

As pointed out on your other thread you don't have EB Acoustic speakers, and this isn't a forum you can sell stuff on. Please look at house rules before posting stuff like this.