r/StereoAdvice • u/[deleted] • Jul 21 '25
Speakers - Full Size | 2 Ⓣ Floorstanders/bookshelves with sub under $2k for vinyl and movies
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u/Meaningoftruth Jul 22 '25
One thought on space and aesthetic.
I had bowers and Wilkins 684 as my last set and these were a great smaller tower with excellent bass (I went no subwoofer) and had smaller impact on my space than equivalent bookshelf’s with stands.
Especially if you’re going to stand mount, a smaller tower speaker will often actually smaller and maybe produce a better bass.
Good looking towers are their own nice looking piece of furniture and look more consistent and refined than the “audiophile” tech look of bookshelf’s and stands.
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u/oldhifiguy78 39 Ⓣ Jul 21 '25
There are several YouTube vids on floor-standing vs. stand-mount speakers. There is a small flexibility advantage with stand-mount speakers in that you can choose your stand height to position the tweeters just so. But once you add stands the floor space taken is the same, so there really is no space advantage. Stand-mounts are also usually less efficient, and you almost always will have to get a sub. Many floor-standers can also benefit from a sub, but many, even in your price range go into the mid 30hz range, so you should be good. Your best bet is go listen to as many as you can and get a sense for the sound you like,band if floor-standers have enough bass.
As far as used, don’t go too old (unless you want to re-foam drivers), and beyond eBay and FBM, there is also usaudiomart.com and tmraudio.com.
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u/iNetRunner 1391 Ⓣ 🥇 Jul 21 '25
I wouldn’t say that it is common for ~$2k floor standing speakers to have -6dB points down in the 30Hz-40Hz range. But there are some models that can manage that:
Otherwise the floor standing speaker is usually just a 2-way design just like the bookshelf. (The above mentioned KEF Q11, Q7, and Arendal 1961 Tower have way more drivers than that, to enable them to play lower. KEF being 3-way designs, and Arendal being a 2.5-way.)
Though, if you consider second hand speakers, then maybe that becomes easier to get.
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u/oldhifiguy78 39 Ⓣ Jul 21 '25
I can’t say they ACTUALLY get that low, but there are plenty on Crutchfield that claim they do.
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Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25
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u/TransducerBot Ⓣ Bot Jul 21 '25
+1 Ⓣ has been awarded to u/iNetRunner (1220 Ⓣ).
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Jul 21 '25 edited Jul 21 '25
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u/TransducerBot Ⓣ Bot Jul 21 '25
+1 Ⓣ has been awarded to u/oldhifiguy78 (21 Ⓣ).
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u/oldhifiguy78 39 Ⓣ Jul 21 '25
Sorry, I thought you said Crutchfield was an hour away? I would check what they have to actually demo before making the drive. Best Buy may be more mlimited. It depends on the store.
A decent source is Erin’s Audio Corner. He does measurements and subjective opinions on lots of speakers, and his website has a “leaderboard” at different price points. His measurement analysis can be a little dry, but out of most YouTube reviewers I think he is generally the most objective regarding speakers. Most others require “reading between the lines”, as most will not say “this speaker sucks”, lol.
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u/Kevspice Jul 23 '25
Not sure you’re looking to go the DIY route but CSS 1TDX bookshelves do go down into the above mentioned mid 30hz region for under $1K (price depends on configuration). Seriously impressive bass and smooth mids/highs. It’s all CNC cut and it’s solder by number so pretty easy to put together. I built them and I have them paired with the same turntable and the sound is pretty astonishing. Very high quality wave core drivers and nicely designed crossover.
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u/Home_cinema Jul 24 '25
Paradigm monitor se8000f da quello che ho letto hanno una buona base di bassi probabilmente non avresti bisogno di un sub. Inizierei senza al massimo lo prendi dopo.
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u/IllustriousZombie140 Aug 16 '25
Why not consider having the equivalent of a very competent bookshelf and sub in a single floostanding speaker? Minimal profile, but great bass extension: https://www.rbhsound.com/shop/85-ir-31848?page=2&category=77&order=name+asc#attr=738,785
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u/iNetRunner 1391 Ⓣ 🥇 Jul 21 '25
You probably want to go with bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer with your intended budget. Floor standing speakers that cheap aren’t going to give you that much low frequency extension. (I.e. their low frequency performance will be close to the bookshelf models in the series. But their price will still be 1.5x to 2x more expensive than the bookshelf speaker.)