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Why bookshelf rather than floor-standers??

I'm gone on record with this ..

There is no sonic superiority to a small "bookshelf" with subwoofer speaker system ..
In fact, the reverse is probably true ..
Look at any pair of Vandersteens... the original is a small slant baffle two-way mounted on top of a bass cube, and his subsequent speakers (along with a number of other manufacturers) are mostly variations on that same theme.
His speakers are time aligned and phase coherent, and he is one of the more creative. and well respected designers in this business.
If he thought that his speaker system would sound better with the pieces distributed about the room, they would be separated and include placement instructions.
He attached them for a reason ..
 
Have you ever noticed Speaker Manufactures glossy adds and Stand Mount Speakers. The speakers are not always but mostly placed on Units. Ever noticed this?
I remember a little while back Such an advertisement really made me look. It was B@W speakers These white Stand mount speakers Looked Gorgeous placed each end of a white unit in the center was a Rotel separates. The Add Really captivated me. Firstly I wanted my room to look like that. 2nd I wanted my setup to look like that I must have had 20 looks and 20 big thinks. Oh to the power of Advertising. The more I thought about it. The more I wondered, What must it sound like. I love the way all the wires + cables are hidden or cut of for the photos.

see what i mean they don't stress the importance of speaker stands in their adds do they

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Dream on
 
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Akustic said:
So have I ..
Started in the 70's .. M&K and one other that I can't remember ..
They figured out how to make a longer throw woofer (like 2") that were subwoofers ..
They were 12' and 15" drivers but they went way lower because of the longer throw .. ..
And 800hz is well into what used to be considered the midrange ..
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800hz IS midrange (not "used to be")
 
Before the IEC got involved (late 1960's), German DIN 45500 Part 7 was the international standard for speaker measurement.

The problem with the DIN standard was that it specified testing with the speaker mounted with its front baffle flush to a larger flat baffle. This made the speaker radiate into 2pi space (instead of "free air" 4pi). The result was boosted bass frequencies and a lack of baffle step effects. However, this was intended to reflect the common German domestic practice of putting bookshelf speakers in "bookshelves". However, it didn't give accurate test results for the same speakers mounted on stands (or for floorstanders in general).

The eventual compromise was for the manufacturer to specify how the speaker had been mounted when tested, and with or without an external baffle. At least then consumers who chose to RTFM could expect to use the product in the manner in which it was intended...
 
DaveVoorhis said:
Note that AlNiCo magnets are considerably weaker than modern magnetic materials like samarium-cobalt and neodymium.

I think you mean vinyls. Nobody calls them LPs any more.
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AlNiCo magnets just sound right - the 'old school' sound. It just is the way it is.
 
darkblue94 said:
800hz IS midrange (not "used to be")
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That's what I was I was sayin ..
A blattin fartin subwoofer better stay outta my midrange ...
They may be good from 100hz down .. but .. keep em down there where ya can feel em , but ya can't smell em .. ..
And they ain't much good at upper bass either ..
 
botrytis said:
A well designed speaker will not do that, be it ported, passive or AS. PERIOD.

If you ever heard a Wilson Thor's Hammer sub (it is ported) you wouldn't say such nonsense. But that is more just bias (based on what you want to believe) rather than actual listening experience.
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Perhaps .. and no I haven't heard it ..

Are you saying that there is a driver in a box that can cleanly and succinctly go from 15hz to 800 hz ??
And all ported boxes have resonances ..
The best ported bass that I ever listened to was coming out of a Fried transmission line .. but that was limited to about 35hz .. and it was a three way and crossed over way before 800hz ..
We may be talking about different things ... I'm talking about below woofer devices meaning below what a typical 10' or 12" regular throw woofer produces .. and of course I'm biased, or at least limited to what I've heard or read about .. I'm always up for new information ..
 
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Akustic said:
Are you saying that there is a driver in a box that can cleanly and succinctly go from 15hz to 800 hz ??
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Define "cleanly" and "succinctly"?

I bet at least half of all drivers ever made will do 15 to 800Hz... *if* you compromise far enough on sensitivity, directivity, box size, and power handling.
 
Akustic said:
Perhaps .. and no I haven't heard it ..

Are you saying that there is a driver in a box that can cleanly and succinctly go from 15hz to 800 hz ??
And all ported boxes have resonances ..
The best ported bass that I ever listened to was coming out of a Fried transmission line .. but that was limited to about 35hz .. and it was a three way and crossed over way before 800hz ..
We may be talking about different things ... I'm talking about below woofer devices meaning below what a typical 10' or 12" regular throw woofer produces .. and of course I'm biased, or at least limited to what I've heard or read about .. I'm always up for new information ..
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https://www.parts-express.com/peerl...-188pr01-04-15-high-power-subwoofer--264-1652
 
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Bigmoonface said:
I notice lots of members here have bookshelf speakers, mainly on stands! And I mean members often with quite high end systems and people who have been around the audiophile hobby far far longer than I have.

As a relative newbie as soon as I could afford to I got a pair of large floor-standers. Coz normally floor-standers have bigger and more drivers and therefore produce a larger more fuller sound! Don't they? Am I missing something here?

I've been under the impression bookshelf's existed as a space saving device. Capable of decent sound but not as good as floor-standers! But then I see larger bookshelf speakers on stands taking up just as much space as as any floor-standing speaker would!!??

I'm obviously under a misapprehension!??
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406AC01A-E4F6-4B65-8B31-EB744604A271.jpeg

It’s a poke and a pull.

I’ve ran many large speaker sets and lots of bookshelf’s. I’m a fan of bookshelf speakers personally.

A lot of it has to do with the size of the room. For example I ran some B&W DM-640i in our small living room. Sounded great, ran many sets of JBL, had some L150 in the room at one point. Sounded great but was not needed.

Currently running some L-16s. Placement is not 100% on the set as they are 30” off the floor (should be 18”) but they are forgiving and work well in the spot. I ran QLN model1 and a few sets of Quad, B&W and many others.

If I had more space i would run large speakers. It’s just not needed if the room is not to big. :)
 
DaveVoorhis said:
Magnets don't have a sound, but you might well prefer older speakers that just happen to have AlNiCo magnets. It's not the AlNiCo you like, but the overall design of the speaker.
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I 'love the sound' of vintage speakers with AlNiCo magnets. They sound wonderful... like pre-CBS Fender guitar amplifiers with AlNiCos which are extremely high sought after and cost $$$ if you want one. I have one of those too - a '67 blackface. I wonder why that is that folks want them so badly?? Tube amps with AlNiCo magnet-ed speaker(s).

All 3 of my stereo speaker systems have AlNiCo magnets. That's exactly the way I like it. Don't have much more to say about it except it seems to me that CDs sound less harsh and much warmer, more lifelike, over speakers with AlNiCo magnets and LPs sound 'wonderous'. Must be 'magic'.

:music:
 
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botrytis said:
I have seen small room big speakers. It just depends. Currently, I have medium speakers in a small room.
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Of course I, too, have seen and heard big speakers in a small room, and found the latter rather unremarkable. Speaker models with which I was very familiar in large/various rooms. Medium size speakers can go either way, I find, but big speakers need space for the sound to integrate their drivers dispersion, to my ear.
 
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