Who is happy with just 'bookshelf' loudspeakers?

Right now I have an el cheapo bookshelf speaker. They sound surprisingly okay for the quality they are, and I have a small room so I don't expect to be blasting music right into my face.

But I also believe that the sound quality is partial to the amplifier. Before I had the amp. I have now, the same speakers sounded really weak in all fields. After I connected those speakers to my amp. they sound like a brand new speaker.

 

Have a pair of Focal Electra 1008 BE II coupled with a Paradigm DSP 3400 sub. Love them

 

Good Amplification is essential, more important than speakers IMO. a State of the art set of speakers with a poor Amp will sound a lot worse than a reasonable set of speakers with a state of the art Amp.

I have always felt the source and control first, speakers 3rd in line

 

I need floor standing speakers.

 

Bookshelf speakers are all I am able to have in my apartment anywhere., but in my bedroom, I do have a subwoofer augment the bigger bookshelf speakers and for lower fidelity applications if I must, I use my Jensen speakers which are extremely small but do the job for their purpose.

 

You are right that decent amplification is more important than really good speakers, but good speakers and good amplification is the recipe.

 

My first few pairs of decent speakers were bookshelf models. They were AR6's and AR3a's.

The thing is that I didn't use them on bookshelves, which is what most did with them. I put them on stands and put them in the middle of the room away from boundaries, and they sounded amazing that way.

The odd thing is that I learned about speaker placement from my all in one GE stereo from 1968 which had removable speakers. I took them off the main unit and put them on a shelf much to the detriment of their sound. I eventually discovered why and never looked back.

 

I am extremely happy with just a simple 2 channel setup with my JBL Studio L830's. These speakers have to be the best speakers for the price. I got them new for $330. They play great and can handle plenty of power. I have these in a small bedroom and I don't think I would want to put big floor standing speaker in the room. My JBL L830's are plenty loud and they do not distort at all no matter how hard I drive them. I could not find 1 person who disliked these speakers.

 

My HH Scott 222b and Dynaco A25's are a perfect match. No sub necessary. Some people say the bass is underwhelming but I think you need the right amp and proper speaker placement. Mine go low enough to a satisfying level and the detail exuded from these A25's are extraordinary.

 

That is the ideal I agree, but if a compromise has to be made I would put the greater amount into Amplification

 

I need to have both types of speakers, monitors (bookshelf) and floorstanders.

Monitors allow you to hear low level recorded resolution that alludes the floorstanders.

Floorstanders for wide bandwidth needed to create the illusion of musicians playing in your room.

 

Nope, a Nakamichi CR1a cassette deck. I do have a Sony DAT deck mothballed however!

 

G'day all, very interesting comments all round. Many thanks. On my main system the use of stands has been highly beneficial with improvements in general clarity, smoothness and stereo imaging. Regards, Felix.

 

Big fan of standmount speakers. Mission 751s and my current Tannoy DC 4 speakers are excellent examples of how good they can be.

 

Absolutely love my Harbeth P3ESRs, and would only go up the Harbeth range for scale/range once we move into a larger place.
That said, all Harbeths are standmount... does that qualify M30.1s as bookshelf?

 

Just to add to my earlier post, I'm more interested in concentric driver speakers just now. Pioneer's S71B speakers being a case in point as a potential upgrade. Bigger soundstage and good clarity seems to be a particular feature of these types.

 

I have a pair of KRK monitors around my desk (6 inch drivers), they are terrific for nearfield listening and if you are in the right position the response is pretty amazing. Very detailed and revealing. Nothing wrong with small speakers, it's all in the space/speaker combination.

 

I love my AR3s. They were considered book shelf speakers, right?

 

Yes, they are considered bookshelf speakers.

 

Remember -- saying just bookshelf speakers is akin to saying just a small import car. The breadth of quality in what you can find in 'just' is very wide!

As you note, speaker placement makes a huge difference. Placement and room configuration can be equivalent to a component upgrade. I position my bookshelfs (they're on stands) so that my ears, when seated for listening, are about the same plane or level as the tweeters. You don't want the more directional high frequencies directed at your chest, with your head above them, for example.

 

I love the sound of my Harbeth P3SERs.Every now and then I think about how the larger C7s would sound.

 

Bookshelf speakers are great. I have fond memories of my previous Celestian SL6. Boy they were power mongers though. Over the past year my two favorite auditions were the Monitor Audio
GX100 and Nola Boxer. The thing with smaller speakers is they can be played nearfield, against a wall or in the middle of the room and they tend to get the soundstage thing down pretty good.

 

Bookshelvers with a sub for sure. Without....depends.

Heck even most floor standers to me sound mildly weak in the low bass without a sub.

 

If deep bass is present from the source, it needs to be reproduced out of the speakers or I am dissatisfied. I have always been that way and had to live with that dissatisfaction at times. Not now, though.

Doug