--------Elac Unifi 2.0 amzn.to/3aZQnwo =======Elac Unifi 2.0 Tower amzn.to/3m1qJ0d #########Klipsch RP600M amzn.to/3vzlkAG ***************Klipsch RP6000F amzn.to/3nfIOqU ++++++++++++++++Amazon Music and Disney Plus Free Trial amzn.to/3DRAVj9 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^www.patreon.com/cheapaudioman

I ran down to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee and my wife said are you listening to that audio guy again.

Really great set of reasons to go for bookshelf speakers, Randy. Must sell my towers immediately. Just kidding, tried loads of bookshelf speakers and I’m never selling my towers unless it’s for better towers. 😄

If you have the space, towers make absolute sense. Why would I put bookshelf speakers in a 25 x 50' room? And there are plenty of great tower speakers that hit to 25hz. Cheap isn't always better. Its all about your wallet, room size, equipment, etc.

As a 53 year old man who spent countless hours in "sound rooms" during his teen years listening to speakers without knowing what they cost until AFTER the demo I find your channel very refreshing! This video makes a lot of honest points but this can also be reverse engineered as I did. A few years ago I picked up a pair of Klipsch RF7 ii's for under $400 locally! Having cash on hand, a large enough vehicle and knowing such large items are difficult to sell I was able to get the for an absolute steal. I've had both bookshelf and towers throughout my life and I don't think bookshelves with subs quite give the same tight sound from towers but I'm always up for a listen to anything. Another small thing I wanted to mention, I too have Amazon HD music service and as much as I love it I was finding some older recordings on there, mostly country music sounded like trash. I thought for a moment perhaps my recollection was better than actuality so I took the time to dig out a bunch of my CD's and do an a/b test with amazon's files and as I remembered the CD's were MUCH better. Apparently some more obscure stuff must have been sourced off of really poor material because it was serving me a lossless flac file at a high resolution but clearly the CD was way better. For newer/popular music the Amazon service is great, no difference and perhaps better than the CD if you have superhuman hearing. I think a lot of people especially those audiophile types want to claim they have hearing better than they actually do which is why I never want to know what I'm listening to prior to the demo. It's sad not many sound rooms exist anymore, buying any speaker without listening seems ridiculous.

Dude, saying bookshelves are "wayyyyy better" is a bit of a stretch don't you think? Bookshelves on a stand usually take up the same space as towers. You can adjust the bass on the amp if it's too much.

For my listening preferences, I prefer towers. I spent much of 2021 experimenting with bookshelves plus sub. This included the Elac UB5, and Ascend Acoustics Sierra 2EX. Those bookshelf speakers on stands look so cool. I want to like them! However, I listen to a lot of large scale orchestral recordings. Even with a sub, the bookshelves leave a lot to be desired in bringing out the presence and depth of a full orchestra, especially in upper bass and lower mids. I have settled on some vintage Kef 104/2's for my orchestral stuff. They have 2- 8" woofers, 2- 4" midrange drivers, soft dome tweeter, plus my Rel sub. They are glorious. For all other genres I have really enjoyed the bookshelf plus sub combo. Randy, you make some good points as to why bookshelves would be preferable for a lot of folks.

Definitely better if you believe in bass management below 80Hz because smooth bass response requires decoupling the bass from the speakers (using subs) which relegates the towers to act as large bookshelves

I shopped for stand mounts this year. Found the tower version reduced, worked out cheaper then the standmounts plus stands. It seemed like an easy choice!

You can easily add subwoofers to tower speakers for even better frequency blend and great bass. Once you add stands to bookshelf speakers they take us just as much space as tower speakers. Just like with bookshelf speakers you can subs for even better bass. Unless the room is small I feel like the advantage lies with tower speakers, but I respect your opinion.

I like both. I have 5 systems with bookshelf speakers and one with large Klipsch towers with a large sub. Sometimes you feel like listening to different speakers. That's why I own 27 speakers.

Agree wholeheartedly with Randy here. I run bookshelves with subs & couldn’t agree more on the flexibility of fine tuning the bass to match programme material or room acoustics. Get a good sub to complement the main spks & dialing in the subs will be alot easier. I feel that a pair of bookshelves with sub or subs can rival floorstanders in terms of scale & bass. The bookshelves nowadays sound very large & enveloping & adding a sub or subs makes for almost full range sound.

I have to agree on that one. I just ordered the klipsch RP 600 and the RP 8000 F and compared them right next to each other. The RP 600 bookshelf speakers just sounded way better combined with a subwoofer than the RP 8000 F tower speakers.

I'm gonna' need a full, 12-minute review of an audio component by Buffalo Bill. Have a great weekend!

Randy, I went from Kef LS50 to dynaudio c1 platinums and thought they were incredible. I moved on to a 2 way magico s1mk2 and thought that was the end for me with a pair of subs. Well the subs have stayed but the speakers were replaced with a 3 way tower pair of Rockport Atria II. They blow away everything else I have had up to this point. I feel like you benefit from subs with almost every speaker.

Wow. Submarine guys are so special. Thumbs up as always Randy. Excellent arguments. Can't wait for the 5 reasons towers are better than bookies. Efficiency, impact (mid range/bass slam), output, realism, frequency range, no stands/dual subs required, etc.

Over 21 years I've moved backwards; from floor standers to bookshelfs(?) to full range drivers. Full range is a TRUE point source and you can add a sub or two if you're that gangsta-rap-boom-chick-a-wow-wow guy. Couldn't be happier with my setup that plays all music exceedingly well and best of all it was very affordable. Cheers.

I've always prefer towers, but over the last year gravitating towards bookshelves. Do feel like dealing with the bulkiness of floor standers anymore. Plus, bookshelves are easier to deal with.

You make some valid points, and there's some well explained logic in this video. There are obviously pros and cons with both floor standing and bookshelf speakers, and each room is a huge variable that should be considered. Also, the potential cost of good stands for a bookshelf speaker is not insignificant, but they aren't a requirement in every situation, and should still allow a buyer to stay within the "less expensive" goal if they shop wisely. Larger speakers with more bass output and extension tend to be more prone to exciting room resonances in some rooms, whereas a smaller speaker is less likely to do so, due to the simple aspect of having less of the frequency output that tends cause those resonance issues. As the video points out, it's a bit tougher to address bass issues with tower speakers than it is for bookshelf speakers with a sub, because there's just more flexibility for addressing the room needs for bass with the sub and smaller speakers via placement, more specific volume control, crossover frequency selection, phase, etc. In your example of the Klipsch towers and Klipsch bookshelf speakers, the two speakers share several intentional design concepts (family traits) like similar cabinet construction/treatment, same/similar drivers, and likely some similarities in crossover parts and configuration, wiring, etc, which should mean there a lot of similarities in sound quality, clarity, and sonic signature, with the exception that the smaller speakers will likely have less bass output and extension (which is where the subwoofer comes into play). So given that there's essentially no "next level" upgrade benefits from spending more on the bigger speakers (in this example), there's an opportunity to spend some of the money saved on improvements to the rest of the system, and end up with some upgrade benefits after all. You could also look to an upgrade in overall speaker quality by going with a higher quality bookshelf speaker and sub over a lesser tower system. It all boils down to what you like the sound of, but I think this video suggests some great ways to help our audio budget go farther.

Towers all day. I'm a never-bookshelfer (I've got 2 sets of bookshelves, they bothl got replaced with towers: rp600m, ub5). Even small towers don't have the punch I want and I'm not a basshead or one who listens crazy loud but I want big sound. I prefer dual 8", nothing smaller that I've heard works on that really hard bass music.

Here are my reasons: #1) ability to separate bass speakers from the mid and tweeter, this allows for bass speaker placement to attain flat response at the listener position, this procedure is best pursued with some type of measurement equipment (REW on a laptop, two channel mic preamp and flat measurement microphone, but I use a 31 band RTA), #2) independent placement of the mid and tweeter from those now correctly placed bass speakers to attain proper soundstage imaging, very important part of the listening experience (both of these are best attained with a sufficiently large room of near ideal dimensions and symmetrical (right-left) spacing of the room forward of the listening position), #3) ability to utilize large bass speakers (10" or 12") compared to a tower speaker, #4) less reflective surface area as the satellite (bookshelf) speakers will sit on stands with their vertical support boards parallel to the side walls, #5) ability to independently set the proper height of the satellite speakers so that the center of the tweeter is at ear height when sitting in the listening chair.

You need to buy stands for bookshelfs, and most likely they wont be as stable as floorstanding. Also, the efficiemcy is better with bigger one, as well as frequemcy range.

Wife-acceptance factor is better for bookshelf speakers ;-)

They both have their place. I do agree that you can dial in things easier with a sub and bookcases. The older I have gotten the more I realize you are looking for the punch more than the pound of the bass. The difference is hearing the drum or hearing them hit the drum and hearing it move.

From what you said I'll go with floor standers.

There's definitely something to be said for portability/ease of moving around. I'll always be a floorstander guy because of the larger drivers that some of the floorstanders use. It's tough to beat displacement.

“Cheaper” and “Better” are two different categories. What makes a speaker “Better” is the way it’s sounds.....period. If they are cheaper, well, then they’re cheaper...that’s it. The KLH Kendall’s which I dare you to review, will make this video pretty “moot”. Rated at 96db, with proprietary crossovers, Kevlar Drivers all in a Real Wood Cabinet...these reach down to 25hz needing no subwoofer. And for 1299, no Bookie Sub Combo for the same price can compare. And of yeah make sure to add in the extra price for some decent stands for those Bookies!! Now if you titled this video “Why Bookshelf Speakers may make more sense to buy?!” Then you’d have no argument from me.

I have been running M&K satellites and dual subs for a few years now. Oh also using a crossover to cut the bass out of the satellites at 80-100hz. You can setup the stand mounts in just the right place then do the subs so they all work together. Lovely! This idea was popularized in the 70s by M&K. It works extremely well.

I'm sorry, but I disagree with you on this.. Yes a stand mount speaker by itself, is cheaper than a tower. But then you have to factor in the cost of stands. Then purchasing rubber grommets to plug the cable management on the stands, then source some sand to fill the stands. Also, the cost of longer speaker wires for the stand mounts vs towers because the binding posts on towers are near the floor. Lastly, you have to worry about knocking the standmount off the stand, and damaging it. In the end, you should have purchased the tower. Have you tried to sell a damaged standmount speaker? I have, and had to sell them for dirt cheap because of the cosmetic damage. Lastly, you can control the amount of bass with a tower. You have tone controls for 1, or 2 you can pull them out further into the room, same thing goes with a standmount. I personally used Dirac to control the amount of bass. I personally like towers better, even though I started out with standmounts. Loved the video brother. You got us talking.

Tower vs two way stand mount has as much to do with room size you're working with and both have their pro and cons. I do agree that towers are not automatically better, just different. I have gone back and forth over the decades, currently doing the two way + sub combo currently. For fullest sound, SPL, and "feeling" the music, floor standers + a sub! :)

Randy! Another great video! Funny, funny intro too. A lot of excellent and true points that no one (till now!) talks about. Another powerful reason that bookshelves are better, is that it's easier to get spousal approval, partly because of size, and partly cause they're cheaper. I've had huge speakers, and I just don't want to devote that much floor space to them anymore. I love the flexible placement options one has with bookshelves. And last, speakers have improved so much in the last three decades, that for low to medium volume levels, a floorstander just isn't needed to achieve excellent quality sound. If I can't get the job done with a great 6 1/2" woofer and 1" dome tweeter, there's a problem with the brand, model, or manufacturer.

What I Love about bookshelf speakers, is that I can move them anywhere. If I want to show some family members some speakers they might like, I can just grab the Loxjie A30 and the speakers. Three easy things to move around anywhere I please.

They are better in every way except sound.

Well, most of the time I use bookshelf speakers because I ALWAYS use a sub. But in an application where you want to really crank it, floorstanders will typically play louder and still stay clear. And I do like 3-way designs for pure music.

Great points, and they attest to the versatility of bookshelves. I think all of these advantages stand, as long as we are talking about a smallish / medium size room, and we are comparing to towers also in the 80s dB/Wm efficiency. However, when the the room allows, large size speakers have advantages that bookshelves cannot provide: efficiency, dynamic range, and scale. These all require "lungs" (large free air volume), and adding subs does not help (compact sub adds dynamically compressed bass...) You mentioned one point towards the end that resonates most with me: upgrading the system the small bookshelf speakers can step up big time, so there's no reason to be sad in case you have a small room and no space for large speakers. I might be the minority in my view that I prefer bookshelves unaccompanied (no subs), as adding a sub so far has soured the taste for me, and destroyed the beauty of precision and focus that the bookshelves can achieve unhindered by subs in a very high level system. Although I would add that bookshelves + a pair of subs takes up more floorspace than a pair of floorstanders when set up optimally... Cheers, Janos

im no audiophile and dont claim to be lol. im sure they all will laugh at me at what i say next but i really dont care. i recently got a screaming deal on a onkyo 7ch reciever and a full 5pc set of episode 500 series surround sound speakers. 4 bookshelfs and a center. i bought the whole thing for 70 bucks used locally. i actually really like how loud and clear they sound. i honestly couldnt be happier to be quite honest. i just ordered a klipsch 12" powered sub. currently waiting for it to arrive. i never heard of episode but i can say im quite impressed w the quality and sound of their speakers for sure. i cant wait to get my sub though thats for sure. i guess im saying you dont need to spend a million bucks on your stereo for it to sound good thats for sure. maybe i just got a killer deal i dont really know lol. but i can say best 70 bucks ive spent in a long time for sure. i was actually looking into getting towers myself tbh. maybe ill just stick w what i got who knows. i will say if you ever run into a deal on some episode speakers buy them you wont be disappointed. they sound phenomenal

Haven't seen too many CAM vids, but this is the best. Full of useful, factual info. Well done.

No arguments here, but I think where floor-standers CAN excel is that most are three-way, so potentially better midrange and also much higher power handling and volume. You can also spend way more on floor-standing speakers to deliver better sound. I have a set of aging B&W Nautilus 804 tower speakers and they just flat out blow away my set of Wharfedale EVO 4.2 bookshelfs and subwoofer. Why? The floor-standers are bigger, so you can pack more sound dollars into them.

With AVR receivers you can set the crossover not only in the preout going to the sub, but they have a crossover for each speaker as well. So you can adjust your tower speakers to not even get a signal starting at any frequency you want.

With the wife and daughter both working from home these days, I have to watch the noise levels during work hours. But my Edifier 1280DB's are just perfect, great sound, no sub needed and fit on my desk- no need for anything bigger.

I don’t even know if you went over the biggest issues with tower speakers. 1) Imaging. They tend to have more drivers, spread over more space. This means they’re less inclined to function as more compact point source radiators, a theoretically ideal speaker. Bookshelf speakers get much closer to this ideal. Having separate midrange and treble drivers further complicates imaging. The larger fronts of the floor standers also create issues with reflection. 2) Crossover. Floor standers tend to be 3-way designs. Many are even 4-way if you count the ports or passive radiator. Designing and building effective crossovers is an expensive art and can dramatically increase the price of the speaker, as can the design of the ports, radiators and whatnot. You can buy your way around these issues, but it won’t come cheap. 3) Cone breakup. The larger woofers typically found in floor standers are hugely vulnerable to cone breakup, where the driver doesn’t behave in a linear fashion. You also have issues where the midrange shifts around physically in space due to the large driver’s excursion. It’s less expensive to avoid these issues with the smaller bass/midrange drivers typically found in bookshelf speakers. 4) Cabinet resonances. In my book this is the worst issue with floor standing speakers. Their large sides - or even fronts and backs, as with old school traditional floor standers like the ones from 80s with their broad faces and shallow sides - are terribly susceptible to resonances. You can pay your way around it, but it’ll cost you a pretty penny for a tower with the engineering to avoid cabinet resonances, something even cheap bookshelf do just by their nature. Honestly, I can hear resonances from virtually all floor standers, even ones that cost a thousand more than their closet bookshelf relative. And they drive me NUTS. Once you hear cabinet resonances you can never un-hear them.

I came in ready to do battle but this makes total sense although...I believe the worst location for a bookshelf speaker is a bookshelf.

honestly I'm all for it, I work at a best buy and all my favorite speakers to listen to and test are the bookshelves. Namely the Kef bookshelves.

My name is Chris. I figured out this in the 90's. I got suckered into buying the raved about floor standing dynamic speakers. I Never could make them work, despite changing Amps,preamps, multiple room changes,etc....(Alon VI's, Legacy Signature lll's,the list goes on.You are Dead Right!!! I designed/Built a pair of 6.5" two way bookshelf speakers that still blow me away! I have a pair of large passive mirror imaged isobaric subs that have dual Dynaudio 30w54 woofers in each cabinet, with Heathkit sub crossover , with two bridged Crown amps just for the subs.but the imaging,3d and tonal accuracy is unmatched by floor standing speakers! (Except maybe Quad ESL 57's, Klipsch horns,and the like.I have met too many people that agree with us!

In my opinion, even tower speakers need a subwoofer. Unless you are going to spend lots of $$$$$$$.

I went from bookies + subs to Tekton Double Impact. Will never look back.

Hi Randy, I know you’ve reviewed the SVS Prime and Ultra bookshelves. Do you plan on reviewing their Ultra Towers at some point, or does their price point exclude them from your reviews?

My old Sony bookshelf speakers saved my setup last week. I got some tower speakers and I was completely underwhelmed by them. (Yamaha NS-777). But I wired in my old bookshelf speakers which are the same ohms and it sounds great now! I must say my bookshelf speakers weren't that special (Sony ss-dx50) but they put out a lot of rich sound. The tower speakers make it sound way more detailed now because of those huge mid/tweeters. I'm pretty happy with it now, running on an Aiyima A07 with the Sparkos opamp mod and a Matrix mini i pro DAC. Using a cheap 100w active subwoofer too.

You convinced me. I came from the older mentality that whoever had the largest speakers and speaker enclosures wins. I like my Klipsch RP600Ms. They work well with my tube amp. Maybe I'll add one or perhaps two subwoofers someday.

Yep. This is the method being used to help grandson get into this hobby. Start with lower cost alternatives, improve as the budget allows. BTW have you noticed the large number of high-quality, terrific sounding bookshelf/desktop/monitors are available? Great topic. and it can go with any DAC you choose.

My Klipsch Forte's disagree. good day sir.

Very true. I say to always incorporate a sub, allow for specialization. A tower is not going to hit low freqs with the spl's a sub can give. Also a sub can be moved around to get the best bass for your listening position. And I have towers, and use 2ea. Subs. I like the aesthetic of a tower and they have their own stand built in. 😉

I agree!!! I always had bookshelf speakers, never liked towers. Stand mount speakers are more ear level. I like the look also.

I used to get people into home theater and help them choose and install their systems a lot (but kind of ran out of people after a while), and I virtually always recommended bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer (or two). Budgets were usually tight, and even when they weren't so tight, I'd always try to get people to step up to a better speaker if their budget allowed, so tower speakers rarely ever entered the equation, as they cost a lot more money for little if any gain. The process of integrating the subwoofer always made me grateful that I could move it independently of the directional speakers, and I always ended up with better results than relying on tower speakers for bass. Based on experience, I was preaching the message "Use subs and crossovers, even if you already had tower speakers as a starting point" online for many years before it became standard practice, and believe me, there was some major resistance early on, when most people still greatly preferring tower speakers and wanted to run them full range, even for home theater. With a properly integrated sub taking over most bass duties, it soon became obvious to me that bookshelf speakers were the way to go, especially for home theater, but also for two-channel music because of superior bass extension (with the right sub!) and integration (if set up properly). I had always wanted towers myself, many years ago, but no longer saw the point of them for the vast majority of installations once I really got into setting up home theater and music playback systems for others with a variety of equipment. There are exceptions, but those are generally for people who aren't real constrained by budget. If you have a huge budget and want 3-way towers with RAAL ribbon tweeters and purpose-designed, ultra-low-mass mid-range drivers for exquisite detail because there are separate woofers for the mid-bass and bass, and you'll also have a subwoofer or two, then go for the towers. Others who can't or simply aren't willing to afford anywhere near that level of expenditure are generally better off with bookshelf speakers and a sub. That's based on experience, not just theory, although the two sure aren't far off in this case.

Bookies are a good way of sampling a brands flavor of sound without dropping major loot down.

I don't know anything about audio stuff, I love just my alexa echo for music but I do like electronics and stuff with wires. This guy is super entertaining and I like his videos :) Also what is the best counter top speaker with Alexa? I need a new one since I just killed my Echo Plus. Thanks guys

They aren't really cheaper though, only if you are going for cheaper. I mean towers go just as cheap. There are bookshelves that are out of a lot of people's price range. Also figure stands.

Theres no better or worse on tower vs bookshelves. If you have a small space, the towers does not make sense since it will produce so much bass. If you have big space to fill the bookshelves might not produce enough energy to fill the room. Its more of a requirement than anything else. I tried to place tower speakers in a small space and it was laughable to say the least. Bass was all over the place and just overwhelmed the room. Then placed my bookshelves in the living room, well that bottomed out quickly. Lol just buy speaker according to the space your working with.

Ok, I subscribed after hearing that Buffalo Bill impression 😂😂

Sound quality is not dependent upon whether a speaker is a box or a tower. The main difference? Tower speakers generally have high quality drivers, and more of them. After all, there aren't many box speakers which have more than two drivers. Better imaging potential with towers, but that begins to get a bit esoteric.

I’m going to say this, but please understand that I’m NOT trying to make y’all unhappy with your sense of decor. I’ve just always felt that a fairly large box (the monitor) sitting atop a spindly structure (the stand) visually communicates unsteadiness - and so, potentially, toppling disaster. Then one learns the “matching stands” are a third of the price of the monitor itself, bringing a complete system cost with comparably priced subwoofer quite close to a tower pair. Then one realizes the floor space footprint of a tower isn’t much different than a stand mount system, and certainly less than stand mounts plus sub. So visually, financially and operationally the stand mount system is not clearly superior - (ahem) to me. So IF you can live with bass that rolls off at about 37 Hz, a pair of towers allows one to live without a sub. But, this tower preference doesn’t hold up in a room where you have to lug the speakers into “listening positions “ and then back into “decor positions “ after a listening session. I’ve tried it with towers - ugh! Whereas the Emotiva towers in my home theater (set it and forget it positions) are a joy, no sub needed for me. The moral to this story: you and your room and your life partner are in a negotiation about living and listening space, and happiness is choosing a system that reflects the realities of that negotiation.

Towers for me anytime anyday. Give me a KEF Blade or Dynaudio Confidence 60 over any bookshelves. LMFAO!

Just updated my set up. Tell me what you think Center: Moukey FRONT L&R polk Audio XT60 Surrounds: Fluance A5s SUBS yamaha PW50 (2) Also thinking about changing out Fluance Books with either polk t15 or Starfavor P5

Bookshelves are certainly cheaper so they make sense for your channel to praise them. The physical aspect of flexibility with a smaller speaker is obvious! However the Sonics of a good floor standing speaker and ability of it to reach much lower in frequency is an advantage which all but eliminates the need for a sub. Subs really compensate for speakers with a poor bottom end say reaching below 60hz. You don’t have to worry about placement of floor standing speakers as that always are placed … on the floor. Bookshelves have advantages given room constraints and when that’s the case, adding a sub is often not an option.

With decent towers you don’t need the extra hassle of a separate subwoofer

I almost wanted to switch from KEF LS50 to towers. Any towers. Because my sub (SVS SB1000 pro) was not integrating well. All that has changed once I upgrade the sub to KEF KC62. Since the KC62 is so small and has no vibration, I can put the sub anywhere I want. My point is, integrating the sub is the key and can be difficult. But you will be rewarded once you find the sweet spot.

I’ve always been a hardcore floorstander/tower guy but after recently purchasing a pair of Wharfedale Lintons I’m digging the stand mounted thing. Even though the Lintons are a HUGE 3-way “bookshelf” stand-mounted speaker I can see why people like them. I’m actually very curious now about trying a serious 2 way stand mounted speaker with a good subwoofer and just see how I like it versus a 3 way tower/floorstander. Yeah, I’m open to it. Also, my Fosi Audio ZA3 is finally on the way 😎

I have two very powerful subs: Klipsch R/115 VMPS Larger Sub. In terms of room integration Sub/Sat systems do just what you said….. offer better results through greater flexibility in positioning. Rockport Arrakis, or Tidal La Assoluta’s need (I’m being somewhat facetious) Aircraft hanger space for proper dial-in! Enough to know, that one MUST pay attention, and take room dimensions very seriously.

Great set of arguments for bookshelves. Agree with all of them and yet still found myself buying a pair of stage a170s over their bookshelf a130s. This was an odd case of a sale making the bookshelf plus stands costing the same as towers and my room is large enough that I will appreciate the larger speakers.

Bookshelfs rarely, if ever have mid-range drivers built in (if some do, it's the exception to the rule). Floorstanders do. Also, Floor standers usually have an additional woofer not to mention all the extra cabinet space. They also take up the same amount of real estate.

Good video. Especially when you are beginning out you always wonder what’s the point of towers. The synergy you get with a tower is hard to beat is my humble opinion. And they make a better show when put in a bigger room. And yeah I have a $$$ sub to go with it but I barely use it. I don’t like the sub bass when I just want to chill on a fine morning or after work. I use the sub only when I have people over. And trust me getting your sub and speakers to gel takes much much more effort than the cheapaudioman is making it sound like.

Props for chopping your videos into sections, saves a lot of time browsing for specific information.

Something why i would rate bookshelfs higher than towers for personal use is how they handle bass. Towers for the most part have more bass than bookshelfs with some sort of ''sub'' build in. But that can be BAD. I have neighbours. Sometimes, i want to listen to music but i dont want to annoy anyone. I can be flexible, add a subwoofer to the system and i can also turn the subwoofer OFF late at night for example. I cant do that with towers, they allways deliver some amount off bass that could be too much for a given time. With bookshelfs and a sub, i have the best of both worlds, and i can be highly flexible. Towers are not. For me at least, they are impractical for every day use. I guess for some super rich guy who lives in his own house and noone cares and he can blast a rock concert at 3 at night...that might different. But i m just a normal person, living in a normal appartment, with normal neighbours around me.

It's actually amazing that you had this video today. Great timing. For financial reasons, I'm selling a very large pair of Legacy Focus Towers. I just made a homemade pair of bookshelf speakers that use a full-range driver. I am absolutely blown away at how great the mid-range clarity and general instrument clarity is on those 1.2 cubic foot boxes. I had a 10 in KRK studio sub in a closet in my basement. I set it up in a corner in my relatively small 14 by 18 foot living room, this cheap setup really sounds great.

That point #4 about reselling is a REALLY big consideration. I've had heavy/bulky tower speakers damaged in shipping and that's much less likely with a lighter, smaller bookshelf unit.

That buffalo bill intro was hilarious!

I have a serious question. Do people use EQ units connected to their systems anymore? If so, what's required to connect them? Are they used for home theater systems? Because back in the 90s I had a hifi system w/ a 7-band EQ and it allowed me to refine the sound so good that a cassette sounded like a CD. And I often changed the EQ for different songs. I had a friend whose dad had an awesome Pioneer home theater system w/ a massive 12-band EQ. Is that not done anymore? I ask because no one talks about EQ's anymore on KZfaq. And I'm talking about REAL EQ's, not the digital ones that are buried in deep menus.

Towers have more gravitas, although being easy to move becomes more important as you age. Also a lot of newbies have trouble adjusting the xovers for a bookshelf_sub combo. Space is no consideration as both take up the same space. NEVER put a bookshelf on a shelf. That notion has passed, only the name still exists

😂🤣 made my day here in the UK where it's currently expected to rain for the next 15 months. Firstly, the intro and a little confusion over which type of speakers we're comparing here 🤭 - then your hilarious buffalow bill cameo 😂. You must do more of these Randy 👍😁. Right then. Got my coffee. On with the video.

got my pair of MIssion, small room on home made shelfs with my 40 watt integrated JVC, they sound fantastic not sub needed even, I put them exactly the height I wanted and I even can tilt them to change the intensity of the mid range. definitely win win. I'm going to set a bigger system in a bigger room IN the house and I'll go the same waY, may be different placement or more power, the current ones are about 170w and the amp will be more powerful, but bookshelf for sure.

I have had Revel Concerto M16’s (bookshelf) for two years and I love them, they are used with Paradigm Seismic 110’s. However, I splashed out on their bigger brother the F36 (towers), which cost twice the amount, but I did have to buy good stands for another $400. Without a doubt the Towers are better in my room and the bookshelves took on side surround responsibilities. So my opinion is if you are tight on budget get as good a pair of bookshelf’s, however, if you can push your budget go for the towers, in the long run they may prove the better investment. In my case the extra $600 was worth it and if I only wanted stereo I may have regretted buying the bookshelf first now I know the sound difference.

Bookshelf’s just don’t satisfy me; floor standing ones have scale. But that being said, they are smaller and easier to integrate in decor

Too many audiophiles on youtube take themselves WAAY too seriously. This is a great antidote. You are funny and very watchable.

Maybe I missed it but speaker wall brackets can be adjustable to angle that tweeter to your seating position. My brackets adjust left/right up/down & you know it when you get it spot on, the difference is amazing with slight tweaks.

I personally love Bookshelf Speakers! Why get towers when they are normally twice the money but imo not double the performance.

The new sponsor is Killin it.😎

That surround sound suggestion was a good point if you're on a budget , thanks .

Very good video. For me it is important that the speakers "disappear" and you feel nothing is between you and the music. Hard to do that with towers even though small speakers may take up the same space with stands.

Thanks for the ideas, Randy! As soon as I find a pair of La Scalas, I’m mounting those on the wall!

When this pandemic thing started, I build a home theater with used gear (except the TV and my source, an xbox one) so I decided to use bookshelves because of budget and also because I have a lot of nephews and one little daughter so, I just mounted them on the wall for those safety issues, i feel it's more safe for the kids and for the speakers too. Aaaaand, that left me more budget to add a sub, and other things in the room 👍🏼

I was always a floor-stander guy (Klipsch RF-3, B&W CM10s, Spendor A3, Jensen LS-5b etc.) until I recently bought a set of Buchardt A500 active stand mount speakers. Fantastic imaging, no interconnecting cables, adaptable sound signature (via programable DSP) and DEEP bass. They are also much easier to reposition than my old floor standing speakers. Personally I'm sold. I also have a pair of B&W CM5 stand mount speakers, and while they are good, they lack the bass heft that I wanted. In the end get what makes you happy!

I noticed something else while visiting friends with systems. Several of my friends live in apartments or condos where you have to be careful with the sound volume. The real culprit is often the deep bass which can rattle walls or travel thru walls. Subwoofers then become a no-go for apartment dwellars. So most of my audio friends living in apartments go with tower speakers and no sub. If they leave the bass boost off they are ok. Listening to their setups they can have decent bass from the towers without getting too many complaints. Generally they are ok with watching home theater. However music at party levels will still be a problem but that would also be the case with bookshelf speakers.

You get what you pay for. I can see bookshelf in a small room, but makes no sense if the room is relatively large. High quality tower speakers prevail hands down.

Great review, and timely for me as I have moved from floor standers to stand mounts…definitely a happy move for me. For the same investment, I have moved up to a higher echelon of speaker.

I disagree. Towers have better bass because they can move more air generally, placements about the same assuming you're going to use stands. Flexibility of the speaker tower or not depends on the design. Some speakers are designed to be less picky with placement. Ultimately I'd say it depends on what are you trying to do. In a living room towers unless you have a very small apartment. In a bedroom bookshelves may make more sense. But bookshelves are definitely NOT way better than towers.

Recently got a pair of Atlantic Technology AT-1 towers used for $350. I’m loving them and also just upgraded from a Sony AVR STR-DN1020 to a Rotel rsp1068 and Rotel 1075 and I got both for a total of $240. Also picked up a Amazon link $80, Cambridge 551p-s phono preamp $75, and Pro-Ject 1xpression $500, Polk psw650 for $150. And I haven’t even got to listen to all of it hooked up yet, but I’m excited!

I wanted towers but I have a special needs daughter and did not want her to feel nervous playing around them, or even damage them so I got bookshelves. She is 7 years old now and still have the same undamaged bookshelves, no regrets.

Everything he says is true! Except when it comes to Magnepan...

I've had a few pairs of tower speakers, I always felt they were at the wrong height for where my listening position was, I even built stands for the towers, to bring them up to ear level, defeating the point of buying towers, the lesson learned was buy book shelves and custom build stands to bring them to the perfect listening position, for me that's the tweeters at ear level,

I have towers that I bought from Harmon audio Ebay site for $468. They had an MSRP of $1700, they have a 250 watt 10" sub in each cabinet. Just saying, ive had them for 20years.