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Monitors vs. Floorstanders - What an eye opener

Greetings,

I was 100% intent on buying a large floorstanding speaker, thinking that a stand mounted, monitor type speaker just couldn't reproduce music in a realistic fashion (full range), and that you've just got to have bass extension down to 20HZ and multiple, large drivers.

Well, I just bought a pair of Energy RC-Mini's because they were one of only two or three speakers that would fit on a specific shelf in our family room. These are for a second system I'm putting together for my wife, and I don't have the source components yet.

I was anxious to hear how they sounded, so, I unboxed these tiny little speakers (two-way with 4.5" woofer and dome tweeter), and hooked them up to my big rig. I sat them on two dining room chairs in a much less than ideal position (sitting too low on a cushion with total disregard to placement), put on some Rikki Lee Jones, and my goodness, I almost fell out of my chair!

Straight out of the box these tiny little speakers are unreal! The imaging is incredible, and I simply cannot believe the range of music they can reproduce. These things are the size of PC speakers! Of course they won't move your chest with dynamics or make your ears bleed, but they are punchy, detailed and reproduce a soundstage that even my vaunted Von Schweikert VR-4's couldn't manage. I can't imagine how good they might be if set up properly! Voices, piano, triangles, cymbals, etc. are ridiculously realistic sounding. So good, I'm tempted to get some nice stands and buy my wife a shelf system for the family room!

Funny thing is, I've now come to realize that this obsession with "full range" is waaaay over-rated. Aside from the ultimate in extension, these little speakers aren't missing much, so I can't imagine how a monitor with wider range credentials might sound!

I'm going to give this monitor idea some heavy consideration while looking for a pair of speakers. If these little Energy speakers are 90% satisfying with bass response to only 80HZ, I have to think that a larger system just might be the cat's meow!

Any recommendations on monitors to check out?
seadweller
brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
I can relate to your experience due to a past experience of my own. A friend brought over his B&W Signature 805's and after playing them on my system we returned to my floorstanders, which I admit that I could never get right, and I prefered the Signatures in every single way. I ended up selling the floorstanders and purchased a set of the S805's myself and the system I last had with those speakers is still one of the most fun systems I ever had.

There is a lot of music in those lower octives that smaller speakers can miss, but if the "bigger" speakers can't get the bass right, you are better off with a good stand mount, IMO. (That isn't saying that you can't have both.)
tarsando
578 posts
 
Piano's can't be all that realistic with the frequency range you quoted. Unless you don't care much for what the left hand is doing. You may not need 20Hz but you need 32
mcfavre4
85 posts
 
You are so correct in your findings. Monitors can do things floorstanders can't in most cases as the larger cabinets can get in the way. A good inert monitor can throw a huge image. The Stone Image Rothschilde is the best sounding monitor I have heard and does bass and scale like a floorstander with speed and a clear midrange.
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
I think the reasaon I love my Merlin VSMs so much is that they are essentially a two-way monintor on top of a sand-filled stand. The small cabinet and the simplicity of the two-drives with one Xover is much of the reason for their cohesive sound. The one big advantage over a normal mini-moinitor on a stand is their BAM (bass augmentation module) that brings the response down to 33Hz -1.5db - not a "full range" as the bigger brethren, but for most music more than sufficient bass - tight, tuneful bass at that.
sc53
720 posts
 
The ProAc Response 1SC monitors I've had for a few years now continue to amaze me on all kinds of music. I also have a REL sub (Storm III) with them, but they sound fine without it on all but the bassiest of music.
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