BookShelf or Floor Standing Speakers

Any suggestion that stand-mounts are superior to floorstanders, or vice versa, IN ISOLATION TO CONTRIBUTING FACTORS  is a misguided fallacy. 

Everybody’s listening arena and personal bias will trump any off the cuff suggestions here.

CONTRIBUTING FACTORS IMPACTING SYSTEM (INCLUDING SPEAKER) SELECTION.

All speakers and all system electronics have their own bespoke sonic signature, = one size does not fit all.

1) Your system source(s),  the amplification, and the cables ( ALL of power cords, ICs, and speaker...)

2) Your bespoke listening arena with all its warts and limitations AND the listening room size, together, will significantly affect your listening pleasures, regardless of standmounts or floorstanders. Room treatments are important .

3) Personal  bias will usually trump many other factors. One man’s personal fave is another man’s must to avoid. 

4) Price alone and mag reviews are no assurance that new speakers will actually excel in YOUR system. System synergy matters .... full stop again. 

TAKEAWAY:

- There is no substitute for actually rolling up your sleeves, doing your own research and investing in actual auditions. Forging a relationship with a quality high-end dealer assistance is a good start.  

There are many standmounts that can best floorstanders and vice versa.... There is no “best”.... full stop. 

@akg_ca , +1

@OP,
Going to floor standers will require more space for positioning.
Is that something you have?
The best part of a floorstander is the additional cabinet volume that will enhanced lower frequency reproduction (among other things).
As akg pointed out, you really need to audition as many manufacturers as possible and find a speaker that 'speaks' to you.
Bob

Thanks guys.  You are correct that I need to listen to floor mounts.   I do have the room for them.  The bass is what interests me most of floor vs let's call it bookshelf or full range bookshelf.  I don't need earth shaking bass, but enough to play lows.  Mostly acoustic stuff.

A lot depends on how in love you are with your current speakers- especially if what you are mostly looking for is better/deeper bass. Floor standers will probably give you that, but not by a huge amount because there will still be only two of them. When it comes to bass what matters more than anything is having at least four widely spaced sources. So you may want to consider adding four subs, also known as a distributed bass array, or Swarm in this case. https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/audiokinesis-swarm-subwoofer-system/

But if you are not that in love then you just need to do what you already know and search out as many contenders as you can find to audition.

Whether floorstanders will be an improvement is highly subjective as noted above. Even though I have a fairly large room, for my budget, I prefer standmount speakers with subs.

I found that MOST of the more affordable floorstanders (under $5K/pair) have compromises in the cabinet construction that cause audible resonance. This prevents them from achieving transparent imaging. Some exceptions can be found in small floorstanders, for example, the Spendor A7s. However, at that size and cost, you can get nice standmounts and two subs that might actually perform better in the bass. Of course, if you prefer a more streamlined solution, floorstanders have the advantage.

Generally, I find that small/medium monitors are better at disappearing as sources of sound, for any given budget. Their cabinets have less surface area that can be excited into audible ringing/resonance.

OTOH, large floorstanders (with large drivers) play music with greater scale. On average, they're also more sensitive, and therefore, can better produce dynamics  at low volumes. 

My preferred compromise between these two extremes are medium-sized standmount monitors with large midwoofers (8 or 10"). I also prefer the "lossy," damped cabinets that are designed to flex with the driver output, rather than mitigate resonance through heavy panels and bracing. The latter tend to produce cabinet resonances in the 500Hz - 1kHz range. The problem with that behavior (depending on the Q), is resonance in those frequencies sounds like ringing and grain to the human ear - it interferes with the frequencies where music tends to have greatest energy. Ultimately, it leads to listening fatigue, IME. Unfortunately, that is the chosen cabinet design for many floorstanders. The ones that are thick, heavy, and braced enough to practically do away with resonance are expensive.

In contrast, the "lossy" cabinet designs, pioneered by the BBC, tend to produce resonances around 250Hz or lower. The human ear associates this frequency range with the music's "body" and bass overtones. It does not impede on the most energetic areas of the midrange, which is why a $4K speaker with of this design principle can produce a midrange on-par with six-figure speakers. 

Like most aspects of this hobby, there are compromises that must be weighed against the listener's preferences. I prefer to own 3 pairs of $4K standmounts that I can rotate through my systems to keep things interesting, rather than own one pair of $12K floorstanders that could potentially give me the best of both worlds with scale and imaging.