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Floorstanders vs Bookshelf

Looking for a bit of advice on whether a bookshelf or floorstanding speaker would be better. My room is 13’ x 43 but we sit only about 10’ away for TV watching (we could probably move the couch back a foot or 2 really). I’ve had some Dali Menuets on the wall and was happy with them but I want to move them up to another room. I tried some Monitor Audio Silver 300 and I like them when I am further out in the room working out or playing with the kids. But sitting down I find them giving me a headache, even at low volume. I listened to some Elac Carina speaker and found them to be more relaxing in the bookshelf version. I didn’t get to try the FS version. Any recommendations on what would be a better fit? My amp is a lyngdorf 1120.

valkyrieorion
hilde45's avatar
hilde45
5,047 posts
 

Here's a guess. When you talk about the Monitor Audio speakers and a headache, I notice that it has a metal (gold dome) tweeter. The Elac Carina has a ribbon tweeter and is more relaxing. I had similar issues and moved to an Ascend Acoustics ribbon based tower. It's much more relaxing.

In short, it may be a question of the kind of tweeter, and not monitor vs. tower.

dadork
633 posts
 

Big space- Big speaker. Bookshelves cannot possibly move enough air for the volume of the room.

soix
9,756 posts
 

It depends on the speaker design.  If the drivers are too far apart they won’t have time to integrate properly at a distance of only 10 or 12’.  The best of both worlds may be a pair of monitors combined with two decent subs, and I’d guess your Lyngdorf might be a big help integrating them with its excellent room correction capabilities.  Hope this helps, and best of luck. 

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