You may consider yourself a true audiophile if you love the idea of wrapping yourself in sound when you use your home theater. Yet, your sound or music setup will inevitably be incomplete if it is bereft of floor standing speakers. No doubt, the floor standing speakers are the very heart-pumping cornerstone of a great home theatre system. These floor standing speakers are easy to position, and they often take advantage of vertical spaces and leave a smaller footprint. Thus, you can easily fit a number of these speakers into any small living space.
Choosing the right floor standing speakers may be quite difficult for those who are uninitiated to the different brands and models of floor standing speakers. Given the myriads of brands and models of this type of speaker, you can easily get confused as to which to buy. Nevertheless, if you know the important factors to look for, you could easily zero in on the right floor standing speakers. Here are the important factors that could help you breeze through the process of buying:
1) Figure out the Right Dimensions
When buying something like a floor-standing speaker, you need to be exact with what size you would like to buy, especially if you have a small living space. Of course, you want something big that packs great power, but you can’t really go too big if you have a cramped living space. Moreover, huge speakers may not fit in well with your living room setup.
But if you buy something that is small and light, they may become less prominent, dwarfed by your other furniture. So, it is better to strike the right balance when deciding on the size of your speakers. Go for something that is big enough to be powerful but small enough to fit into its designated spaces easily.
2) Choose between Powered or Passive Floor-standing Speakers
You may be asking about the difference between powered and passive. Well, the distinction is quite obvious. The powered speakers have their amplifiers built-in, while the passive ones need external amplification. The other term for powered is active, which is the opposite of passive. The good thing about home theater speakers is that they are mostly passive. But you may still want to check and decide on whether you would like to have an active speaker on your home theatre setup.
3) Frequency Response
When buying a speaker, you should also take note of the frequency response of the speaker. This feature refers to the speaker’s range of frequencies that it can reproduce. It is the measure of the range of frequencies from 20Hz to 20,000Hz that a certain speaker can produce. So, if you want a speaker with a broader range, you better go for those with a high-frequency response because the highs and lows of these speakers will be more detailed and clearer.
4) Choose between Three-way vs. Two-way Speakers
When buying a speaker, you also need to consider how many types of drivers the speaker has. Well, you only have two options when it comes to the number of drivers—two-way or three-way speakers. Two-way speakers can separate the frequencies that they produce into highs and lows. So, they have two drivers, namely: the tweeters for the highs and the woofers for the lows.
Three-way speakers, on the other hand, come with three drivers, and they separate frequencies into three, namely, the lows, mids, and the highs. Three ways, of course, are believed to produce more detailed sound, but the truth is, there are instances wherein a nice two-way speaker can beat the three-way speakers.
5) Understand the Driver Types
A good understanding of the driver types will surely come in handy when buying floor standing speakers. Speakers basically have four main speaker types, namely: subwoofers, woofers, mid-range, and tweeters. The biggest among these drivers are the subwoofers, and the smallest are the tweeters.
Each type deals with different frequencies. The subwoofers, for example, deal with longer sound waves than that of the mid-range. Hence, it necessitates a bigger driver. The tweeters, of course, don’t need a bigger driver. The subwoofers, on the other hand, are usually the biggest of all speakers because they support the lowest frequencies between 20Hz to 200 Hz. They are usually positioned near the floor so that they can further boost the bass.
Woofers, however, support the frequencies from 40Hz to 1KHz. Woofers may offer enough bass for most contemporary music don’t need subwoofers, and don’t go down to below 40Hz.
The mid-range supports frequencies from 500Hz to 2KHz. This range includes the musical instrument’s sounds and the sound of the human voice.
Lastly, there is the tweeter that produce the highest frequency sounds. Its range is from 2KHz to 30Khz.
6) Sensitivity Ratings
The sensitivity rating refers to the efficiency of the speakers. It is the measure of how far a speaker can go in terms of loudness given a certain amount of power. The sensitivity ratings of speakers may be indicated by the manufacturers of speakers. However, there is a problem with the sensitivity ratings because, in practice, manufacturers don’t have a reliable and independent testing standard for gauging the sensitivity ratings of their products.
7) Check for Durability
Whenever you buy a product, you would surely always ask for durability. Similarly, you will surely be always on a lookout for a durable speaker whenever you buy a floor-standing speaker. You should, therefore, carefully examine the parts of the speakers and figure out how compact the speaker is. You don’t want your speaker to be bogging down easily. Contrariwise, you want your new speakers to last long. After all, the money that you would shell out for a new speaker is hard-earned.
But how will you know if a speaker is durable? Well, you simply need to read the reviews of customers who have already bought that speaker model along with the expert reviews on that brand. Moreover, you can also rely on trusted brands that are known for rolling out speakers with good quality and long-lasting durability.
8) Wiring and Cables
You should also check the wirings of the speaker that you intend to buy. Check for the set of wire terminals, whether they have crossovers or not. You should also check if the speakers are bi-amped speakers or not. Some speakers have only a single output connector that leads to the amplifier. So, you should check for these nuances and discrepancies. Your preference, of course, will determine your choice of speakers.
The Top 5 Most Recommended Floor Standing Speakers
After having known the factors that you should consider when buying floor standing speakers, we deemed it proper to review here the top 5 most recommended floor standing speakers in the market today:
1) Polk T50 150-Watt Home Theater Floor Standing Tower Speaker
If you are looking for a superior floor standing speaker to complement your home theater system, you should check out the Polk T50 150-Watt Home Theater Floor Standing Tower Speaker. This speaker is nicely crafted and is powerful enough to let you enjoy great sound. It features a great construction as well as high-end acoustics.
The good thing about the Polk T50 is that it comes with a 1″ tweeter, one 6.5″ drivers, along with 2 6.5″ bass radiators. The two bass radiators augment the woofer, enabling this speaker to produce a naturally well-balanced warm sound that suffuses the whole room. The use of this speaker will surely enhance and heighten your audio experience.
The one-inch tweeter of the Polk T50 features a dynamic balance that enables this speaker to produce crystal clear treble. The 6.5″ extended also adds to the composite dynamism of its sound and allows it to produce uncolored mids along with very punchy bass. Its impedance rating is 60 Ohms. Moreover, it has a remarkable frequency response range from 38Hz to 24,000Hz. It also features a 150W peak power handling.
This speaker also comes with banana plug terminals that can support and connect to any type of standard speaker wires. They also come with a bi-amped wire that channels enough power to every stereo component. The only downside of buying this speaker is that it is expensive.
2) Pioneer SP-FS52 Andrew Jones Designed Floor standing Loudspeaker
Another great brand that rolls out reliable and outstanding speakers is that of Pioneer, and one of its great products is the Pioneer SP-FS52 Andrew Jones Designed Floor standing Loudspeaker. This speaker is designed with convenience and maximum performance in view. It is designed for those serious audiophiles who want a speaker that will satisfy their sound cravings.
This speaker comes with a single soft-polymer tweeter that has a 1-inch radius and is designed to take care of high-volume audio for a clearer sound all the time. It also exhibits an excellent frequency response for this speaker carries 130-watt maximum power output and 6-Ohm impedance rating. You will surely need a reliable amplifier for this speaker in some instances.
Its 40HZ-20KHz frequency response will surely alter your listening experience. You’ll also get detailed vocals from this speaker. Moreover, its 87dB sensitivity rating allows this speaker to use more power. This speaker, thus, reduces digital harshness and distortion, and you would surely love this speaker if you really want something that can produce great details.
The Pioneer SP-FS52 speaker is 35-inch high. It also comes with a cabinet design style that helps in reducing internal waves. Additionally, it comes with plenty of basses that create crisp bass, enabling it to suffuse a whole room with awesome sound. It is also designed for durability.
It features an elegant grill that is stylish and is removable. Its base is also detachable. It is highly resistant to accidents, and its design will readily fit any home. Furthermore, it comes with banana plug binding posts that complement any standard speaker. It also utilizes gold-plated bi-wiring that allows for a high level of conductivity.
3) Sony SSCS3 3-Way Floor-Standing Speaker (Single)
The Sony SSCS3 3-Way Floor-Standing Speaker is another great option if you are serious about the sound that you listen to. It is perfect for a small room as well as for a mid-size room, though it could still deliver awesome sound for a large room.
Sony SSCS3 comes with a 3-way 4-driver speaker system that is sold individually. It is nicely designed to harmonize readily with the setup of your living room. This speaker can take your sound listening to a new level with its High-resolution Audio. It can capture music at a rate higher than a CD and can increase your audio samples each second. It also exhibits great bitrate accuracy for each sample.
This speaker features Mica-reinforced Cellular fiber woofers that rigidly holds shapes even if burdened with high pressure. Thus, you are assured that you are not compromising audio quality even if you push its bass driver hard. It also comes with a 5.12 woofer for stable and deep bass. Furthermore, it features tapered faceplate edges to keep sound clear.
4) Yamaha NS-F210BL 2-Way Bass-Reflex Floor Standing Speaker
The Yamaha NS-F210BL is another great speaker product that can handle well higher frequencies. Unlike other cheaper tower speakers that readily manifest problems when handling high frequencies, the Yamaha NS-F210BL takes care of higher frequencies easily as it delivers awesome sound across the various frequency range.
You will surely like the design of the Yamaha NS-F210BL for it is sleek and stylish. Moreover, it exhibits durability and sturdiness. Thus, you are assured that you got a speaker that would not readily bog down when pushing hard. Its bases also show great proportion and lend stability to this speaker.
The Yamaha NS-F210BL is clearly engineered for home theaters because of its stylish slim black design. Its design will surely match any contemporary flat-screen TV. Moreover, its woofers utilize aluminum cones that add value to its look and provides an additional fast response. Thus, if you are very much particular with the design of the speakers that you buy, then you should consider buying the Yamaha NS-F210BL.
The downside, however, of choosing this speaker is that it seems to be lacking in power for some users who are keen on using speakers that pack so much power.
5) B.I.C. America Venturi DV84 2-Way Tower Speaker (Single)
The B.I.C. America Venturi DV84 features a single-tower speaker that comes with two 8-inches active woofers and two 8-inch passive radiators. This speaker is manufactured by B.I.C. America, a company with long years of expertise in this business. This speaker also comes with a 3/4″ soft dome tweeter. Its frequency response range is from 27Hz to 22kHz. It also comes with the 90dB sensitivity that is within the average range.
This speaker runs on power from 10W to 250W for each of its channels. You can count on this speaker if you are aching for performance. It also provides excellent balance and great clarity. Moreover, with its 8″ radiators, it can extend its low-frequency response.
The B.I.C. America Venturi DV84 stands tall at 48 inches, with a 10-inch wide body and 11 and ¾-inch deep. It comes in black ash finish and features a cabinet made of M.D.F. You will surely appreciate this speaker as a good addition to your home theater’s setup.
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