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

Showing 1 response by s7horton

It's my opinion that every audiophile should "learn" how to listen on a set of monitors before advancing to a floor standing speaker.