2. speakers
  3. 165114-2693

Anyone Successfully Go from Floor Standers to Bookshelf Monitors w/ Subs?

My system is in a Large Living room which opens to dining room & Kitchen. I figure about 6k cu ft. I have Silverline Sonata speakers now with subs. Unfortunately I did not build my addition when I should have 10-15 yrs ago. Now I'm not really up to the task. Too old & wore out. So I'd love to make the LR a prettier room for my wife. One thing we talked about was the large speakers, and possibly using Watkins Gen 4 monitors. But as good as they sound, I am concerned about the ability to fill the room, or at least my listening area. As I understand, it is about moving air. I cannot see how a 6.5 & 1 inch speaker can move as much as a 10, 7, 3 & 1 inch. So I am quite concerned about that. Right now, the system sounds very pleasing to both of us. We don't want to take a backward step but can live with a sideways step if it is more visually pleasing.

Has anyone made this kind of a step from floor standers to monitors, both with subs, in a large room, with success? Or am I thinking correctly about the small speakers inability to move the proper amount of air for the room size? Thanks for your help.

OH, FWIW, The addition may not be completely out of the picture. But it depends on whether I can get one of my previous sub contractors to do a large part of it. 
128x128artemus_5
jrpnde
271 posts
 
   Moving air? What kind of bass do you prefer? Tooth rattling or well integrated or both? Bass is a personal preference. "Moving air" isn't the whole part of it. There will be scads of advice on this topic. The best sound and the physical appeal seems to be your goal. I have heard book standers with subs that out perform floor standers and others that do not.
   Speaker placement, especially with subs, is paramount. When I say subs that means more than one. Ask millercarbon about the swamp effect. Room correction, room treatments, and other tools can help to achieve a good sound. If you go the bookshelf path with subs be prepared to tune them to your room and your music tastes. Especially speaker placement if the room geometry allows. Here's an informative article on subs......
https://www.soundonsound.com/sound-advice/all-you-wanted-know-about-subwoofers

larryincmh
59 posts
 
I went from large Axiom M80 floor standing speakers in my family room, to Focal 906 bookcase sized on stands. The Focals sounded much better and filled the room just as well.  They also visually were much more appealing to look at and my wife was happy with the look.  I opted for dual subs which lived at the back of the room (and for a time actually acted as rear stands for my surround speakers LOL). Very satisfying to listen to in a less than perfect room.

Then I moved to a new house and even though the family room was larger every wall was glass so no room for speakers of any kind ha ha. I went back to floor standers in my basement listening cave but only because I scored some on Craigslist that a guy didn’t know what he had for 100 bucks when they should’ve been 1000 or more. Vintage 90s floor standers but I still use the dual subs even with them.  I do miss the Focals however and keep my eye out for a used pair of 926 or 936 floor standers (which again would be much more visually appealing the older 80s and 90s speakers are not very attractive boxes for the most part). 
urbie
275 posts
 
You might want to try the new gold 200 generation 5 or the platinum 200 generation 2 or maybe even the gold 300 generation 5.
tyray
562 posts
 
I made the transition years ago, but and this is a big but, my monitors are the (almost) vintage Miller & Kreisel MPS-2510 professional studio monitors paired with (2) PSA (18") 1801’s subwoofers and this ensemble can handle anything I throw at them.

The subs were a breeze to integrate and the monitors with their (2) midrange and (3) tweeter vertical configuration have a wide dispersion soundstage and are MADE to and crossed over to be used with SUBS and NOT to be used as stand alone monitors only.

I will say this: The bigger the sub the better as I kept upgrading to bigger subs until I got it to SOUND right in my room for me. The unusual thing I find about the bigger subs is you don’t have to turn the gain up as much to integrate them vs using a smaller sub, which may sound counterintuitive.
urbie
275 posts
 
Sorry that's from monitor audio
More to discover