A case for floorstanding speakers
In these days of 9.2.4 Dolby surround speaker set-ups and wireless speaker sets, it’s easy to lose sight of some of the basics. The fact remains, when it comes to great sound, nothing does the trick like a good pair of floorstanding speakers. They’re the solid bedrock upon which you can build the stereo system of your dreams.
Floorstanding speakers have been a cornerstone of home audio systems for decades. Also known as tower speakers, they are able to deliver a big and full sound that’s difficult to match. Even as more complex home theatre systems have become common, they remain the go-to workhorses that arguably provide the most important part of surround sound. Or at least,… they should be.
Why choose Floorstanding Speakers?
Recently, floorstanding speakers have fallen out of grace for many Kiwi audiophile and home theatre buffs. We really wonder why? Sure, we can see situations why bookshelves over towers as the main speakers can be justified. However, we want to remind our customers that there are some very good reasons to opt for floorstanders in many situations.
We are not going to argue that bookshelf speakers are the more obvious choice for stereos in places like a bedroom or study, where they take up less space and the sound is more likely to be played at lower volumes.
Also, for some people, the decision comes down to cost, since bookshelf speakers can be less expensive than floorstanders, But it is good to consider that bookshelves under-perform in terms of bass response, and their size limits the number and size of drivers they can contain, resulting in limited loudness and fullness of sound.
In cases where budget, space, or noise restrictions limit options, bookshelf speakers may be the best choice. But if you’re looking for a full sound cover the full frequency range and/or you like to crank up the volume, then we say a good set of floorstanding speakers should be your go-to choice.
End of sermon. Let’s take a look at what makes up a floorstanding speaker.
3 Types of Drivers for Floorstanding Speakers
Typically, a floorstanding speaker is at least about a meter tall with a footprint of a square foot, although they can be much larger.
One of the reasons why a floorstanding speaker should be considered over a bookshelf is the number of drivers. We’ll get back to this statement later in this blog, but let’s keep it at that for now.
The size of a speaker driver decides on its range. If you realise that the human ear can perceive sounds ranging from 20 to 20,000 Hz, and you know that there are 3 types of drivers (we’ll forget about subwoofers for the moment), each covering a particular frequency range, then it’s easy enough the understand that to (some extent) a wider driver variety (more drivers) will cover a larger range.
The higher the frequencies, the shorter the soundwaves and the smaller the drivers. Conversely, lower frequencies have longer soundwaves, requiring larger drivers.
The different type of drivers in tower speakers are:
Tweeters
These small drivers are usually found at the top of the speaker, and generally emit sounds at high frequencies ranging from 2,000 to 20,000 Hz and above.
Although there are certain similarities across the board between all drivers, tweeters have different physical characteristics. The thing that sets tweeters apart from the rest is that they really don’t need to pump much air: a very small number of high frequency Watts goes much further than a similar number of Watts at low frequencies. BUT tweeters do need to be very agile. They must be able to start and stop quickly so they can mirror the subtle micro-architecture of the changing musical waveform, and it is this speed that helps define their ability to cover the high frequency region effectively.
There are different ways for a tweeter to do what it needs to do well. You’ll find a lot of opinions and arguments about which type of tweeter is better over the other. It’s fair to say there are excellent sounding floorstanders using a variety of different tweeters. A lot depends on the engineering and the implementation.
These are the types of tweeters that are most common in floorstanding speakers:
1. Dome tweeters are by by far the most common design in tweeters. They are easy and (depending on the material used) cheap to manufacture. They are constructed by attaching a voice coil to a dome, which is attached to the magnet via a suspension. Dome tweeters have a reputation of smooth response, good dispersion, but rather average sensitivity.
The reason for domes is that the shape is naturally stiff without the need to add heavy reinforcement. The challenge in dome tweeter design is keeping them light. Heavy design is to be avoided at all cost, as it will damp down acceleration/deceleration and affect agility which we explained earlier. Hence, dome tweeters are often made from a variety of thin, strong materials, such as Mylar, silk, polymer, or various metals.
Different materials do have different physical properties and as a result influences the audible behaviour (and cost) of the driver. There is a fair amount of argument, even amongst well-respected designers and engineers, on the subject of dome material. We’ll limit ourselves to saying that a lot comes down to the implementation of the technology and, overall, how the speaker has been designed.
2. Ribbon tweeters are quite different from dome tweeters. Rather than using a dome radiating element, and a traditional magnet system, ribbon drivers use an a very thin, pleated aluminium foil diaphragm between two magnetic poles to the left and to the right. Signal current passing through the diaphragm makes it vibrate.
Ribbons have a thorough reputation for being special: they are known for extremely airy and transparent sound. The absence of voice coil inductance, its mostly linear magnetic field and its extremely light diaphragm all contribute to exceptional sound quality.
The downside? Ribbon tweeters are very fussy to design and manufacture and as a consequence expensive and very fragile.
ELAC is one of the companies with a real reputation for their JET5 ribbon tweeters. You find them, as expected, in their higher-end floorstanders (and bookshelves for that matter).
3. Klipsch is known for their Horn tweeters. Think of a horn in the same way by speaking through cupped open hands. They are sometimes used in combination with other technologies, including ribbons. The horn modifies the directional response, and usually increases efficiency which can be useful as power handling is often at a premium with tweeters.
The downside is that the sound quality in horn tweeters tends to be unrefined, and colouration levels are often high.
The above types of tweeters are probably the most common ones, however it’s probably important to point out for the sake of being complete that the options don’t stop with these.
Midrange Drivers
These handle sounds ranging from 300 to 2,000 Hz. This is the range that instruments and the human voice falls within, which means having a satisfactory midrange driver is crucial. Although they seem to get less attention than the tweeters (or the woofers for that matter), they also can be made of different materials, which will affect sound quality.
Woofers
Woofers are the kings of lower frequency sounds, ranging from 28 to 1,000 Hz or higher. Definitive Technology takes it to the extreme with their BP9080 tower speakers going as low as 16Hz, avoiding the need for an additional subwoofer.
Where tweeters need agility, a woofer needs to be capable of moving plenty of air, which means drivers with large area diaphragms and hefty magnets to provide the motive force.
It will be no surprise that the superior bass performance of woofers in tower speakers is one reason they are often chosen over bookshelf speakers.
Many floorstanders like the SVS Prime Towers and Ultra’s or the ELAC Debuts and Uni-Fi’s have two woofers to allow for sufficient and seamless bass. In SVS’s case that also means separate crossover for each woofer.
Other towers like the Definitive Technology BP9060’s utilise passive bass radiators for bass that sounds like it is produced by a much larger woofer, but at the same time has great control, speed and detail.
The Importance of Cabinet Construction
The next major part of a tower speaker that needs looking into is its cabinet.
Apart from the aesthetics, the main thing about the built of the cabinet is that it should be well constructed and anti-resonant, meaning that it is sturdy but won’t cause sound distortion by being vibrated by the sound emitted by its drivers. SVS for instance makes sure that each driver has its own divider to avoid said distortion.
Looking at a cabinet’s footing is important as well. If you have hard floors (e.g., wood, linoleum, etc.), look for rubber or padded feet. If you have carpet, look for carpet spikes that will hold the speaker in place. Do not use spikes on hard surfaces, as they will scratch the floor’s surface. Many speaker manufacturers offer options but it’s always worth making sure.
Tower speakers can come in several different configurations but there are three main classifications, named simply for the drivers each contains:
1. Two-Way Speakers: – These contain just a tweeter and a woofer, meaning that those two components have to share the mid-range load. This design is usually reserved for bookshelf speakers although even that is not gospel.
2. Three-Way Speakers – This is by far the most common design in floorstanders and consist of one tweeter, one midrange, and one/two woofer(s). Each component works primarily in its own range, so the extremes can focus on delivering detailed highs and lows (respectively), even as volume increases.
3. Four-Way Speakers –Although not that common, some speakers have a “super-tweeter” that allows for some upper-range detail on top of a regular tweeter, midrange, and woofer.
Sometimes you will also find reference to a 2.5-way speaker. This suggests a speaker holding the middle between a 2 and a 3-way speaker, but they are actually closer to a 3-way. A 2.5-way speaker consists of a tweeter and two woofers, one of which is used as a ‘mid-woofer’. This configuration is very common and most likely to be used in smaller tower speakers, some of which -it should be said-are excellent performers and could be just the thing for you if you want a great tower, but space is at a premium and your room is on the smaller size. You can find this configuration is some of the high-end ELAC floorstanders and in the Klipsch Reference Series.
Obviously, the driver configuration, although important, is only one of the elements at play in the design of a tower speaker. More is not necessarily better, as theoretical advantages can be countered by complications in integration. If the crossover is useless for instance, no number of drivers is going to do any good.
One other thing you may encounter while browsing floorstanding design options is the use of Definitive Technology patented ‘forward focused bipolar array’ in the BP9060’s that we have in our demo room for instance. Where ELAC has a name for their tweeters, this where Definitive Technology puts its mark on the speaker market.
The towers each have two midrange/tweeter arrays: a front-facing mid-tweet-mid assembly and a rear-firing mid-tweet array. Here’s how this works: direct sound from the front two midrange drivers and tweeter arrives at your ears first, to provide clear, focused imaging. That’s followed by sound from the rear mid driver and tweeter to enhance spaciousness. The combination creates a lush, seamless soundstage that’s more like the way we hear sounds in real life. The result is music and surround effects that sound incredibly clear and accurate.
We’re not going to waste too much time on this, as we recon it is too obvious for words: you will need to make sure that the speakers will physically fit within the space you intend for it. If space is going to be limited, measure it and use it as a maximum size for the speaker’s footprint.
As a general rule, the bigger the speaker the louder the sound, and vice versa. What size (and therefore loudness) you choose is a matter of its location and personal preferences. Room size obviously should play plays a big factor; bigger rooms will need bigger speakers to fill the room with sound. If that is you, the SVS Ultra’s need looking into. Smaller rooms require less, but if you like loud sound you may still want to consider a larger speaker.
That said, the materials used in the room also make a difference – we’re talking room acoustics here. In general, softer materials (e.g., carpet) tend to absorb and dampen sound. Hard surfaces (wood, plaster, linoleum, etc.) tend to have the opposite effect, reflecting soundwaves which can cause an increase in volume but also distortion. A good pair of speakers will allow for room imperfections.
Common Speaker Specs
Again, we won’t go into this to deeply, as it is something not just applying to towers, but to speakers in general. While we always recommend listening to a prospective set of speakers before buying; it would be equally foolish to ignore speaker’s specifications. They are by no means the end and all, but some specs have implications on for instance amplification. Avoiding unpleasant surprises is kind of a requirement when you are spending this kind of money, we think.
Some of the specs you definitely want to check are: frequency response, impedance and sensitivity.
And finally…
This may sound like utter detail, but there are other small yet important details that one should consider when looking for floorstanding speakers: differences in quality of terminals. This kind of attention to detail can make installation a lot easier… or a lot harder.
While it is most common to have a single set of terminals, some speakers allow for bi-wiring (two sets of terminals): one being for low-frequency drivers and the other being for high-frequency. This way, each frequency range is capable of receiving a dedicated channel. To take full advantage of the two-set terminal configuration, you need to have an amplifier that allows for this. Although there are very good reasons to do this, it doesn’t make the installation or calibration any easier; so not for the faint hearted. We dedicated a blog on this topic not that long ago that you can find here.
On a final note: tower speakers are frequently used for the front right and left channels in home theatre systems. No need to point out that they are most likely a critical component of the surround system. As a result, when buying your set-up, it often makes sense to spend a greater portion of the budget on the floorstanding speakers than on the remainder of the speaker set. Always match your centre speaker to your left and right speaker. It is ok to use surround speakers from a different brand, but you do want them to marry well with your LCR speakers.
Happy floorstander shopping and/or dreaming.
Sources: Klipsch, Crutchfield, SVS, ELAC, Definitive Technology, Audioholics, Electronic House, Novo Press