So I'm looking to buy an entirely new 5.1 setup. I understand that a center and sub are required, but where I'm a bit hazy is bookshelf vs floorstanding. My concern is how well music sounds on my setup, and everything else (movies, videogames) is a far second. With that being said, are floorstanding speakers beneficial, or would I be better off getting 4 bookshelf speakers?
Also, reccomendations are appreciated. I do want to try and keep the system under 600-800, and the "Cyber-week" deals should help me out with that. Seems like Polk and Klipsch are on sale a lot right now.
I'll be online all night and and willing to PM for faster conversation.
Thanks!
If we are talking about for the same amount of money spent, I think you can get better sound with bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer than with tower speakers and a subwoofer. This is because you can either buy a bookshelf speaker that is "voice matched" to the tower and then spend the saved money on a better subwoofer, and get better bass, or you can instead spend that extra money on a higher end bookshelf speaker, and therefore get better sound from mid-bass on up. Of course, this also requires that you set things up properly; many people set their subwoofers too high because they like exaggerated bass for movies, and then they shut it off for music because it is too boomy with it [obviously; they set the subwoofer too high].
In general, what you get with a tower speaker versus a bookshelf speaker
from the same model line is increased power handling and deeper bass. Since the subwoofer can take care of the deep bass, that part is not needed, and the crossover setting in your receiver (if properly set) filters out the deep bass to the main channels, which means that they do not have to handle the power going to those frequencies. So, if you set things up properly, you can get better sound with bookshelf speakers and a subwoofer than you can get from tower speakers and a subwoofer
at the same price point.
Now, for selecting speakers, I recommend that you go out into the world and listen to as many types of speakers (e.g., ribbon, horn, dome, whatever) as you can find, of as many brands as you can stand to listen to, with music with which you are familiar, of all of the types that you listen to. Making a CDR for this purpose is a good idea.
Since you have a tiny budget, you also need to deal with the issue of whether to go with a full set of speakers, or just get a pair of much better speakers for the moment, and then buy the rest later when you have more money. At your budget, I personally would go with the best pair of bookshelf speakers I could find, but different people have different priorities and therefore would make a different choice.
