Tower speakers vs concert speakers need help deciding

[Armantas]

As the title says i cannon decide between tower speakers and concert speakers(will put screenshots below). I want to buy a home stereo setup of 2 or maximum 3 speakers solely for listening to music. My budget is 400-1000€. The reason i cannot decide between two is the lack of rms power on tower speakers while still being quite expensive, while on the other hand i could get 500watt rms 3way concert speakers for 200€ each. I live in a very small room, but i want that chest penetrating loudness from my audio system including bass(i love bass). I do not have amplifier so it need to be included in the price too.
TL;DR whats best bang for the buck. Sorry for very poor post formatting here are few screenshits of what im talking about:

 

[Leemix]

You have to decide between sound quality and LOUD(with hearing damage).
In a small room most speakers, tower or bookshelf will be able to play (too) loud. Bookshelf wont go as deep though but you might want to go bookshelf+sub instead of towers.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Armantas]

You have to decide between sound quality and LOUD(with hearing damage).
In a small room most speakers, tower or bookshelf will be able to play (too) loud. Bookshelf wont go as deep though but you might want to go bookshelf+sub instead of towers.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

So from what i understand smaller less powerfull and more expensive speakers are more efficiently making sound(dB wise) while in addition to having better fidelity?

 

[3db]

If I were in your shoes, I would choose a couple of bookshelf speakers plus a sub and I would look for a used upper to top of the line AVR from Yamaha to start you out with. The AVR will give you the bass management you need to properly integrate the sub to the bookshelves. You would also be saving some money going the used AVR route. This is more a fidelity route than a loudness route but even so, bookshelves plus sub will play loud enough in a small room.

Please stay away from the PA speaker systems. They are designed to play loud in larger open venues but in small room will most likey sound poor.

 

[Armantas]

Alright thanks for feedback

 

[BMXTRIX]

Please consider as well the actual measurements of what is being discussed. When a speaker advertises '1000W/RMS', you need to see what the specifications actually are for that speaker. How much distortion? At what volume? How much power? At what Ohm rating? Many times I see that a 1,000 watt amplifier, is measuring one of several channels being driven, with very high signal to noise ratios, and at 4 or even 2 ohms. When dealing with a standard 8 ohm load, with multiple channels driven, it suddenly has specifications much close to other amplifiers. Same with speakers.

A big issue with speakers is that the club/DJ speakers can play loud, but they definitely can't do so accurately. So, if your goal is to party, and make your space sound like a nightclub, then the club speakers may be perfect for you.

If your goal is just to listen to quality music at a reasonable listening level, then standard home speakers are much better suited to your needs.

I have standard speakers, they play far louder than I would ever want to listen to them at in my home. I have also installed club speakers into a client's home. He listens at levels, when he parties, that are MUCH higher than I would consider safe for your ears. He's happy.

 

[Leemix]

So from what i understand smaller less powerfull and more expensive speakers are more efficiently making sound(dB wise) while in addition to having better fidelity?

Better fidelity but not necessarily more efficient. Bigger cabinet usually means more efficient but with an active subwoofer that benefit is more or less moot.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Eppie]

Yes, stay away from those PA speakers. Not designed for home listening.

If you want a speaker that can play loud (high sound pressure level or SPL) you need to look at the efficiency rating in dB. The power rating on a speaker only tells you the maximum amount of amplifier power that the speaker can handle. That does not directly relate to loudness. With the same amplifier, a speaker with an efficiency of 89 dB will be considerably louder than a speaker rated at 83 dB.

For chest pounding bass I would lean towards tower speakers. Since towers usually have more drivers (speakers) they can have higher efficiency as well. If they lack very deep bass, you can still add a subwoofer to a tower speaker (subwoofers are not just for bookshelves). Maybe start with good towers and add a subwoofer later when you have the money. Towers will likely cost a little more. If you go with good bookshelves, remember that you may need to buy stands as well (50-100 euro).

For the subwoofer, do not go with a cheap / inexpensive sub. In small room expect to spend 250 euro or more for a sub of good quality, but plan ahead and make sure that you have the floor space for both towers (or bookshelves on stands) and subwoofer (which can get large).

Those speakers you pictured are not common in North America. What on-line store are you using? Maybe we can find something better quality for the same money.

 

[Armantas]

Yes, stay away from those PA speakers. Not designed for home listening.

If you want a speaker that can play loud (high sound pressure level or SPL) you need to look at the efficiency rating in dB. The power rating on a speaker only tells you the maximum amount of amplifier power that the speaker can handle. That does not directly relate to loudness. With the same amplifier, a speaker with an efficiency of 89 dB will be considerably louder than a speaker rated at 83 dB.

For chest pounding bass I would lean towards tower speakers. Since towers usually have more drivers (speakers) they can have higher efficiency as well. If they lack very deep bass, you can still add a subwoofer to a tower speaker (subwoofers are not just for bookshelves). Maybe start with good towers and add a subwoofer later when you have the money. Towers will likely cost a little more. If you go with good bookshelves, remember that you may need to buy stands as well (50-100 euro).

For the subwoofer, do not go with a cheap / inexpensive sub. In small room expect to spend 250 euro or more for a sub of good quality, but plan ahead and make sure that you have the floor space for both towers (or bookshelves on stands) and subwoofer (which can get large).

Those speakers you pictured are not common in North America. What on-line store are you using? Maybe we can find something better quality for the same money.

Thank you for in depth reply my country has website www.kainos.lt which shows results of most online shops in my country, if you want to look for specific items directly. And i think im indeed going to go with towers since i want to clearly hear (somewhat) full future garage fidelity

 

[Leemix]

Towers and subs do work great together and im a big fan of that, but towers cost more, usually 1/3 to double the price of the same series bookshelf. Nothing wrong with getting a tower, i use towers myself, its just good to know both the advantages and the disadvantages before deciding.
Towers alone do not usually go very deep but it depends on what kind of music you listen to and how the tower will work in the room. Its possible a tower will effectively go a lot deeper than the frequency specs show in your small room and if thats deep enough for you by itself, or if you need to add a subwoofer also at a later date.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Eppie]

Thank you for in depth reply my country has website www.kainos.lt which shows results of most online shops in my country, if you want to look for specific items directly. And i think im indeed going to go with towers since i want to clearly hear (somewhat) full future garage fidelity

With a budget of 400-1000 euro, you know we are going to look at the higher end.

I am using Google to translate the web site. Most speakers seem to be priced as singles and not pairs. You want to spend more on the speakers than the amp. I would suggest around 700 for speakers leaving 300 for the amp. In that price range I see the Polk Audio Signature and Wilson Raptor 7 (in the lower end). If you want to go over budget, look at the Focal Chora 826 and Dali Oberon 5 or 7 floor speakers. For bookshelves, they have the Focal Chora 806 and Dali Oberon 3 which would work great with a subwoofer. The Focal goes down to 58Hz and puts out more bass than you would expect from a speaker that size. Just needs a subwoofer for that thump and rumble if you like electronic music. If you plan to add a subwoofer, then make sure you get an amp or receiver with subwoofer outputs that can do bass management (send the signal below 80Hz just to the subwoofer). You may want to look for Klipsch towers as well.

 

[Armantas]

I've been looking for a set of towers, these seem to be most popular in my country, now i only need to find decent AV but the selection is pretty low here for such power for 300-400€

 

[diskreet]

Please stay away from the PA speaker systems. They are designed to play loud in larger open venues but in small room will most likey sound poor.

Great news, they sound poor everywhere!

 

[Armantas]

And for an AV my nearest power to price ratios required for speakers seem to be around these

 

[Eppie]

@Armantas I am not familiar with Dynavoice speakers but I did a little research. Swedish company and the build quality looks pretty good. They seem to get very favourable reviews on-line. The M-105 EX is rated from 24Hz to 32,000 Hz which seems very wide in that price range. Unfortunately they do not mention at what +/- dB rating the frequency response is at, so actual numbers at +/- 3dB may be less. It is advertised as a speaker for those that like to play it loud, so aimed at your taste perhaps? Nice feature is the jumper on the back which lets you adjust the mid and high frequencies to your taste with settings for -2 db / 0 / +2 dB / +4 dB which lets you control the brightness of the speakers. With two 10 inch (25 cm) woofers you should get plenty of bass out of these. If they truly go down to 24 Hz you won't even need a subwoofer.

The DF-6 looks rather unique. It uses both a soft-dome and a ribbon tweeter together, which seems odd and I would do more research before spending that much on speakers. Very wide frequency response and high sensitivity so does not need a lot of power, but I can not find any test measurements or graphs on either of the Dynavoice speakers to see how accurate they are with their reported specifications.

The KEF Q750 is very good at that price range. They throw a nice wide sound-stage and use technology from the higher priced Reference series with the Q series driver at the top. Rated down to 48Hz but that is at a true -3dB and will go a little deeper if placed close to a wall.

The Polk Audio S60 is rated 26Hz to 40,000Hz but again (like Dynavoice) no +/- dB rating. When they don't give the +/- then it could be at +/- 6dB and the +/- 3dB rating (which is more meaningful) would be less. Sensitivity is 90dB which is good, but towers tend to have higher sensitivity with their multiple drivers. These should play plenty loud with strong bass.

The KEF and Polk have both reviewed positively on reputable sites. I think you would do fine with any of these 3 choices. The one thing we can't predict is your personal taste and each speaker will have its own unique characteristics. You should find some additional reviews on-line if you can not listen to them in person but it may come down to which design looks the best to you.

 

[Eppie]

For amplifier power, it is not the speaker power rating that matters but the speaker sensitivity and seating distance. Volume is measured in SPL and you can use this SPL calculator.

You need to research what typical SPL you will be listening at, and then use the calculator to determine how much amplifier power is needed to reach that volume at your intended seating distance. In a small room, 100W per channel is typically enough. More power will give you more headroom and dynamic range at high volumes but note that to gain 3dB in volume takes double the power so the difference between a 100W and 135W amp is not that great. For high volumes you want a speaker with high sensitivity, but with the KEF at 88dB, Polk at 90dB and Dynavoice at 94dB they are all on the higher side. If your room is small, I doubt that you will exceed the speaker power ratings before damaging your hearing.

So for amplifiers look more into features than power, like whether you need bluetooth or wifi for streaming and would the Yamaha Musicast system interest you. Onkyo has had some financial difficulty and is undergoing restructuring, so buy Onkyo with caution. If you think you may expand into 5 channel surround music or connect a TV for surround movies, go 5 or 7 channel. If this will be strictly for music, 2.1 is fine. The .1 part means that the amp has bass management for adding a subwoofer.