Towers or Bookshelfs?

[doomguardian]

Are towers a need? I'm on a budget and I don't know what's the diff between towers and bookselfs.

I'm going with either the Athena B2.2s or the F2.2s.

Are towers better for movies? All i'm gonna use them for is movies.

I'm getting the P-6000 sub, so I don't need bass that much.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Snarl]

It's really a personal preference issue, I like tower's as unless I actually have a bookshelf to put them on (I don't) the stands annoy me. Also as a general statement towers may have a little more Bass extension.

Just my Opinion

 

[j_garcia]

The added bass extension of towers will allow you to cross over lower to the sub, but if your receiver only has one global setting, then you still have to go by the speaker that has the highest cutoff. IMO a good bookshelf blended properly with a sub is every bit as good as a floorstander. For music (with no sub) I prefer a good floorstander, but for HT, it's almost a wash when using a sub. What you should consider is, if you need stands too, will stands + bookshelf speakers cost as much as the floorstander? In my case, that answer was no, but in many cases it may be very close.

 

[doomguardian]

Okay, thanks.

I don't need stands anyway. I tested the P6000 sub at Future Shop here in Winnipeg, it sounds better then all four subs that were there, which are the JBL, Klipich, bose and the Veloden(The names are probably spelled wrong, and they were all 12" subs).

Can't wait! My center from athena sounds incredible!

 

[Sheep]

Yes the P6000 is a beast of a subwoofer, but I found it muddy compared to the DPS-12. The DPS-12 has low THD down to 35-40Hz or so, then its starts spiking.

As far as Towers vs. Bookshelf's, I found blending bookshelf's with a sub easier then towers. They literally don't produce bass and theres little over lap (unless you cross it out at 120Hz).

Just MO.

SheepStar

 

[nibhaz]

As far as Towers vs. Bookshelf's, I found blending bookshelf's with a sub easier then towers. They literally don't produce bass and theres little over lap (unless you cross it out at 120Hz).

Just MO.

SheepStar

Could you please clarify this statement? I'm really struggling to understand what you are talking about.

 

[Sheep]

Could you please clarify this statement? I'm really struggling to understand what you are talking about.

Towers can produce bass. Bookshelfs can't. The bookshelfs roll off faster then the towers do, regardless of the crossver point. Thusly, I found blending them with a sub much easier because there was less overlap.

SheepStar

 

[mike c]

i've always thought that the crossoverpoints of the fronts and sub should overlap ...

there are frequencies that arent reproduced (if for example B&W 600 has low end of 70 ... then if you set your sub to 60).

 

[The Chukker]

Go with bookshelfs...

...otherwise your living room will turn into this.

 

[Sheep]

i've always thought that the crossoverpoints of the fronts and sub should overlap ...

there are frequencies that arent reproduced (if for example B&W 600 has low end of 70 ... then if you set your sub to 60).

I use my crossover knob on my subwoofer (no bass mgmnt). Its not a brick wall filter so theres plenty of over lap.

SheepStar

 

[mike c]

re: brickwall ... oh I thought it was a brickwall

 

[nibhaz]

no bass???

Towers can produce bass. Bookshelfs can't. The bookshelfs roll off faster then the towers do, regardless of the crossver point. Thusly, I found blending them with a sub much easier because there was less overlap.

SheepStar

I believe that it is quite erroneous to say that bookshelves are not capable of producing bass. The particular model that he is looking at goes down to 50Hz while the towers he is looking at go down to 35Hz. All this means is that he would need to set the crossover point at 60Hz for the B2.2s and 40Hz for F2.2s according to the P6000’s manual. Of course these are just suggested starting point that may need to be adjusted for a specific room’s conditions. However, the main point that should be taken from this information is the fact that both suggested crossover points are below 80Hz, and thus either the bookshelves or the towers could be easily blended with the sub without setting the crossover point so high that the sub would be audibly locatable.

This is assuming that one is not using bass management. If one is using bass management then one only needs to know that the speaker is linear to, preferably slight lower than, the crossover point one wishes to use.