Floorstanding fronts vs "small" speakers and subwoofer

[Music_Smurf]

Which is better for home theater--floorstanding "large" fronts vs "small" front speakers and a very good subwoofer?

I would think there is really no reason for me to get full range floor standing front speakers when I plan to just set them to "small" and cut them off at 80Hz or so. Wouldn't I be wasting money?

[PYRO]

Just for Home Theater I would see no reason to go for full range speakers.

Smaller speakers, especially a good center channel and Sub would do the trick.

[marksdad]

no no no! go audition both, for about the same money get full range rf 3you truly get more. i was just auditioning for 2 channel, and i did the entire reference linethe rb's rc's and rs's are good, naturally they are klipsch, but the rf 3's just resonate so much better i personally have them in my system now, and they are set to small, and they still sound very bassy, they still go very low, they are just great for fronts or surrounds, or centers, or..... a very versitile, very resonably priced speaker, this option leaves room for upgrade without added cost

[dougdrake]

I guess the way I would address this is to take the extremes and apply the resulting thoughts to something less extreme.

Take small speakers (say SB-1) and large floor standing speakers (say the Klipschorn). Set them both to small. Which is going to do a better job reproducing the mids and highs, since you'll pass the lows to a sub? I think we'd all agree the K-Horns will provide the better mids and highs. Why?

Because the mids and tweeters in the floor stander will, in most cases, be of better quality (I know there are exceptions) and be larger so as to reproduce those frequencies better. Plus, there are frequencies above 80hz that are still produced by the woofer, and the bigger/better the woofer the better it will handle them. And, you'll find (typically) the better woofer in the floorstander.

JMO

DD

[marksdad]

i see dougs explanation and i think i knew that (smiling) but i am unable to put this into words, cool doug

[Doug C]

If you want the best music play from your HT system larger main speakers (with larger low frequency drivers) help based on my experience. Your mains have to be able to keep up with the sub in the upper low frequencies (80-200hz) to have the best and most seamless bass.

This is more important if you like to listen at higher volumes. Let's say as you start to crank your system the sub keeps up but your mains start to loose ground as you ask more of them. For instance when your sub is producing 80 dB output at 50hz, your mains should be capable of producing 80 dB at 150hz. Now if you crank the system up and the sub is producing 95 dB at 50hz and your mains only 88 dB at 150hz (because of smaller low frequency drivers) a critical listener will notice this.

If you are just looking for satisfying HT and not especially concerned about music then the smaller main speakers should be satisfactory.

Doug C

[T2K]

hey smurf. Noticed you said Home Theatre.

Not to argue the point that doug made, but to offer a scenerio with more comparable speakers, if you were looking to buy speakers such as RF3's/RB3's etc. and cut them as you stated, then you may be better off with the samller speakers. By crossing the lows at 80hz the capability of the larger speakers to play low would of course be limited by the crossover.

Check out the design of the new Klipsch THX HT speaker system for support.

Keith

[shoe11]

I agree with Dougdrake on this one, but there is a caveat to it. Assuming as Doug does that the floorstanding speakers and sub will contain higher quality drivers relative to the sat/sub combo, then definitely go with the floorstanding units, set them small and still use a sub for the lower octaves.

However, many times manufacturers will make a floorstanding and a sat/sub combo using the same drivers. The only distinction being its's configuration. Two possible explanations for this are:

1) space requirements

2) acoustic preference

For some, with smaller rooms, the sat/sub arrangement allows them to get the same quality sound without needing to place large floorstanding speakers which could overwhelm their listening area. Simply a more flexible setup. A second and more important reason for why there are two setups is that some people acoustically prefer one setup over the other. Many people believe that floorstanding speakers in their attempt to reproduce the lower octaves can muddy the sonic performance of the mids and highs. They prefer to have their mid/highs seperate from the low bass modules. Others enjoy the fullness/completness that a floorstanding model can provide relative to the sat/sub combo. Assuming your mid/high drivers are identical, I'd say hear them both in your HT if you can and make a decision from that.

HTH

~shoe

[prodj101]

floorstanders will kick the hell out of small ones. even if they're crossed over at the same levels. They image better, have more impact, and do everything with more ease than small bookshelf speakers. They are also much better for music.

[MrMcGoo]

I like the larger speakers for home theater. My RF-7s are crossed at 50 Hz to the RSW-15. Action movies are amazing.

On the other hand, I would love to hear a home theater of six RB-5IIs. Identical speakers all around should give a perfect timbre match. They would also be excellent for multi channel music. A powerful subwoofer would be needed below 80 or 100 Hz.

Bill

[minn_male42]

if these speakers were only used for home theatre then the smaller option might be ok...but like most people on here i listen to alot of music too...a larger speaker can do it all, while a smaller speaker might have problems....my klf-30's do it all and do it very, very well...

russ