towers vs. satellite speakers

[ryan4blu]

Hey all, was wondering cause i am pondering trying this out in my own HT room.

Right now i use cambridge SW mc300 satellite speakers on stand for my L & R fronts, also my center channel is a matched same speaker. i have some T200 cambridge towers upstairs in my dining room for listening to music. i was thinking about swapping out the sats for the towers for the a bit to hear how they sound.

Do HT experts tend to prefer towers in this positon rather than sats or is it all preference and what you like??? i am almost sure i will hear a difference in blu ray movies. i also have a 1000 watt PS up in the front right corner, if that matters. anyways just thought i would ask some of the pro's here.

also threw in a pole to see which is most prefered

Thanks

[progers13]

Originally Posted by ryan4blu

Hey all, was wondering cause i am pondering trying this out in my own HT room.

Right now i use cambridge SW mc300 satellite speakers on stand for my L & R fronts, also my center channel is a matched same speaker. i have some T200 cambridge towers upstairs in my dining room for listening to music. i was thinking about swapping out the sats for the towers for the a bit to hear how they sound.

Do HT experts tend to prefer towers in this positon rather than sats or is it all preference and what you like??? i am almost sure i will hear a difference in blu ray movies. i also have a 1000 watt PS up in the front right corner, if that matters. anyways just thought i would ask some of the pro's here.

also threw in a pole to see which is most prefered

Thanks

Towers. It's a personal preference.

[DonRSD]

towers......better sound

[ryan4blu]

Originally Posted by DonRSD

towers......better sound

i hear ya, but my sats are fantastic as well. they are mid/tweeter/mid style and do kick butt. i am very much considering on trying the towers, just a hassle with the wiring change over.

keep the comments and opinions coming.

[ryan4blu]

Originally Posted by progers13

Towers. It's a personal preference.

hi, i looked at your HT pics and was wondering how you like your center channel up that high? does it effect the sound at all being up there? just curious. thanks

[progers13]

Originally Posted by ryan4blu

hi, i looked at your HT pics and was wondering how you like your center channel up that high? does it effect the sound at all being up there? just curious. thanks

I've been updating the posts in the comments section; haven't updated the pics yet. I've redesigned the room, including moving down the center. It did make a big difference.

[naturephoto1]

I prefer towers or full range speakers.

Rich

[mugupo]

Depend how much your room have? some tower speaker are pretty slime. I would pick tower over sat if price is right. Sat speaker you would still need a stand which can cost like $30-100 a pair. unless you plan to mount your speaker than wall speaker is better choice. also remind for tower speaker make sure you had room and not too close to sofat etc. to block sound.

[gosawx]

Not knowing much about the brand, I'd ask if the midrange drivers and tweeters of the towers you have are the same as the center you have. Matching tonal quality could have as big an impact as anything else in your equation...my 2 cents

[Hammie]

Having come from satellites to bookshelves to towers, I can honestly say that I'm not sure there are many non-tower speakers that can compete.

Granted, there are crappy towers and kickass bookshelves, but I'm not sure there are any satellites that can compete with anything on the market. They are just too small and compact.

[Dase]

Originally Posted by louhamilton

having come from satellites to bookshelves to towers, i can honestly say that i'm not sure there are many non-tower speakers that can compete.

Granted, there are crappy towers and kickass bookshelves, but i'm not sure there are any satellites that can compete with anything on the market. They are just too small and compact.

+1

[Uniquely]

Try it and see which you like best... but I think full size surrounds made a WORLD of difference in my room.



**** edit Oh wait... we're talking fronts not surrounds? Then yes definately try them and see if the don't sound too out of whack with your current center.

[Sonny]

I like towers my self & think they look and sound better...

[saprano]

I currently have some definitive satellites which sound great, but i cant wait to step up to some full range tower speakers. cant lose with those.

With speakers, the bigger the better.

[ryan4blu]

Originally Posted by louhamilton

Having come from satellites to bookshelves to towers, I can honestly say that I'm not sure there are many non-tower speakers that can compete.

Granted, there are crappy towers and kickass bookshelves, but I'm not sure there are any satellites that can compete with anything on the market. They are just too small and compact.

thanks, ya the link below is what i use up front for L, C, R channels sats. i have been using them for over 5 years now and love them, but thought why not try the towers i have. just wondering if it will make that big of a difference??

http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/s...=53CW0045AA000

then the link below are the tower speakers i have in my dining room for music, thought i would give them a shot in my HT room for front L & R speakers, keep the MC300 still as my center.

http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/s...3CW0065AA100-8

[Beta Man]

There isn't really a clear cut "This is better than that" answer....

I have a pair of Cerwin Vega RE-30 (tower) speakers that sound absolutely TERRIBLE.....

I have a 5.0 set of B&W M-1s (satellites) that sound better than them in every way.... do they have as much bass??? NO.... but the Cerwin Vegas simply flood the room with muddy inaccurate bass anyways....

I have a pair of B&W 705s (bookshelf) that are much fuller sounding than the M-1s but still achieve the same level of mid/high range accuracy, and I prefer them in every application (other than convenience/space) to the M-1s

I had a pair of B&W 703s that competed extremely well with the 705s and outperformed them in stereo, but I elected to stick with the 705s for HT usage.

The M-1s certainly perform great, and I could certainly use them for a main-theater application if needed. I don't want to bash any particular brand, but I find my M-1s to be more to my liking than many tower speakers available, and I find many tower speakers at similar price points ($200-$225 each) that compete very well..... The M-1s obviously offer me placement/aesthetics that the comparable tower speakers don't.

I think in-wall speakers can be great too. You will pay a little bit of a premium to get the same performance as a decent floor-standing speaker, but the sleek look of it works for many people.

Not everyone can have a false-wall with three center-channels or three tower speakers for their front soundstage


I had a cambridge soundworks "Henry Kloss" signature series set many years ago, and they were great..... If I still had them, I would probably use them in my living room.

[ryan4blu]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

There isn't really a clear cut "This is better than that" answer....

I have a pair of Cerwin Vega RE-30 (tower) speakers that sound absolutely TERRIBLE.....

I have a 5.0 set of B&W M-1s (satellites) that sound better than them in every way.... do they have as much bass??? NO.... but the Cerwin Vegas simply flood the room with muddy inaccurate bass anyways....

I have a pair of B&W 705s (bookshelf) that are much fuller sounding than the M-1s but still achieve the same level of mid/high range accuracy, and I prefer them in every application (other than convenience/space) to the M-1s

I had a pair of B&W 703s that competed extremely well with the 705s and outperformed them in stereo, but I elected to stick with the 705s for HT usage.

The M-1s certainly perform great, and I could certainly use them for a main-theater application if needed. I don't want to bash any particular brand, but I find my M-1s to be more to my liking than many tower speakers available, and I find many tower speakers at similar price points ($200-$225 each) that compete very well..... The M-1s obviously offer me placement/aesthetics that the comparable tower speakers don't.

I think in-wall speakers can be great too. You will pay a little bit of a premium to get the same performance as a decent floor-standing speaker, but the sleek look of it works for many people.

Not everyone can have a false-wall with three center-channels or three tower speakers for their front soundstage


I had a cambridge soundworks "Henry Kloss" signature series set many years ago, and they were great..... If I still had them, I would probably use them in my living room.

i hear ya on the sat's, but i dont have a bass problem as i have a CSW P1000 1000 watt sub in the corner and it kicks very well. i think i will try the towers just to see if i hear a big difference or not. its just alot of work with wiring and switching them, then speaker setup, etc.

[Big Daddy]

If you have two or four subwoofers that are properly placed in the room, all your speakers, including the front speakers, must be set to small by default. What is the advantage of towers in the presence of multiple good quality subwoofers. Audyssey strongly recommends this.

I have a question for experts who push for towers. I have two Definitive Technolgy super tower front speakers. They have 15" built-in subwoofers with 300 watt amplifiers. The built-in subwoofers are not set up as additional subwoofers. They are set up to provide full-range sound from the front speakers. I also have 4 external subwoofers in the room. When I set the front speakers to SMALL, with a crossover frequency of 40Hz, the sound improves. When I set the front speakers to SMALL with a crossover of 60Hz, the sound becomes the best. Please explain that.

Even in two-channel application, I set the front speakers to SMALL and let the properly placed external subwoofers handle the bass. I have done a lot of A/B tests and setting the front speakers to SMALL wins.

The key to good bass in a room is placement. You cannot move your front speakers to the side or to the rear. In most cases, high quality bookshelf speakers and good quality subwoofers are sufficient for home theater applications.

Dr. Floyd Toole and other researchers conducted several experiments at the National Research Council of Canada. They placed full-range tower speakers around the room and took measurements. They noticed that as they moved around the room, the variation in bass sound was up to 40dB.

Front tower speakers have two advantages. Because of their low frequency extension, they can blend better with the subwoofers. They can also provide better sound in two-channel music (2.0), if you are not using subwoofers (2.1).

[Beta Man]

Off topic, but I Know I'm in the minority here, but I have always preferred my 2-channel to be just that..... 2.0

[Steve]

I prefer towers, but that's just my opinion. For me it's the simple reason of not having to worry about stands, etc.