towers vs. satellite speakers

[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.