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Floorstanding v Stand Mount Speakers

Floorstanding v Stand Mount Speakers

The question is often asked by many customers why to buy smaller stand mount speakers and stands when you can buy floor standing speakers.

 

Is it worth the difference?

 

This really depends on several factors, firstly space. Your size of speakers really does depend on the size of your room. Too large a speaker in a small room and you find you have a very closed sound at normal listing levels, too small a speaker in a large room and you have an empty sound. So today I was asked should I spend £2000.00 on some Audio Vector QR3 or should I purchase the Sonus Faber Sonetto II and some stands. Remember the Sonus Faber as a monitor speaker will require stands and as Sonus Faber have the matching stands we will select them. Together stand and speakers are £2500.00 which are actually £500.00 more than the Audio Vector's. We also did this test using the Monitor Audio Gold 100 monitor speakers too..

 

We have two demo rooms in the shop one 10’ x 12’ the other 16’ x 14’ electronics wise we did the first test using the Primare i35 Prisma, streaming from Tidal. For the Monitor Audio we used the Atacama HMS 1.1 which are an excellent stand. So let's start with the monitor Audio Gold 100. For a small speaker, they are very impressive. Open, dynamic, forward but not by much. You find they tend to grab you with dance music. Bass is very punchy, deep and controlled but has a boom at the low end and at times we had to back off on the volume to make them sound better. Overall a great speaker, anyone would be happy with a total spend of £1600.00 however they did not overwhelm us.


Two of my favourite tracks are Fields of Gold by Eva Cassidy, this track is very warm and dynamic, you can hear the differences clearly with each speaker without any colouration. So we used this track on the Monitor Audio Gold 100, then the Sonus Faber Sonetto II. We found the Sonette II had a more open sound, very dynamic and natural, the warmth of the music was felt in the tone of Eva’s voice. It just sounded beautiful. Now the Audio Vector QR3 which are only a £1900.00 floorstander. This speaker just added even more presence, we found the music had more height and dept. The vocals just touched you, very soft and warm, must be the ribbon tweeter. We also found that the music had a more natural depth.

 

We did not find the speakers overwhelming the room, which did actually surprise us.

 

So now we did the same with another track from Boz Scaggs – Thanks to you. The Monitor Audio Golds first, OMG for a small speaker these do have some great bass and mid was very forward. We did feel that the speakers sounded like they could not breathe, so consider these may prefer the larger room. Next, we tried the Sonus Faber Sonetto II, now what a difference the bass was not as deep, however, it had more detail and speed, the overall sound was much cleaner and more open. The speaker performed well in the room.


Now the Audio Vector QR3, considering these are floor standing speakers in a small room we could not believe that the speaker did not struggle in the room. The depth in the voice just became so much more realistic, such deep bass, no boom. Fast accurate and warm. Mids offered a lot of detail and really complimented the bass well, the highs just so clean and dynamic. The best way to describe this was a combination of the Sonus Faber clarity and definition with the bass of the Monitor Audio all done with a lot more accuracy.

 

So the question is how did the room change the result? We then did the same test in the large room.

The Monitor Audio Gold with stands are £1600.00 and we felt they became very boomy, lost clarity and detail. Not a great choice for the larger room.

Now the Sonus Faber Sonetto II, these sounded much better, the detail was there and we felt the room actually added to the overall height of the music, more depth and clarity at good listening levels. However when a little louder the bass was lost in the room. Needed a sub really.


The Audiovector QR3 were just the master in the larger room. Nothing was lost, however, we did have more space and the speakers filled the room without any trouble, Overall we felt the results were not quite as expected. All three of us believed in three different results! The best thing is we all agree on the outcome that the floor standing QR3 work well in large or small rooms. We also confirmed that smaller Monitor speakers work well in smaller spaces.

 

So in conclusion, I would always recommend the listening test, however, if you cannot get out then just try the Audio Vector QR3 as these are simply divine and don’t cost a fortune. Looking forward to you joining us for some listening.

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