Introduction to Floor Standing Speaker Reviews

As the name implies, these are speakers which are large enough to be placed on the floor yet still produce more or less ideal sound for a someone in a typical seated posture. They are almost exclusively full range designs often with multiple woofers and the best models will incorporate a mid-range driver. Designs might include ported, acoustic suspension, and other more esoteric variations. Some even include built in powered sub-woofers.

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Floor Standing Speakers

Wilson Audio Sophia 3 Floor-standing Speakers

Jason Victor Serinus

For For many audiophiles, there comes a time in our lives when we say, in so many words, enough is enough. We've worked hard enough, long enough, and with enough dedication and sacrifice to no longer have to suffer with a system that fails to satisfy. We deserve a setup that makes us happy: a system that allows us to sit back and listen for as long as we want to the music we love and want to explore and without ever feeling fatigued or short-changed. This review explores the possibility that the Wilson Audio Sophia speakers might be part of such a system.

Floor Standing Speakers

Newform Research Ribbon Tower Speakers

Jim Milton

Made in Canada, Newform Research manufactures unique ribbon loudspeakers and sells them factory direct worldwide. Their ribbon designs offer the transparency, detail and sound staging of the classic large panel electrostatic and ribbon loudspeakers, but because of their narrow compact footprint, are easier to drive and setup, even in smaller rooms. Here, we review a pair of their ribbon towers, which are a hybrid design, with a 15" ribbon as the tweeter, and six conventional cone drivers for the mid/bass.

Floor Standing Speakers

Eficion F300 Floor-Standing Speakers

Jason Victor Serinus

Critical to extracting ultimate performance from the F300 are optimal positioning, including toe-in angle, and pairing with a fast amplifier capable of delivering and controlling copious amounts of bass. When equipped with the latest super tweeter and internal crossover modifications, the Eficion F300 never fails to turn heads and win hearts.

Floor Standing Speakers

Gallo Classico CL-4 Loudspeakers

Chris Groppi

Gallo loudspeakers have had a long history of exceptional sound quality. In both this publication and others, no one has much bad to say about Gallo's reference quality loudspeakers. I like them so much, I've owned several of their speakers, including my current Reference 3.5s. Opinions on styling are a different story.

Floor Standing Speakers

Tannoy Revolution DC6T Floor-standing Speakers

Brian Alvarez

Scotland, home of whisky, many successful racing drivers and Tannoy. Originally founded in 1926 England, Tannoy has been headquartered in Scotland since the 70s. Tannoy is best known for their dual concentric speakers where the tweeter is at the center of the midrange driver. Here, we have the Tannoy DC6T Floor-standing model, which is priced also in the midrange, at $1,680/pair.

Floor Standing Speakers

Definitive Technology BP-8040ST SuperTower Speakers

Piero Gabucci

Pssst….want to hear a really cool speaker, but you have to keep it a secret. The voice was familiar but I looked around for the white van, none to be seen. Sure, but they'd better not have fallen out of the back of a truck I replied. Nah he said just come up to my private room in this hotel. Up the exterior stairs we went to his suite, nice. Now I want to show you what's in this other room behind this curtain. Hmmmm. There they were, the Definitive Technology BP-8040ST SuperTower Speakers. And then they were here, for me to review. Review done. Read on.

Floor Standing Speakers

Martin Logan Theos Hybrid Electrostatic Speakers

Chris Heinonen

At the CEDIA Expo in 2010, Martin Logan was giving one of the first demonstrations of their new Theos electrostatic speakers (ESLs) for the press and dealers. Though the conditions at shows are often less than optimal, when seated in the sweet spot of the room, the experience was nothing short of amazing. Sounds came from all around, causing me to check and make sure that there were no surround speakers setup in addition to the Theos.

Floor Standing Speakers

Magnepan Magneplanar MG 1.7 Flat Panel Quasi-Ribbon Full Range Speakers

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Probably 99% of the speakers in the world have drivers in a box, aka, an enclosure, either ported or sealed. Flat panel speakers don't have enclosures, other than the frame. The drivers consist of thin metal ribbons, or thin metal conductors attached to thin plastic ribbons (called "quasi-ribbon"), thin plastic sheets (i.e., larger than ribbons) with conductors running in narrow loops up and down, and thin plastic sheets suspended between perforated metal sheets called stators (electrostatic speakers). In the case of ribbons, there are permanent magnets close to the ribbons, and the music signal passes through the ribbons, creating a magnetic field that pulls or pushes the ribbon back and forth to create the music. Magnepan is a manufacturer of flat panel speakers, and in the past, at least one of the drivers was a large surface with the conductors running in loops. Perhaps their most popular model of recent years was the Magneplanar MG 1.6. At $2,000/pair, this was nirvana for flat-panel speaker aficionados. They now have announced the MG 1.6's replacement, the MG 1.7, which is the subject of this review.

Floor Standing Speakers

B&W CM8 Tower Speakers

Brian Alvarez

Bowers and Wilkins (B&W) recently made the bold move to sell their products through Magnolia and Best Buy. Adding big box retailers in addition to specialty retailers is quite a step from a brand surround by "audiophile" credentials. Few speakers have as much universal respect as B&W speakers. One of their new models is the CM8 Floor-stander (tower), which is reviewed here.

Floor Standing Speakers

Usher Dancer Mini Two Floor-Standing Speakers and BE-616 Center Channel Speaker

Mark Vignola

Usher Audio is a brand long known around the audiophile community for making speakers of stunningly good build quality and excellent sound for the price. Often mentioned in conversations with speakers costing much more, Usher has remained a more niche company, providing its speakers slightly under the radar. That under-the-radar reputation changed somewhat with their release of the highly regarded BE-718 bookshelf speaker, which we reviewed some time ago. The current review details the Usher Mini Dancer Two Floor-Standing Speaker and the BE-616 Center Channel Speaker.

Floor Standing Speakers

THIEL SCS4T Floor-Standing Speakers

Jim Milton

The late Jim Thiel and company have been making speakers in the heartland of Kentucky for over 30 years. THIEL has amassed a staggering 55 accolades from international press, including the high performance audio industry's most prestigious publications. The SCS4T is part of the J.E.T. series and offers the most affordable line of speakers that THIEL currently manufactures.

Floor Standing Speakers