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.

Home

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

Boston Acoustics RS 326 Floor-Standing Speakers

Tyler Stripko

The Boston Acoustics RS 326 represents the top model in Boston Acoustics' Reflection series, which includes numerous floor-standing, bookshelf, and center channel speakers along with a matching subwoofer. Second only to the VS line, the Reflection series was designed to create an "elegant fusion of technology, performance, and stylish good looks (to quote the Boston Acoustics website)."

Floor Standing Speakers

MartinLogan Ethos Hybrid Electrostatic Speakers

Jim Clements

MartinLogan has recently expanded its line to include the Ethos, which is a hybrid electrostatic speaker, meaning that it has not only an electrostatic panel, but a cone woofer. Using woofers to handle the bass is necessary in smaller electrostatic speakers because the surface area of the panel is not large enough to move much air at the lowest frequencies. In the case of the Ethos, the woofer has a built-in amplifier to drive it.

Floor Standing Speakers

Earthquake Titan Tigris Floor-standing Speakers

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Earthquake Sound is a company best known for producing knock your socks off subwoofers and amplifiers for home theater. They also manufacture several lines of speakers, including the Titans. The Titan Tigris weighs 89 pounds each and stands nearly 5 feet high, with an MSRP of $9,500 per pair. They are certainly imposing speakers that look the part, and are priced to compete with the crème-de-la-crème of tower speakers. In this review we'll see how they perform.

Floor Standing Speakers

PSB Synchrony One Floor-Standing Speakers

Jim Milton

Paul Barton has been in the loudspeaker game for over 35 years and his latest iteration of speakers shows that his experience has been put to good use. The Synchrony Ones are his top of the line 3-way (5 drivers) towers that use some interesting design twists. At nearly 61 pounds apiece, they make an elegant statement of curved wood and aluminum surfaces that blend together in a flawless fashion.

Floor Standing Speakers

Thiel MCS1 LCR Speakers

Jared Rachwalski

Thiel Audio has been designing and building loudspeakers for over 30 years. The 1978 Model 03 was one of the first multi-driver speakers to utilize a time and phase accurate design. This has been at the heart of all Thiel designs ever since, and is consistently found throughout their product line. This is a lofty and difficult design choice which, when done right, can provide an enveloping and realistic musical presentation. In this review, we take a look at the Thiel MCS1, which is a monitor speaker that could be used in an LCR configuration.

Floor Standing Speakers

Waterfall Audio, Iguasçu Evo Floor-Standing Speakers

Brian Alvarez

I'm hoping to not be the minority when it comes to design and audio equipment. Far too often you hear of audio and videophiles mentioning that a piece of gear has a high WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor). All too often this denotes it's not a boring slab of black electronics or a monolithic boring speaker. Why is it only the spouse who has high aesthetic requirements? Here, we review Waterfall Audio's Iguasçu Evo floor-standing speakers that have glass enclosures.

Floor Standing Speakers

BG Corp Z-92 Planar-Ribbon Speakers and 210i Subwoofer

Greg Mahoney

BG Corp is a speaker company known for their innovative designs incorporating planar-ribbon drivers of their own design. The company was founded in 1994 and has headquarters in Carson City, Nevada. BG Corp is sometimes referred to as BG Radia. In this review, we take a look at the Z-92 floor-standing speakers as well as their 210i subwoofer.

Floor Standing Speakers

Canton Reference 5.2 DC Floor-Standing Speakers

Piero Gabucci

Back in mid-2005, I auditioned Canton's new Vento line of speakers with an entire surround package, (although the matching sub had yet to be released). I found them impeccably designed and crafted, and they sounded terrific. In this review, I take a look and listen to the Canton Reference 5.2 DC tower (floor-standing) speakers. More-terrific is what I found.

Floor Standing Speakers

Legend Acoustics Tikandi Speaker System with DEQX HDP-3 Processing

Chris Groppi

Room correction technology for audiophiles has existed for over a decade now, but this technology has not yet seen wide adoption. Many audiophiles just can't stomach a processor messing with the signal. Never mind their speakers might have terrible frequency and phase response, at least when compared to their other electronics! On top of that, interaction with the room causes frequency response errors of well over 10 dB in all but the most acoustically perfect rooms. Still think your signal is "pure?"

Floor Standing Speakers

Earthquake Titan Telesto Floor-standing Speakers and Supernova MKVI 10″ Subwoofer

John E. Johnson, Jr.

Earthquake Sound has just introduced the Titan Telesto floor-standing speakers. They are 50" high and have a unique horn-loaded tweeter as well as a conventional dome tweeter. Two 4" drivers handle the midrange, with a side-mounted 8" woofer dealing out the low frequencies. They are beautifully finished in black piano lacquer and are priced at $4,999 for the pair. Earthquake also sent their Supernova MKVI 10" subwoofer, because I had been so impressed with the 15" version, and I wanted to see how the smaller one performed. Well, it performed! And so did the Telestos . . . .

Floor Standing Speakers

Spendor A5 Floor-standing Speakers

Brian Florian

Ah...British Hi-Fi. Say no more and an entire wing of audiophiles suddenly get giddy. When I was offered a pair of speakers for review from Spendor, renowned speaker manufacturer since 1969, I simply had to take advantage and hear for myself the state of British Hi-Fi today.

Floor Standing Speakers

Energy CF-70 Floor-standing Speakers

Greg Zakrzewski

I first encountered the Energy line of speakers in the late 90's when I helped a friend setup her new Take 5 system paired with a Denon receiver. My recollection of the event is of some skepticism as to the sound quality given the small size of the speakers but I ended up being grudgingly impressed with them. They certainly blew away any HTiB solution! It was perfect for her condo.

Floor Standing Speakers