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.

Floor Standing Speakers

Revel F208 Floor-standing Speakers Review

From Revel's Performa3 line of speakers, the F208 full-range 3-way loudspeaker is brilliantly executed. From the rock solid cabinet to its beautiful, automotive quality finish, the F208 is one of the best buys in the oversaturated speaker market. These speakers have wonderful neutral tonal balance, a 3 dimensional soundstage and a top-notch low end. Hands down one of the finest speakers we have come across in its price range.

Induction Dynamics ID1 Floor Standing Speakers Review

The Induction Dynamics ID1's are large 4-way Floor standing Speakers with dual subwoofers built in to each cabinet. The speakers are available in many custom finishes or they can be mounted in-wall if you are building a high performance custom home theater. The speakers measured well; low distortion and a full frequency response from 25 Hz all the way out past the limits of human audibility. But that was only one part of the story. Subjectively, these speakers had an articulate sound that remained smooth and non-fatiguing at all playback levels. And they showed excellent imaging properties, filling the room with all their lusciousness.

GoldenEar Triton Seven Home Theater Speaker System

GoldenEar Technology has been making some fairly dramatic waves in the loudspeaker market over the past few years. The Triton Seven home theater system, reviewed here, is anchored by the Triton Seven stereo loudspeakers for front left and right channels. The rest of the system consists of the SuperCenter XL center channel speaker, the ForceField 5 subwoofer and two pairs of SuperSat 3 bookshelf speakers for side and rear surround duty. This makes a full 7.1 channel home theater speaker setup with an MSRP of about $4200. That's definitely not home-theater-in-a-box money, but it's actually a reasonable sum to spend for someone who cares about getting good sound. So….let's see how these babies stack up!

B&W CM10 Floor-Standing Speakers

B&W 601S2s were the first loudspeaker I ever bought for myself. Charged on a credit card in college, and beyond what I should have spent, they wound up saving me hundreds of dollars in the long run. With their intoxicating sound, far beyond anything I'd owned before, I'd spend hours listening to them. With a 300-disc CD changer and a La-Z-Boy recliner, many nights and weekends were spent listening to albums uninterrupted. As soon as the new CM10 tower speaker was introduced, I set out to spend some quality time with it and return to where the audiophile in me was born.

Linn Audio Athenaeum Horn Speakers

Horn speakers have been around nearly a century. They were used in movie theaters when the films became "talkies", and their advantage is that they are extremely efficient, which is good, because the power amplifiers in the theaters during the 1930's were very low powered. Linn Audio has built horn speakers for several decades, but most hi-fi enthusiasts may never have heard a horn speaker. They are characterized by wonderful, effortless midrange. The Linn Audio Athenaeum horn speakers are reviewed here.

THIEL CS2.7 Floor-Standing Speakers

Sometime around 2007, Thiel introduced what was then (and still is) an astounding speaker in the CS3.7 which for the most part was significant because Thiel was engineering their own driver designs, versus buying OEM. The 3-way design was pure Thiel, soft and rounded yet muscular in design, Jim Thiel showcased the corrugated midrange and tweeter "coincidentally" mounted configuration. The CS2.7 is the result of that success in a more affordable package.

Sonus Faber Venere 3.0 Home Theater Speaker System

This Sonus faber home theater speaker system is based on the new Venere 3.0 floor standing speakers, the flagship of the Venere line. The Veneres are designed in Italy and include drivers designed from the ground up specifically for this speaker line. The drivers are made exclusively for Sonus faber by some of the best suppliers on the planet. The Veneres even have the famous Sonus faber lyre-shaped cabinets.

Legacy Focus SE Floor-standing Speakers

Legacy Audio is well-known in the A/V community. They market speakers of all sizes from bookshelf to huge floor-standers, and they have been around for more than two decades. Their speakers are made in the USA, and since the company was founded in a cabinet-making shop, the quality of the wood finish is a hallmark of their designs. The sound fits the looks, and I have wanted to test a pair for quite a while. Legacy sent me their Focus SE's, which are floor-standing speakers and are full-range. The SE stands for Silver Edition, and it celebrates Legacy's 30th anniversary.

Axiom LFR1100 Omnidirectional Speakers and ADA-1500 Power Amplifier

About a year ago, Ian Colquhoun, founder of Axiom Audio, contacted me to talk about an exciting new design he was working on. It was the LFR1100 omnidirectional tower speaker and it represented a radical departure from not only their other products, but from traditional speaker construction. Needless to say I jumped at the chance to review them, but tremendous customer demand prevented me from getting a pair right away. When a surprise phone call came recently asking where I'd like the speakers delivered, I couldn't help but get excited!

GoldenEar Triton Three Floor-Standing Speakers

After the successful launch of the Triton design, GoldenEar soon introduced the Triton Two, which packed a 1200 watt class-D amplifier powering two 5" x 9" "racetrack" subwoofers, along with a pair of 4.5" midrange drivers and the now popular HVFR folded ribbon tweeter. Triton Three followed on the heels of the larger Triton Two. The Triton Three is a smaller version with one less subwoofer and one less midrange driver.

PSB Imagine T2 Tower Speakers

I'd already begun the review for the Imagine Mini when I was offered the Imagine T2 introduced around CES in 2012. If I hadn't given enough admiration for the Mini in my review, let me reiterate as much, because they now sit at home on a shelf, I couldn't part with them.

Crystal Acoustics TX-T2 SE THX ULTRA2 Certified Floor-Standing Speakers

Crystal Acoustics is a niche-within-a-niche kind of company. It sells high-value speaker systems directly to customers through the Internet. Not just any speakers, though. Crystal specializes in THX certified home theater systems. I've reviewed several Crystal Acoustics speakers, ranging from smaller THX Select certified floor-standers, up to their THX Ultra2 certified TX-T3SE. Now comes the TX-T2 SE, a mid-sized floor standing speaker that carries the THX Ultra2 badge. Are the TX-T2 SE's the best of both worlds, combining a smaller size with Ultra2 performance?