Tower speaker recommendations needed

iowahawk81

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Good evening - I have just found this website and it is awesome. I have just gotten back into in vinyl and turntables and am creating a stereo setup piece by piece. The last piece of that will be buying some good tower speakers. My set up is in my office/work space and will not be used to be watch movies or anything. The speakers will be hooked up to a tv but sound for the tv/movies is not what I am after. If I am wanting to watch tv with good sound I will watch in my TV room. I am looking for tower speakers that will sound great with music (mostly vinyl, but sometimes will be used to stream via AirPlay or other platforms) My current equipment is listed below:

Turntabe: Fluance RT85
Receiver: Denon DRA-800H
Bookshelf Speakers:
Triangle Borea BR03 (I fell into these pretty cheap and was amazed how much better they sounded and thats what got me started in upgrading my system)

My budget is around $1000 for the pair but if needed I could maybe go a bit higher if needed.

I am pretty new to all this so appreciate any help and/or suggestions from veterans. Thank you.
 
If you like your existing speakers, you could consider the tower versions

Any size or aesthetic requirements, what's your room size?
 
No size or aesthetic requirements - if they sound good that's all I care about.

Room size is open floor but the listening area is fairly small. Not sure on the actual dimensions as I just moved in to the house. I can get exact measurements after work today if that helps.
 
Bookshelf Speakers: Triangle Borea BR03 (I fell into these pretty cheap and was amazed how much better they sounded and thats what got me started in upgrading my system)
Personally, I always need a compelling reason to change any component in my setup - have you a reason for wanting new speakers?
 
I am not replacing the Triangle speakers - these are in addition to the bookshelf speakers. I do like it loud.
 
As long as you can find speakers which can boogie on Sheep by Pink Floyd you’re all set. That bass line! No music is subjective of course.

I am not following you, why change the speakers. Have you tried different speaker arrangement?

30-90 cm from side walls, back walls. 2 meters distance been them.
 
Ah , I see. The current speakers are book shelves speakers. You want speakers with larger cabinets which can move more air.
 
If the amplifier supports subwoofer, then this could be better then getting tower speakers.

If budget allows it, then maybe towers from Triangle. Or Dali Oberon 7.
 
I am not replacing the Triangle speakers - these are in addition to the bookshelf speakers. I do like it loud.

I’m a little confused... are you intending to run your new speakers simultaneously, in the same room, as your current speakers?
 
I’m a little confused... are you intending to run your new speakers simultaneously, in the same room, as your current speakers?
Yes, that is correct. I would like to have two tower and two bookshelf speakers in the room. That gives me the possibility to run into another room as needed.
 
“Run in another room”? Some people like to connect two speaker pair to the amplifier, but you need to be careful, because the impedance drops to 4 ohm or 2 ohm, believe.

If the amplifier can’t handle it, it we’ll shutdown.

Still in this case isn’t it better two get wireless speakers?
 
Two pairs of speakers into one amp is not ideal. Two different pairs of speakera is even worse.

You should get a separate amp for the second room. A good used amp would be better than no separate amp.

If your existing amp has no pre outs, you should look for an amp with pre outs.
 
is it ok to hook two sets of speakers to a receiver?? I currently have Denon 800H receiver on the way.
 
is it ok to hook two sets of speakers to a receiver?? I currently have Denon 800H receiver on the way.

I’m still confused.

Running two sets of speakers in one room (at the same time) is a huge no.

It will sound utterly shit. Truly and really.
 
What are your room dimensions?
 
If your current speakers are struggling to fill the room then you need to add a sub or get a larger pair of speakers.

If you want to run another pair of speakers in a different room then they should have their on channels of amplification.
 
Doubtful with this amplifier?? Two pair of speakers (4 speakers) are going to put a lot of strain on the amplifier. If only using one pair off speakers, then fine. Not 4 speakers at the same time.

As mentioned above I believe the impedance well drop to 2 or 4 ohm. This requires powerful amplifier.

It’s not common to run 4 speakers on one amplifier, most run 2 speakers. If you’re not trying to replicate Quad system from the 70’s?
 
Doubtful with this amplifier?? Two pair of speakers (4 speakers) are going to put a lot of strain on the amplifier. If only using one pair off speakers, then fine. Not 4 speakers at the same time.

As mentioned above I believe the impedance well drop to 2 or 4 ohm. This requires powerful amplifier.

It’s not common to run 4 speakers on one amplifier, most run 2 speakers. If you’re not trying to replicate Quad system from the 70’s?
Ok this all makes sense - when growing up our living room had 4 speakers around the room all connected to the same receiver. All the stereo equipment was bought overseas and shipped home while my dad was serving in Vietnam. I still have a couple of the old vintage Pioneer speakers but they are in bad shape. So I was assuming from past experience I could hook up multiple sets of speakers into one receiver. After receiving all the comments perhaps a better idea would be to invest in a nice sub to complete my sound? And if I still want louder after that than perhaps get some floor standers?
 
Different folk want different things from their music playback system. You want loud - I get that, but what about a sense of acoustic space, instrument/voice separation and placement within a soundstage? Many of us enjoy loud but what about those more subtle aspects too? Operating two pairs of speakers in the same room will no doubt give you loud but you'll almost certainly miss out on these other aspects. I agree that your best bet is to replace the Triangle's with a larger speaker pair or, maybe, add a sub to use with the Triangle's.

As Helix has said, you need to exercise care when using two pairs of speakers at the same time when connected to an amp/receiver like the Denon to ensure you stay within the amp/receiver's operating limits regarding speaker impedance. It's often do-able but take care - best check the Denon manual before doing this.

You folks in the USA often have larger living rooms than us Brits so how large is your room? It's important because small speakers suit (i.e. sound better in) small rooms and large speakers suit large rooms although a small-ish speaker (like the Triangle's) can sound great in a small room when used with a sub. And it would be best if the sub facility on the Denon could also remove the deep bass 'burden' (typically below about 80Hz) from the main speakers (i.e. the Triangle's).

I could be wrong but I think there are more budget-to-mid price floorstanders on the US market than on this side of the pond (probably reflects your larger room sizes) so you should have a reasonable choice should you decide to go with the floorstander option. Also, floorstanding speakers are often, though not always, more sensitive (i.e. play louder for a given power input) than bookshelf speakers so will play louder with the same amp. If you want seriously loud, or you have a massive room, check out high sensitivity speakers like the Klipsch range.
 
My father has the same amplifier as you. It has two sets of speaker outputs with A or B, or A and B selectable.
He has a vintage pair of floorstanders he didn't want to part with and likes them for music. But he also has a pair of standmount speakers that he finds clearer for listening to the TV.

As indicated by others: although your amp suggests using both sets of speakers is possible, it's not recommended, particularly as it's not an especially powerful amplifier in the first place. I'm referring to its power supply and current (damping factor), rather than its quoted watts per channel figure. Playing loud through two sets of speakers with a modest amp is more likely to damage your speakers than a playing a powerful amplifier loud.

To be honest, I'm not overly impressed with the Denon. It's very matter of fact with very little grip of the bass and the timing is quite non-descript. If you really want a better musical performance, I think you'd be surprised at what a decent amplifier can do to your current speakers.

My father has DALI Rubicon 2's standmounts attached to the Denon (yes I know, a real price mismatch) and I also have DALI Rubicon 2's attached to my Anthem MRX710. It's hard to imagine they're the same speakers when you listen to them on each system. On the Anthem they suddenly come to life. Music sounds energetic and snappy, instead of matter-of-fact.

So I don't want to question your choice to change your speakers, but you could throw thousands at new speakers and the Denon will always be holding them back. The amp will set a limit to how good speakers can sound regardless of their size or price.

And don't forget that there is a reason standmount speakers exist and are liked: they can do things that floorstanders can't.

So personally, I'd be looking at a new amp, and if you want more "loud" or bang for buck, add a decent subwoofer for the low end.

However, if your heart is set on floorstanders and you like the tonal balance match with the Denon, by all means look at the floorstanding equivalent of your current Triangles. But I do think you need to moderate your expectations. It won't suddenly sound fantastic. There may be "more" but not necessarily "better".
 
I thank everyone for their replies and advice to this novice to the speaker and stereo world. A lot of the times when I listen to my turntable I find Triangle Borea's sufficient such as listening to my jazz or classical music. However, there are times when I want to play it LOUD. I am thinking for those ttimes perhaps I buy set of floorstanders and use them for my LOUD sessions and keep my Triangles and use those for jazz or the like. I would never play them together after reading your advice and I very much appreciate you guys not laughing me off the forums at my own stupidity.

If I ever wanted to run all 4 at once for some reason could I get am amplifier to run one set of speakers and connect the amp to my receiver?
 
…floorstanding speakers are often, though not always, more sensitive (i.e. play louder for a given power input) than bookshelf speakers so will play louder with the same amp.
This is a very valid point.

Novices may read the rated power quoted for speakers, but that’s one of the most useless specs published in Hifi circles.

Sensitivity (db/1 watt @ 1 metre) is much more important, as is the ohm rating.

So ideally look for speakers nearer the 89/90db end, and as pointed out by dogfonos, floorstanders will typically be closer to that figure, so that will put less strain on your amp.

Anything rated 86db or less can start to get more of a challenge for your amp, although the ohm rating is relevant too.

An 8ohm rated speaker will typically be easier to drive than a 4ohm one.

Having said all that, there is a caveat.

Larger more sensitive boxes will play louder, but they can also produce more bass energy and may paradoxically need more current and drive from an amplifier to keep that bass tight and controlled.

There’s no perfect speaker, and each design choice tends to be a compromise, which is why there is so much variety on the market.

If there was only one right way for everyone, we’ll everybody would be doing the same thing.
 
Personally, I think the distortion/colouration emitted from speaker cabinets is often an underrated problem. Unless great care (and expense?) is taken with the design, the larger cabinet panels of floor standers often add more to a speaker's sound than the smaller panels of a standmount, IMO. I suspect this is why standmount speakers often sound better to my old ears than comparably priced floorstanders.

Some manufacturer's take great care to minimise cabinet resonances, like Q acoustics with their 'Concept' range, but complex cabinetry doesn't come cheap. The cheapest and smallest QA Concept floorstander, the Concept 40, costs around £700 in the UK - which may be on the small side for your room. Perhaps there are other speaker manufacturer's taking cabinet colouration/panel resonances seriously? If not, maybe just add a sub to the Triangles.

Still unsure of the room size...
 
This is a very valid point.

Novices may read the rated power quoted for speakers, but that’s one of the most useless specs published in Hifi circles.

Sensitivity (db/1 watt @ 1 metre) is much more important, as is the ohm rating.

So ideally look for speakers nearer the 89/90db end, and as pointed out by dogfonos, floorstanders will typically be closer to that figure, so that will put less strain on your amp.

Anything rated 86db or less can start to get more of a challenge for your amp, although the ohm rating is relevant too.

An 8ohm rated speaker will typically be easier to drive than a 4ohm one.

Having said all that, there is a caveat.

Larger more sensitive boxes will play louder, but they can also produce more bass energy and may paradoxically need more current and drive from an amplifier to keep that bass tight and controlled.

There’s no perfect speaker, and each design choice tends to be a compromise, which is why there is so much variety on the market.

If there was only one right way for everyone, we’ll everybody would be doing the same thing.
I would partially disagree.

The lower the ohm the more difficult to drive.. Sensitivity just means less volume.

89db sensitivity with speakers dipping to 3 ohms would be more difficult to drive than 87db sensitivity running at 6 ohms for example.
 
The listening area is about 12x12 - however, it is an open floor plan. The speakers are near a high wall that separates stairs from the office area. They are set away from the wall by about 18 inches or so. Just to the right of the listening area is the kitchen with no wall separating the two two rooms.
 

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