Tower Speaker Selection

[Billiam62]

I've spent a air amount of time looking into tower speakers in my price range that don't have a full front grill. Virtually none except for the two mentioned and some cheap Polk which is not likely to offer the sound I want.

Question.

Would a pair of bookshelf speakers combined with a sub woofer give me the same kind of sound stage that tower speakers can give?

[Mr Peabody]

You might look at Wharfedale, Polk does have a new line of affordable speakers that are supposed to be good for the money, possibly Infinity, or Elac.

You sub suggestion will work and give you more flexibility as far as adjusting bass for taste, but the down side it's sometimes tricky to get the sub to blend, or sound seamless with the satelites.

On your amp thread Blackraven brought up a good point, tube amps with low wattage need an efficient and/or easy load to drive. So put some thought into your purchase, not any amp and speakers thrown together are a optimum match.

I'm not sure what your integrated budget is but Jolida did have a respectable 100 wpc hybrid for around $550.00.

[blackraven]

About the best buy in your price range are the new Elac F5 towers. Read the reviews on the B5. B6 and F5 Elac speakers. The only down side is that they are not very efficient at 85db sensitivity.

ELAC Debut F5 Tower Speakers (Pr) at Music Direct

speakers ? Welcome to ELAC Americas

Music direct also has a pair of Wharfedale towers for sale. But they are rated at 86dB.

If you go with low power tube amps then you will need a speaker rated above 90dB. Give Klipsch a look. The one below is rated at 96dB and will play ear bleeding loud at 10wpc.

Klipsch Reference Premiere RP-250F (Cherry) Floor-standing speaker at Crutchfield.com