General Speaker Advice and Recommendations

Yes it would, but even better would be if you use some resilient channel to mount the drywall instead of mounting it directly to the wall studs. A typical drywall/stud/drywall construction turns that entire wall into one big vibrating membrane. Hanging the drywall on the channels basically decouples them from the studs so significantly less energy is transferred from one side to the other.

 

To me, dry wall seems to work quite well in terms of acoustics, at least if it's built like in our house. The house is built of stone, but all internal walls in the second floor and attic are made of dry wall. No wooden studs here, that's all metal, the sides of the wall have no physical connection to each other except via the floor/ceiling, and there's some very effective damping material in between, I think it's glass wool. When the doors are closed, people have to be talking loudly to hear them at all on the other side, much less understand what they are saying. And it makes for very dry acoustics. Much better than with the stone walls on first floor.

 

Yes, a steel stud wall isn't too far off from doing resilient channel.

Another alternate is to do staggered stud walls, but you almost never see those unless building new with that intent.

 

That's true. These are highly efficient though. Worth considering if one is building a house. At least I know I would

 

I've kept my head down and spent time enjoying the music but I'm having the itch of change after having my Special 40s for 2 years. What I'm really looking for is more "controlled" bass with perhaps more detail - the S40 does
bass quite well but in my room its been super hard to tame it and I'm running a minidsp unit to help with that because placement only did so much. Also, depth of soundstage improvements could be nice too.

The ATC SCM19 and Graham LS6 (both with a sub, or the SCM40/LS6f in a bigger place) have been on my list for a while but now I'm really curious about Buchardt's S400 mk2 and also the cheaper P300.
The only point of hesitation is not being able to listen before I buy, I'm not a huge fan of having a set of speakers at home and sending them back or selling them. Has anyone got experience with these and can perhaps give me the push?

 

Have you tried bass traps? EQ can only do so much to combat bass resonance.

Bass is LS6's biggest weak point. It is on the softer side and can be a bit murky.

 

Agree with this for sure, but I will say the Dyns are a bit too bloated in the bass IMO and lack definition. Both the ATCs and Buchardts IMO will better it. I’ve owned all of these speakers except only the MkI of the Buchardts, and the MkII is supposed to be a bit tighter and less emphasized on bass with even better definition. I don’t think you can go wrong with either of these IMO, but the mids and highs between the ATC and Buchardt definitely have a different flavour.

 

I have tried bass traps but it’s really hard to control the biggest problem area which is 70hz and lower.. I’m running some heavy eq in that region and i want to eventually get something that fits my room and preferences a bit better.
I had it in mind to swap speakers only one more time by getting floorstanders once I get a bigger place but I’m not completely sure when that’s going to happen. Could be in the next year, could be longer

 

How crazy would it be to get the speakers for your next place, now?

 

That’s an interesting thought. I assume getting a floorstander now would mean I have to deal with more or less the same amount of bass taming issues as I have with the current set.. I honestly haven’t really looked at what speaker options I have for a bigger place until I got the place and unleashed a little more potential of the speakers I have. Only ones on my list are floor versions of bookshelves like the scm40 and the LS6F

I’m also gambling at the idea that I might be happy with something like the Buchardt for the future as well and not need to make more changes. I don’t know if that’s wishful thinking or a possibility

 

In terms of bass response, I actually found my floorstanders with 15” woofers were more forgiving of placement than my much smaller cabinet bookshelves of 6.5” woofers were. Bass was easier to integrate into the small room I knew I’d move out of sooner or later.

 

I have this general observation about buying speakers.

Why buy stand-mount speakers? They are going to take up as much room as floor-standers, be less stable, and less handsome.

Unless one has to put the speakers on top of something, eg a desk, I would always favour that bigger cabinet and not having to bother with a stand.

 

For reasons. Read the first post here: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...ookshelf-standmount-speaker-impressions.8941/

Relative to WAF, many spouses would prefer to see a small attractive box on top of a sleek metal stand than a large wooden obelisk. Although they take up a similar footprint, they don’t impose in the room nearly as much (at least not the smaller ones).

 

Yes.

Actually, bookshelves could potentially need a larger total footprint if you decide you also need a subwoofer to help fill in the bottom octaves.

 

Yeah, for me it started when I was a student with cheap monitors on my desk and then I just explored and went further, trying to find my preferences. I ended up with an SVS sub with the Harvey’s p3esr at one point and sold it just before I got the Special 40 as an all round speaker and decided then that the next one would be a floorstander or nothing but then I just got into the hype of the s400 mk2

I might just shut this down by going into dealers for the SCM40 and LS6f so that I have a solid target in mind

 

True, but you also have some flexibility of where the sub can be placed, as well which location is optimal for bass for your room/listening position. whereas with floorstanders you can’t really move the location of where your bass is coming from vs your mids and highs, so you may need to compromise one or another.

Bottom line, both options are valid for different people for many different reasons. Both have a place, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many options on the market for each type of speaker.

 

True, but you could always have a sub with your floorstanders --- unless, maybe, you have really, really big woofers.

 

As I get older, it's easier to move bookshelf speakers and stands than it is to move floorstanders.

 

Also trying to figure out the vibe with the bookshelves on floor stands.

From practical reasons standpoint they do not stand a chance against same class floor standers.
Price - nope. A pretty and sturdy floor stand for a bookshelf is at least as expensive to manufacture as a tall cabinet. When the end price of a bookshelf on a tall stand is significantly cheaper than similar floor stander from the same manufacturer with even an additional driver, then it is more a commercial bracketing decision than a real thing.

Acoustics - worse. Not negotiable, only when the designer/engineer is incompetent. More bass extension from acoustics is always preferred (better quality, less distortion etc). 2 way floors stander is better than same drivers in a small box. 3-way is superior to 2-way. 4-way is superior to 3 -way, however that requires Gandalf level of wizardry to pull off.
2-way is gimped. An engine analogue would be 4 banger is 2-way. Cheap, simple, practical, boring. 3-way is inline 6 or V8. 4-way is V10 or V12.

Aesthetics (WAF for those who get pushed around by their wives) - matter of taste, however as far as people with cred on this field go (Red Dot or the likes) floor standers get better grades.

Plus point regarding transportation. These come in pieces and are often more efficient to package. Also less heavy to move around as Armaegis pointed out.

I see the utility for bookshelves on a compromise or nieche situations. On desk, on shelf, on walls as rear channel for home cinema.
An office battle station might work better with bookshelves and subs. I have used even for desktop use big ass floor standers behind the desk as monitors. The mid and tweeter have to be well above the desk surface and the crossover not too high from woofer to mid (below 200 Hz is fine).

 

Why standmounts? For me, they're the only ATCs I can afford. From my limited experience, I'd prefer ATC anythings to just about any alternative, floorstanding, bookshelf or fitted inside a giant pineapple and mounted upside down from an airship. I don't feel like I'm missing out (for at least as long as I can avoid hearing more expensive stuff).

There are limitations imposed on smaller form factors by the laws of physics, but there's more to a speaker's quality than just its size.