First of all...don't ask my wife this question!
Growing up in the 60's and mid 70's, and being a musician with exposer to live music daily in school (Concert Band / Jazz Band), it was my opinion that bigger was always better in audio-stereo speaker selection.
A good friend even built a pair of Altec-Lansing "Voice of The Theater" speakers, with a huge 15" woofer and a sectoral horn that must have been 18 to 20 inches wide. These were huge! And they sounded great, even with a power amp of only 35 watts/channel (Dynaco SCA-80Q). And they took up a lot of space in his rather "smallish" sized living room.
Fast forward to today, literally decades later. There are no less than 4 sets of large tower speakers in my house. They get rotated into and out of duty on a regular basis, in different rooms.
1. VMPS Tower II SE's
2. VMPS Mini-Tower IIA's
3. BIC Venturi DV-84's
4. Klipsch R-820F's
The above are all very fine speakers.
But after purchasing a few sets of Klipsch "bookshelf" sized speakers, my thoughts on this have changed, rather dramatically.
1. Klipsch RP-160M's
2. Klipsch RB-81 II's
3. Klipsch RB-61 II's
Side-by-side, A/B listening has been done with all of these. I am shocked at how "big" these smaller sized speakers sound. Imaging, sound stage, depth, bass extension...it is all there, sound that can best be described as "clean". And at times, these are actually preferred for listening over my much larger (and heavier) towers.
BTW, if you can snag a pair of the RB-81 II's, grab them. They are that good!
Now some claim that Klipsch has a overly bright, edgy tone. I disagree. The sound is very clear, distinct, never muddied, and focused. But I flew jet aircraft for the past 32 years, and that certainly has impacted my hearing to a degree. Speaker listening is a very subjective experience, so you may have a different take on this.
To sum up, smaller speakers today often times have a very large sound. A quality sound that can rival speakers several times larger in size, and more expensive by several multiples.
Growing up in the 60's and mid 70's, and being a musician with exposer to live music daily in school (Concert Band / Jazz Band), it was my opinion that bigger was always better in audio-stereo speaker selection.
A good friend even built a pair of Altec-Lansing "Voice of The Theater" speakers, with a huge 15" woofer and a sectoral horn that must have been 18 to 20 inches wide. These were huge! And they sounded great, even with a power amp of only 35 watts/channel (Dynaco SCA-80Q). And they took up a lot of space in his rather "smallish" sized living room.
Fast forward to today, literally decades later. There are no less than 4 sets of large tower speakers in my house. They get rotated into and out of duty on a regular basis, in different rooms.
1. VMPS Tower II SE's
2. VMPS Mini-Tower IIA's
3. BIC Venturi DV-84's
4. Klipsch R-820F's
The above are all very fine speakers.
But after purchasing a few sets of Klipsch "bookshelf" sized speakers, my thoughts on this have changed, rather dramatically.
1. Klipsch RP-160M's
2. Klipsch RB-81 II's
3. Klipsch RB-61 II's
Side-by-side, A/B listening has been done with all of these. I am shocked at how "big" these smaller sized speakers sound. Imaging, sound stage, depth, bass extension...it is all there, sound that can best be described as "clean". And at times, these are actually preferred for listening over my much larger (and heavier) towers.
BTW, if you can snag a pair of the RB-81 II's, grab them. They are that good!
Now some claim that Klipsch has a overly bright, edgy tone. I disagree. The sound is very clear, distinct, never muddied, and focused. But I flew jet aircraft for the past 32 years, and that certainly has impacted my hearing to a degree. Speaker listening is a very subjective experience, so you may have a different take on this.
To sum up, smaller speakers today often times have a very large sound. A quality sound that can rival speakers several times larger in size, and more expensive by several multiples.