If you are wondering, can I use tower speakers for surround sound? Then you have one hundred percent come to the right place. You have purchased an awesome projector and you are having a great time. However, you start to think that the next step has to be some kickass sound to go with your movie-like experience and that is what we are looking at today. There are many people who think that when it comes to a surround sound system that you have to have two tower speakers at the front and two bookshelf style speakers at the back, but that is not always true. That is what we are taking a good look at here today to see what is best for your setup.
The Pros Of Using Tower Speakers For Surround Sound
To start with there is just something so “epic” about a set of tower speakers. Just take a look at these awesome Klipsch R-610F Floorstanding Home Speakers there is no way you can tell me these would not look amazing at the side of your TV or your home theatre screen. If you ask me tower speakers flat outlook way cooler than bookshelf ones. They are a great way to truly showcase your setup. Some people want their speakers to be hidden and I get that. However, if you are someone who wants a setup that has the wow factor, floorstanding speakers are the way you need to go.
I am not going to tell you that all tower speakers sound better than bookshelf ones. However, I can tell you that due to the increased size that tower speakers offer, they do tend to have a bit more punch when it comes to the base. Now, there are some amazing budget priced speakers out there and we have reviewed many of them. However, I would always wager that a cheap set of tower speakers will probably have better overall sound than similarly priced bookshelf speakers.
One thing I want to touch on when it comes to “style” with tower speakers is that they do look fantastic when they are next to a TV, they can really finish off an entertainment center properly. Also, as far as rear speakers go, you can be quite clever and while I would never in a million years do this. I am sure some people would probably want to put a picture or some other kind of knick-knack on them to finish them off.
The Cons Of Using Tower Speakers For Surround Sound
The most notable one is the space that these take up. Check out this awesome-looking Yamaha NS-F150 Floor Standing Speaker. This thing looks cool, but it stands at 40 inches tall.
Staying with Yamaha, these Yamaha NS-333 2-Way Bass Reflex Bookshelf Speakers are only 12 inches high which is one hell of a difference from 40 inches. Many people can swing having tower speakers at the front of their setup, near their TV or their projector screen. However, when it comes to rear speakers that give you the surround sound, space at the back of the room may be harder to come by.
Also, as well as tower speakers taking up more space, they tend to be more on the expensive side. Do not get me wrong, you can get bookshelf speakers that can cost over 500 bucks. However, if you look at those Yamaha speakers we just talked about, the cost of a set of those bookshelf speakers is the same as just ONE of the tower speakers! So, for the most part, a set of tower speakers will cost you more.
Also, it is worth noting that if you buy a home cinema package like this Enclave CineHome II 5.1 Wireless Home Theater Surround Sound System, for example, most of the time you get two tower speakers, and then the rear speakers are bookshelf/satellite speakers. The amount of home theatre all-in-one systems that I have which have four tower speakers that I have seen I can probably count on one hand and they were very expensive.
Back in around 2004, I was living with who would go on to become my now wife and I managed to get this amazing Sony hi-fi. It was from the 90s and it had a five-disc CD changer (CDs were still the thing back in 2004) and it had these massive and I mean massive black tower speakers. My girlfriend/wife hated these things, apparently, they made us look like big-time drug dealers that you would see in something like Sons of Anarchy! The point I am making is that for you guys who live with a lady, the chances she is going to be cool with a massive set of speakers in the living room is probably very slim!
Final Thoughts On Using Tower Speakers For Surround Sound
We come to the end of our quest to figure out, can I use tower speakers for surround sound? We have a ton of speaker reviews with speakers of all sizes and at all price ranges so be sure to have a good look there as I am certain you will find your next set of awesome speakers on there. The thing is, this is a very, very tricky question to answer. If I am making a new home theater then 100-percent I am going to try and get four tower speakers in there. That is my personal preference as I just love the way they are so eye-catching and powerful looking.
On the flip side of this, I have to say that bookshelf speakers are most certainly more convenient for rear speakers when it comes to surround sound. You need some serious real estate for tower speakers and I feel that more than the price is probably the stumbling block for most people out there. So, yes you can use tower speakers for surround sound, but it depends mainly if your room can handle it.
Hope this post has been useful to you if you are considering using tower speakers for surround sound system. You may also be interested in if you can connect your turntable to your home theater surround sound system and which setup is better: floorstanding speakers vs bookshelf with subwoofer?
