You know, a lot of the time bigger is not better. Oh, sure, if there are no other considerations, then bigger can in fact be the best. But with loudspeakers, it’s usually a trade-off. For the dollars you spend on a pair of floor standing loudspeakers you can purchase a much better-sounding compact loudspeaker system.
But which ones? Here we’re going to guide you through what to look for in a set of compact loudspeakers priced at up to $8000.
Now, let me be frank. Our heading refers to the “Best Bookshelf Speakers”. We want you to read our stuff, and our SEO consultants assure us that this is the term that people search for when looking for guidance of the kind contained in this article. But what we’ll actually be doing here is providing some solid guidance on what to look for in compact loudspeakers and some suggestions from our range. We’re proud of the models we have on offer, but loudspeaker sound is highly personal and subjective thing, so you may prefer some other loudspeaker brands. That’s fine. You should make your final choice in a quality high fidelity retailer, listening to the speakers to make sure that they are pleasing to you.
Oh, and also, we would strongly recommend against placing any “bookshelf” loudspeakers in an actual bookshelf. All of these loudspeakers will perform far better sitting on proper speaker stands placed well clear of the walls of your room, and indeed well clear of any bookshelves. We prefer to call them Stand Mount Speakers.
What to look for with Stand Mount Speakers
The standard model for stand mount speakers – and indeed, how most of them actually are – is a pair of passive, bass reflex, two-way loudspeakers, deeper than they are wide. That is how quality loudspeakers have largely been since the revolution in speaker design in the 1980s made compact loudspeakers a true audiophile option.
But not all conform to that model. In a moment we’ll look at each of those elements.
Also important with stand mount speakers are, well, the stands. Many of the finest stand mount loudspeakers have available as options stands specifically designed for them. If you can manage them financially, they’re likely to provide the best results. Some have cable management built it – that is, a channel in the stand to run the cable from the loudspeaker down to the floor. It makes for a cleaner look.
In general, a heavy, rigid stand is conventionally considered best. My own stands are filled with dry sand to both dampen them and to add mass. But at least one of the speaker models we’ll be looking at challenges that conventional wisdom.
Active vs passive loudspeakers
This one is easy. Like subwoofers, if a loudspeaker has amplifiers built in, it is active. If not, it is passive.
But unlike subwoofers, the great majority of stereo loudspeaker systems are passive. You need an amplifier to drive them.
Each has advantages over the other. Obviously you have a wider choice from the available passive speakers. And some favourite brands may not offer active models at all.
But active models, if well designed, can boost performance by closely coupling loudspeaker and amplifier, without an uncertain length of possibly indifferent-quality speaker wire between them. That often results in tighter, more controlled bass. Active models are also often designed to be bi-amped – they have two amplifiers built in, one for the tweeter and one for the bass/midrange. There’s nothing inherent superior in bi-amping a loudspeaker. But what active models can do is use a DSP to perform crossover duties, avoiding many of the limitations of the analogue crossover networks in passive systems, which must necessarily handle relatively high signal levels.
Some active models also incorporate wireless functionality, perhaps via Wi-Fi or perhaps via Bluetooth. That can be a great convenience.
Two-way vs three-way
All the speakers we cover below are “two-way” models. That is, they divide the signal into treble, which is fed to a tweeter, and bass/midrange, which is fed to the larger speaker driver. But there are some other models which are three-way, with a dedicated “midrange” driver. The main advantage of these is to avoid having the crossover frequency – the point of division between treble and bass/midrange – right in frequency range to which the human ear is most sensitive.
The downside of three-way speakers is that, well, you’re spreading the cost across three rather than two drivers.
It would be remiss of me not to mention that there are what I guess you’d call “one-way” speakers. That is, one driver is called upon to carry the entire frequency range. Obviously, most of these are cheap and far from high fidelity in their sound quality. But some audiophiles do swear by strange and exotic loudspeaker models featuring a single driver. If you get a chance, have a listen. I for one am unconvinced.
Acoustic suspension vs bass reflex
Back in the 1960s Australian engineers A Neville Thiele and Richard H Small developed a way of modelling the physical behaviour of loudspeakers. They required inputs for such values as the mass of various moving components, the size of the loudspeaker diaphragm, resistance of various components, compliance (ie. springiness) of the loudspeaker suspension, and so on. With the models and the numbers, one could specifically design the loudspeaker enclosure’s bass performance, particularly with bass reflex systems.
Until then, loudspeaker enclosure design had very much been a trial and error endeavour. Thiele and Small made it algorithmic.
Bass reflex speakers designed along these lines use the work delivered at the rear of the bass driver into the interior of the enclosure to boost bass at a chosen frequency. This tends to have the effect of extending the effective bass output somewhat, but having it diminish rapidly below that chosen frequency.
A design alternative, largely championed by Acoustic Research in the 1960s, was “acoustic suspension”. A sealed enclosure meant no emergence of energy from the rear of the bass driver. These tend to have the bass rolling off at a higher frequency than a bass reflex system, but it rolls off rather less abruptly, and can sometimes end up providing deeper bass extension. This is relatively rare in compact loudspeaker systems.
(Passive Radiator systems are based on similar principles as bass reflex, but the radiator’s own mass and compliance can allow the tuning of an enclosure for even deeper frequencies than bass reflex.)
Things to look for in your compact loudspeakers
In no particular order, here are a few things that may help your make a judgement for the best compact speaker system for your needs:
- Weight – no, it proves nothing, but the weight of a piece of high fidelity equipment is a rough proxy for quality. Heavier items tend to cost more to make and often bespeak of build quality. If all else is equal, choose the speakers that weigh more.
- Fit and finish – I for one would choose sound quality every time over the attractive stylings of a set of loudspeakers. That said, you don’t want your home, nor your listening room, to look like a dump.
- Reputable brand – especially one that sells high-end speakers as well. Do people choose a Mercedes over a Kia after a careful examination of their specifications and a test drive? No, brand counts. There are exceptions, of course, but a brand which has been around for a while – by which I mean decades – tends to have useful experience and is likely to to continue to stay around. Brands which produce truly high-end loudspeakers often take that high-end technology and trickle it down into more entry-level models.
Things not to look for in your compact loudspeakers
- Extra binding posts – many loudspeakers have two sets of binding posts. One set is nominally for the tweeter and the other set is for the bass/midrange driver. Almost nobody uses them, finding one set of speaker cables to suffice. And many of the best loudspeakers in the world don’t offer this alleged capability. Forget about the number of binding posts.
- Super high power handling. You might say that measuring loudspeakers is more an art than a science. That’s especially the case when it comes to power handling. How much power can a loudspeaker cope with before it is damaged? Forget about it. Play your music as loud as you want it to be, remembering only to drop things back a bit if your system sounds stressed.
- Finally, don’t worry too much about the sensitivity measurement. Accept up front that all loudspeakers are super inefficient. The vast majority of power you pump into your loudspeakers manifests as heat, not sound. What I think of as an average high fidelity loudspeaker sensitivity is 89dB (measured at 1 metre for a 2.83-volt input) That equates to 0.5% efficiency. Or 99.5% of your amplifier’s output is being pumped into the surrounding area as heat. Yes, all other things being equal, higher sensitivity is better. But all other things are never equal.
1. Q Acoustics Q3010i
The Q Acoustics Q3010i compact loudspeakers show that you don’t need big bucks to get into quality sound. The little beauties offer solid performance for a bargain price.
Features
- Two-way passive, bass reflex design, removable grille
- 1 x 22mm dome tweeter, 1 x 100mm bass/midrange driver
- 65-30,000 hertz +3dB, -6dB frequency response
- 6 ohms
- 86dB sensitivity
- 15 to 75-watt stereo amplifier recommended
- 253mm tall by 150mm wide by 252mm deep
- 1 kilograms each
- Available in Graphite Grey, English Walnut and Carbon Black
Summary
These compact speakers are only 253mm tall yet can reach well down into mid-bass territory. An easy future upgrade would be to add a compact subwoofer to fill in the lowest couple of octaves. The bass reflex port is at the back, so a little bit of clearance from walls or furniture behind the speaker will aid performance. A nice touch is the de-coupled tweeter – this reduces the influence of the bass driver on the treble.
Price: Around $500
Available at fine high fidelity retail outlets
2. Q Acoustics Q3030i
We move up two models to the Q Acoustics Q3030i compact loudspeakers. Again, these deliver far better performance than their price would imply. They share the same tweeter as the Q3010i speakers but add a larger bass driver and cabinet to provide more heft to the music.
Features
- Two-way passive, bass reflex design, removable grille
- 1 x 22mm dome tweeter, 1 x 165mm bass/midrange driver
- 46-30,000 hertz +3dB, -6dB frequency response
- 6 ohms
- 88dB sensitivity
- 25 to 75-watt stereo amplifier preferred
- 325mm tall by 200mm wide by 329mm deep
- 4 kilograms each
- Available in Graphite Grey, English Walnut and Carbon Black
Summary
Yes, they’re like the Q3010i speakers, but larger. Yet they are still quite compact at 325mm tall. Again, stand mounting away from the rear wall is preferred for best performance. With a bass end that reaches down into kick drum territory, and a slightly higher sensitivity, you can expect a much bigger sound from these speakers.
Price: Around $800
Available at fine high fidelity retail outlets.
3. Dynaudio Emit 10
The Danish firm Dynaudio plays in the mid-range to high end market, with some stand mount models north of ten thousand dollars. But here we have the company’s entry-level compact loudspeaker.
Features
- Two-way passive, bass reflex design, removable grille
- 1 x 28mm Cerotar soft dome tweeter with Hexis, 1 x 140mm magnesium silicate polymer bass/midrange driver
- 64-25,000 hertz ±3dB frequency response, -6dB at 52 and 35,000 hertz
- 6 ohms
- 85dB sensitivity
- 150 watts IEC power handling
- 290mm tall by 170mm wide by 285mm deep
- 43 kilograms each
- Available in White, Walnut and Black
Summary
With the Dynaudio Emit 10 speakers you’re on a road that leads all the way to true high end performance. The Emit range inherits several features which were originally introduced in the company’s more expensive ranges. Do note that with a relatively low sensitivity of 85dB, these speakers will benefit from having plenty of power available to drive them.
Price: $1470
Available at fine high fidelity retail outlets, and direct from the Dynaudio Emit 10 page at Addicted to Audio.
4. Focal Chora 806
Focal is a particularly fine French builder of loudspeakers and headphones. The Focal Chora 806 is the entry point into a brand that offers literally uncompromising models costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Features
- Two-way passive, bass reflex design, removable grille
- 1 x 25mm inverted aluminium/magnesium tweeter, 1 x 165mm Slatefiber bass/midrange driver
- 58-28,000 hertz ±3dB frequency response, -6dB at 49 hertz
- 8 ohms
- 89dB sensitivity
- 25-120 watts recommended amplifier power
- 431mm tall by 210mm wide by 270mm deep
- 35 kilograms each
- Available in Dark Wood, Light Wood and Black
Summary
The Focal Chora 806 loudspeakers are the largest, heaviest models we’ve looked at so far, by quite a margin. With an 8-ohm impedance and moderately high sensitivity, they are easy loudspeakers to drive, and easy ones to drive hard. The bass reflex port vents to the front, making placement relatively easy. There are also stands especially designed for these loudspeakers available as an option. And we must note that Focal loudspeakers are generally amongst the most stylish available. These look handsome in all three colours.
Price: $1500
Available at fine high fidelity retail outlets, and direct from the Focal Chora 806 page at Addicted to Audio.
5. Dynaudio Emit 20
The Dynaudio Emit 20 is the larger of the two compact loudspeakers from Dynaudio’s Emit entry-level range. The next step up is floorstanding.
Features
- Two-way passive, bass reflex design, removable grille
- 1 x 28mm Cerotar soft dome tweeter with Hexis, 1 x 180mm magnesium silicate polymer bass/midrange driver
- 53-25,000 hertz ±3dB frequency response, -6dB at 42 and 35,000 hertz
- 6 ohms
- 86dB sensitivity
- 160 watts IEC power handling
- 370mm tall by 205mm wide by 312mm deep
- 32 kilograms each
- Available in White, Walnut and Black
Summary
I was very impressed when I reviewed these loudspeakers a while back (Dynaudio Emit 20 speaker review). So much so that I ended up buying a pair for one of my own stereo systems. They offer the distinctively dynamic Dynaudio sound with an excellent frequency balance and a real ability to go loud and deep when required.
Price: $1940
Available at fine high fidelity retail outlets, and direct from Dynaudio Emit 20 page at Addicted to Audio.
6. Focal Aria 906
At first glance, the Focal Aria 906 loudspeakers might seem little different to the lower cost Focal Chora 806 speakers, with similarly sized drivers and layout. But there are significant changes, not least the use of flax.
Features
- Two-way passive, bass reflex design, removable grille
- 1 x 25mm inverted aluminium/magnesium tweeter, 1 x 165mm Flax bass/midrange driver
- 55-28,000 hertz ±3dB frequency response, -6dB at 49 hertz
- 8 ohms
- 5dB sensitivity
- 25-120 watts recommended amplifier power
- 390mm tall by 225mm wide by 280mm deep
- 5 kilograms each
- Available in Noyer, Prime Walnut and Black High Gloss
Summary
Flax is a natural fibre which, amongst other things, is used to make linen. But that’s after heavy processing. The natural structure of flax fibres makes them strong and very lightweight. Focal have used it, sandwiched between two fibreglass layers, to create strong, lightweight and thus highly responsive bass/midrange drivers for the Aria range. Even though slightly more compact than the Chora 806, the Aria 906 reaches deeper into the bass and weighs quite a bit more.
Price: From $2500 depending on finish
Available at fine high fidelity retail outlets, and direct from the Focal Aria 906 page at Addicted to Audio.
7. Dynaudio Xeo 20 wireless
The Dynaudio Xeo 20 wireless is, well, active. That is, the speakers have built-in amplifiers. And with these speakers, while you need wires to connect to wall power sockets, the speakers communicate with each other wirelessly (high resolution 24-bit, 96kHz). And you can also feed music via Bluetooth.
Features
- Two-way active, bass reflex design, removable grille
- 1 x 28mm Esotec soft dome tweeter, 1 x 140mm magnesium silicate polymer Esotec bass/midrange driver
- 40-21,000 hertz ±3dB frequency response
- 2 x 65 watts power output for each speaker with DSP-based crossover
- Bluetooth aptX codec support
- Optical digital and analogue (3.5mm and RCA) inputs
- 320mm tall by 180mm wide by 265mm deep
- 2 kilograms each
- Available in Black
Summary
The Dynaudio Xeo 20 wireless speakers may initially seem expensive, especially when the hardware is most closely comparable to the Dynaudio Emit 10 speakers, which are less than half the price. But active loudspeakers let Dynaudio pull tricks not possible with passive models. For example, the DSP enables some advanced EQ to draw an impressively deep bass response from these speakers. And I’ve always found that active loudspeakers tend to be more controlled, thanks to the proximity between amplifiers and drivers. Dynaudio modelled the sound from the Xeo 20 speakers on its advanced studio monitor speakers. So, in a sense, you’re getting to hear what the audio engineers hear.
Price: $3599
Available at fine high fidelity retail outlets, and direct from the Dynaudio Xeo 20 page at Addicted to Audio.
8. HEDD Type 07 MK2 Studio Monitor
We noted that the previous set of loudspeakers were modelled on really studio monitor speakers. Well, the HEDD Type 07 MK2 Studio Monitors really are, well, studio monitors!
Features
- Two-way active, bass reflex design, no grille
- 1 x Air Motion Transformer tweeter, 1 x 178mm honeycomb diaphragm bass/midrange driver
- 38-40,000 hertz -3dB frequency response, -3dB at 30 hertz with “Extended” setting
- 2 x 100 watts ICEpower for each driver
- XLR and RCA analogue inputs
- 370mm tall by 220mm wide by 300mm deep
- 9 kilograms each
- Available in black or white satin finish
Summary
The point of studio monitor loudspeakers is to deliver supremely accurate sound. Audio engineers rely on this to make finished music sound great. The HEDD Type 07 MK2 Studio Monitors are well-equipped for that. With their ICEpower amplifiers, they can deliver sound levels up to 116dB. They are highly configurable. But perhaps the most standout feature is the tweeter, unique to this brand. The Air Motion Transformer tweeter uses a squeezing motion in the folds of the diaphragm to deliver the sound. This results in high efficiency and allows extreme high frequency extension.
Price: From $2150 each depending on finish. (Unlike regular high fidelity loudspeakers, studio monitor speakers tend to be sold as single items rather than pairs since you never know how many of them a studio requires.)
Available at fine high fidelity retail outlets, and direct from the HEDD Type 07 MK2 page at Addicted to Audio.
9. Q Acoustics Concept 300
Q Acoustics occupied the first couple of slots in this list, price wise, as great value propositions. But that doesn’t mean that this UK brand confines itself to the lower tiers. The company’s Concept range pushes the boundaries for audio quality, in part through a radically different stand technology.
Features
- Two-way passive, bass reflex design, removable grille
- 1 x 28mm tweeter, 1 x 165mm bass/midrange driver
- 55-30,000 hertz
- 6 ohms
- 84dB sensitivity
- 25-200 watts recommended amplifier power
- 355mm tall by 220mm wide by 400mm deep
- 5 kilograms each
- Available in two-tone Black and Rosewood, Silver and Ebony or White and Light Oak
Summary
The Q Acoustics Concept 300 speakers are styled dramatically, with three two-finish options, as you can see from the picture above. The speakers are available without the stands, but were designed very much for the spidery stands. They may look flimsy, but with a tripod design and careful engineering, the “Tensegrity” stands are intended to stop vibrations from being transported from floor to speaker, or from speaker to floor.
Price: Around $7000 (with stand, considerably less without)
Available at fine high fidelity retail outlets.
10. Dynaudio Special Forty
Standing apart from the standard ranges in Danish loudspeaker maker Dynaudio’s collection are a couple of models drawing deeply on the company heritage. One such is the Special Forty, released to commemorate the company’s fortieth anniversary.
Features
- Two-way passive, bass reflex design, removable grille
- 1 x 28mm Esotar Forty soft dome tweeter, 1 x 170mm magnesium silicate polymer bass/midrange driver
- 41-23,000 hertz ±3dB frequency response
- 6 ohms
- 86dB sensitivity
- 200 watts IEC power handling
- 360mm tall by 198mm wide by 322mm deep
- 1 kilograms each
- Available in Grey Birch and Red Birch
Summary
A traditional design with exquisite hand finishing, the Dynaudio Special Forty speakers are both fine sounding and a visual adornment to any home. And remember, this loudspeaker is handcrafted in Denmark, and while it harkens back to the stylings of decades past, it is packed with modern Dynaudio developments to deliver a sound quality suitable for today.
Price: $7960
Available at fine high fidelity retail outlets, and direct from the Dynaudio Special Forty page at Addicted to Audio. These are also available in two new finishes introduced in 2020 at a sometimes different price – $7960. Check out the new finishes, Ebony Wave and Black Vine at the additional Dynaudio Special Forty speaker page.
Pushing beyond $8000 speakers
I’m sure you well know that even the sky is not the limit when it comes to the pricing of high-fidelity equipment. That said, it can be well worth exploring stand-mount loudspeakers priced beyond $8000. For example, my own main sound system employs a pair of Dynaudio Contour 20i stand-mount speakers … on the proper stands, filled with sand. I love them (as I noted in my review of the Dynaudio Contour 20i speakers). But you can go way beyond even those to the Dynaudio Confidence 20 speakers, or the Focal Diablo Utopia Colour Evo speakers.
Don’t let some arbitrary dollar amount be your limit. If you audition a set of loudspeakers that may be a couple of thousand dollars above your intended budget, and those speakers convince you that you’ll still be listening to them in a decade, then it would be a false economy not to go for them.
Conclusion
There has never been a better time for purchasing high quality compact loudspeakers. The price range is wide, and the performance of many of these models is stunning. Do remember to find a store stocking the models that you’re interested in, then going there and have a listen. Take your favourite music with you and spend some time with it, and with your future loudspeakers purchase.
