Floor standing speakers are major players in a full surround sound home theater system. They elevate the sound to cinematic standards and look high class in your living room. To make sure your money is well-spent, our experts have reviewed the best floor standing speakers under 2000.
Reviews of the Floor Standing Speakers Under 2000
1. SVS Ultra Tower Floorstanding Speakers
The beauty of the SVS Ultra Floorstanding Speakers shouldn’t draw your attention away from what’s inside. The sound system has incredible frequency range and bass reflex with three dedicated drivers for each part of the acoustic spectrum.
The floorstanding speakers feature one aluminum dome tweeter, 2 mid-range drivers and 2 woofers to take care of everything from the high frequencies to the low end.
Protecting the drivers is a removable grille that is FEA optimized and won’t obstruct your sound relays. The construction of the SVS Ultra Tower Floorstanding pair of speakers is created with eliminating vibrations and resonances in mind.
What We Like
- Sleek gloss black design
- Three-way design with mid drivers
- Wide frequency range
- Excellent build quality
- Eliminates resonances
- Comes in a pair
- Minimal distortion
- Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
- Great price for two
- 3 different finishes
What We Don't Like
- Wider base
- Doesn’t come in white
2. Martin Logan Motion 60XTi Floor Standing Speakers
The beautiful Martin Logan Motion 60XTi floor standing speakers have a combination of a Folded Motion XT tweeter, aluminum cone mid-range driver, and rear-firing aluminum woofers to produce expansive 3D sound.
Not only does this speaker come with wide frequency response, but every intricate detail is geared towards sound quality. With minor tweaks from previous Motion models, the 60XTi speakers are one of the best high-end three-way speakers for detailed sound.
In the interior, you will find a strong baffle, robust enclosure ports with a fabric grille. With your choice of three color finishes, the 60XTi series will bring deep bass response and look great in your living room.
What We Like
- Outstanding 3D audio capabilities
- Multiple drivers for every part of the audio spectrum
- Well-made in three different colors
- Lightweight for its size
- Folded Motion XT tweeter
- Aluminum cone midrange drivers
- Aluminum cone woofers
- Stiffened suspension
- Well-built enclosure
- Low-mounted woofers
What We Don't Like
- Not in a pair
- Expensive price
3. Klipsch RP-280FA Floorstanding Speaker
While the buying option is only for one, you can purchase two and still get a more affordable price than the other options on our list. This is why the Klipsch RP-280FA is our experts’ choice for a budget setup.
One of the best things about the Klipsch RP-280FA tower speaker is the channel height for Dolby Atmos. Klipsch is able to direct Dolby Atmos quality sound directly at the listeners. Under the grille sits a linear suspension tweeter, and dual spun copper cerametallic cone woofers.
Complete with Klipsch’s proprietary Tractrix Horn Technology, the Klipsch floorstanding speakers can heighten the precision of audio relays to create more dynamic 3D sound.
Want to know more about this speaker? Read our Klipsch RP-280FA full review here.
What We Like
- Elevation channel for Dolby Atmos
- Affordable price
- Linear suspension titanium tweeter
- Spun copper cerametallic cone woofers
- Tractrix Horn Technology
- Removable grille
- MDF cabinet
- Tractrix Port
- Comes in ebony as well
What We Don't Like
- Copper woofers stand out
- No feet
Floor Standing Speakers Under $2000 Buyer’s Guide
What makes a speaker good? In order to tell, you must know what to look for. Our team will break down every feature and explain its importance in the buying process.
Build and Design
The materials used and the overall design of the floor standing speakers you choose will greatly impact the audio you hear. First of all, you need to make sure you get the right size. A speaker that is too small or too large for your room will ruin the audio experience.
If you lack the space, bookshelf speakers are a great alternative to floor standing options because they are half the size and offer more flexibility in terms of placement. However, the audio quality they offer compared to a floor standing speaker is incomparable.
There is a way to have a floor standing speaker or two in your living room even if you have limited space, and that is with slimmer speakers. If you have the space, then the sky is the limit when you pick out your next best floorstanding speakers.
When considering the space, it’s not only the size of the room that you need to factor in. How much room you have to position your speakers in the optimal location to maximize the sound output is important as well, but more on placement later.
Next is the construction of the speakers and how many speaker drivers they come with. We will dive deeper into the difference between a 2-way versus 3-way speaker later on, so we will focus more on the build quality and materials in this section.
A high end floor standing speaker should be well-built from hard-wearing materials and hopefully even possess some humidity and water resistance. The enclosure can be split into two types, one that maximizes bass reflex and one for acoustic suspension.
The former is preferred for those who want to enhance the bass tones and get the ultimate deep bass tones. The latter is for overall acoustic experience as it improves audio precision.
The cabinets and housing should be made out of robust materials such as aluminum, MDF, and even real wood. As for the drivers, spun copper and silk dome are the best. They offer the right amount of rigidity for your multiple drivers to produce high power audio and deep bass.
Another feature that won’t impact the sound quality but will take care of the floor standing speaker’s surroundings are rubber feet. With high power handling, speakers can vibrate and over time this motion can scuff up your floors or create indents. Even if you don’t pump out the high volumes, even moving the floor standing speakers around can damage your flooring. This is why rubber padded feet are recommended, even if you have carpeting.
Last but not least, you have the finish to consider. This is solely your preference as some people like a very luxurious walnut or cherry wood finish and others are more inclined to purchase a high gloss finish.
Sound Quality
The sound quality of floor standing speakers is impacted by a number of factors, some of which include placement, 2 or 3-way design, audio format decoding, and the quality of the drivers.
Our experts say the furnishings you have in your living room can affect the sound. Flat surfaces with hard materials can reflect sound to create more resonance while your furniture such as couches and carpeted floors tend to absorb the sound.
To optimize the performance of your floor standing speaker, the more sound absorbing materials you have in your living space the better. Think about adding a rug if you don’t have carpeting, longer drapes or curtains instead of blinds and lots of cushions and anything to cover polished surfaces.
The next big factor that affects audio quality is the placement. The location should be in front of your listening spot, and the floor standing speakers should be angled towards where you will sit.
Make sure you aren’t too close to the speakers (our team recommends at least six feet) and place the speakers away from the walls. The walls will muffle the sound and won’t give the drivers enough space to project the sound in every direction.
One last thing that will impact the audio quality depending on location is to make sure there is nothing obstructing the line of sight. Your speakers should be angled straight towards you with nothing in the way to interrupt the audio.
The audio format decoding from your high quality speaker will also affect the audio quality of the best floor standing speaker. What audio technologies does it support? Our experts advise going with Dolby, more specifically Dolby Atmos [1], and DTS every time.
The make and build of the drivers are incredibly important for audio relays. The low frequency depends greatly on the bass drivers and the high frequency range is supported by 1 tweeter. Depending on the type of speaker you get, which we will talk more about later, the high frequency tweeters and the woofers have to work together to produce the mids.
It doesn’t matter what type of speaker you have, a copper woofer and a dome tweeter are the best options according to our experts.
Connectivity
How will your floor standing speakers integrate into your existing sound system? To make the best use out of your 1 tweeter, midrange and bass speaker drivers, you need to hook up your speaker pair with minimal trouble.
Most floor standing speakers will come with RCA and 3.5mm cables to hook up with your home theater. Of course, you can also opt for a wireless speaker kit, which will transform your wired floor standing speakers into wireless ones for your audio system. However, you will still need to connect your floor standing speaker pair to a power source.
Make sure your floor standing tower loudspeakers have compatible connections. Most of them will come with at least two-way connections and are built to work well with all systems.
Power Rating
The power rating is how powerful the floor standing loudspeaker is. If you like loud volumes, then your floor standing speakers need to have a high power rating aside from the frequency response. There are two figures for rating the power of a floor standing speaker — the RMS and the peak power.
The peak power for your audio system refers to how much power the floor standing speaker and its drivers can handle in short bursts. This figure is usually much higher than the RMS, or root mean square, but isn’t a sustainable setting. If you were to play your music at these levels over long periods, it could damage your floor standing speakers.
The RMS is the figure you should pay attention to, but it’s less impressive than the peak power because it’s usually at half the amount. This is how much power your loudspeakers can handle continuously. When selecting new standing loudspeakers, consider the RMS above all.
Sensitivity
The sensitivity of the speaker is basically the efficiency of power conversion into sound. The sensitivity paired with a decent frequency response will give you an awesome audio system.
The sensitivity of your speakers is measured in decibels, or dB. The higher the dB is, the louder the speakers are. You don’t need it to be as high as possible because the human ear is only capable of hearing a certain range without damage. Our experts say at least 88dB is needed for good bass and powerful drivers.
Impedance
In a nutshell, the impedance of speakers and their drivers states the electrical resistance a speaker possesses. The impedance is measured in ohms, and you usually see 4, 6, and 8 ohms although 16 is also common.
It’s important to match the impedance of your speaker to your amplifier. For example, if your speaker has 8 ohms of impedance, match it to an amplifier with the same rating to ensure compatibility.
Passive versus Powered
Simply put, the difference between a passive and powered speaker is the built-in amplifier. A powered speaker, also referred to as an active speaker, has its own amp built in. As you may have guessed, a passive speaker is the exact opposite and requires an external amp. The big question is — which is better?
The pros of a powered speaker is the low hassle. There is no need to put in extra research in your free time to figure out which amp goes with your speakers and whether it will optimize its performance. The manufacturer has taken into account all the details and matched the perfect pairing for your audio pleasure.
Active speakers are also the ones that work with wireless speaker kits. You can transform your home theater setup from cables to wireless in no time at all. There are a few cons of a powered speaker, and one of them is the weight. It has no impact on the audio quality, but having a hefty speaker to move around can be tough.
The other con to a powered or active speaker is the customizability. Because the component is built-in, it makes it near-impossible to upgrade or tweak the amp. But a passive speaker will offer this opportunity because the amp isn’t a part of the construction. A passive speaker is also lighter and easier to move around.
2-Way versus 3-Way
We talked about the different types of tower speakers out there, and they are generally split into two main categories: 2-way and 3-way speakers. The different drivers found in all speakers include tweeters for the high frequency notes, mid-range drivers for the mids and woofers for low bass tones. If you like bass, the woofer and subwoofer are most important.
Our experts mention there is also a 4-way speaker choice, which just includes one super tweeter that helps improve the accuracy of the existing tweeter. If you like heavy bass, adding an external sub can supplement the woofers.
If you opt for a 2-way speaker, the price is more affordable but the audio relay is less effective. The frequency response isn’t as good as a 3-way because a 2-way only possesses the tweeter and the woofer. What about the mid notes? Both the woofer and tweeter come together to make up for the lack of a mid driver.
A 3-way speaker has this extra midrange driver to produce more precise audio at every stage. Since a three-way speaker can encompass all the notes and has dedicated drivers for the entire sonic spectrum, they can be more expensive but are also better for audio quality.
Price
If you want deep bass, look for a speaker that focuses on the woofer. Whether you get a two or three way speaker will also affect the amount you pay. For something like audio devices, our experts remind you that you really get what you pay for. In general, for 2000 you can expect to get a very decent sonic experience.
Warranty
2000 is a lot of money for many households, so to invest that much in speakers can be quite daunting. For this reason and for your customer experience, our team always suggests looking for products with a warranty or guarantee or both.
A guarantee will give buyers peace of mind to know that they can exchange the product or get a refund without any questions asked. The manufacturer will usually stipulate the amount of time, and our experts caution not to take advantage of this perk.
A warranty will specify what is covered in case the package either arrives damaged or you receive a faulty product. A copy of the warranty and guarantee should be included with your package along with the user manual.
Give the warranty a detailed read to make sure you are well protected. It’s also advised to specifically look for how long the warranty extends.
Our Top Pick: SVS Ultra
The beautiful and luxurious SVS Ultra is our choice for the best floor standing speakers under 2000. They come in a pair and have been built with performance and efficiency in mind. The SVS Ultra speakers can reiterate the most realistic and full-dimensional audio and outperform other floor speakers that are much higher in price.
Under the hood, you have one aluminum cone tweeter for the highs, dual midrange drivers and dual woofers for the heavy bass. When they come together, the SVS Ultra floor standing speakers produce unparalleled sonic precision also with the help of the uniquely shaped housing.
Looking for smaller speakers comparable to floor standing speakers in terms of sound quality? Check out our review of KEF LS50 Wireless II, speakers that can deliver incredibly detailed treble performance.
You can also check top-quality floorstanding speakers under 500 here.
