The Best Floorstanding Speakers For 2025

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Similar to a good bookshelf speaker, the right floorstanding speaker (often called a tower speaker) can make a huge difference in your entertainment experience.

Whether that entails creating your ideal home theater, or setting up a stereo in the living room, there’s all kinds of options to choose from.

So today, we’ll be going over what I feel, are some of the best floorstanding speakers for 2025.

That way you have a better idea of what may work for you based on what you’re looking for.

There’s also some additional information on what to look for in the form of a guide below the list which should help.

 

Yamaha NS-F150 (Single)

 

Klipsch Reference Premiere RP-8000F II (Pair)

 

BIC Amercia Acoustech Platinum Series PL-89 (Single)

 

Polk Monitor XT70 (Single)

 

JBL Studio 698 (Single)

 

Polk Audio Reserve Series R700 (Single)

 

Dayton Audio Classic T65 (Pair)

 

SVS Ultra Evolution 3-Way Tower (Single)

 

Decision Guide (What A Tower Speaker Is, Why Go With One, What To Look For)

 

 

Yamaha NS-F150 (Single)

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The Yamaha NS-F150 is a speaker that manages to hang with the best of them.

It’s sound quality is exceptional and errs on the warmer side.

What’s really interesting about this one is that despite the fact it has 3 total drivers, it’s actually still a 2 way design.

How?

Well instead of a dedicated midrange driver, they’ve decided instead to opt with two 6 ½ inch bass drivers and a large 1 inch soft dome tweeter.

It’s a less common design, but it’s one that brings surprisingly rich sound for pretty much everything.

Content really comes alive with these.

It’s also ornate in appearance, draped in a piano black finish that looks incredible in person.

They do pick up fingerprints though, but if you’re not moving them often, that shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

They’re also a hefty 24.7 pounds each and measure 40 ½ inches tall, 14 ¼ inches deep, and 7 7/8 inches wide.

Due to their size, they also have an impressive frequency response going from 37 Hz to 30 KHz.

That’s deep enough to forgo a subwoofer all together if you so chose.

That makes them great for home theater setups with surround speakers where that larger output is needed.

They have an impedance of 6ohms, wattage of 180, and sensitivity of 88 decibels so you may want a receiver to that’s powerful enough.

In terms of connection options, you can use pin plugs or banana plugs due to the gold plated screw terminal.

Overall, these are awesome in my opinion.

 

Pros

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• Rich & clear sound even at high volumes
• Powerful enough to be used without a subwoofer
• Great with use in a home theater setup
• Beautiful piano black finish

 

Cons

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• No dedicated midrange driver

Overall, this is a great speaker that works in a variety of different situations.

 

Check Yamaha NS-F150 (Single) Availability

 

 

 

Klipsch Reference Premiere RP-8000F II (Pair)

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If you need a speaker to fill a large space with quality sound, then this is definitely one that can get the job done.

The RP 8000F II is certainly no slouch when it comes to output.

It features dual 8 inch copper spun drivers and a 1 inch horn loaded tweeter that allow it reproduce high and low end sound effects with ease.

This is also due to its 90×90 tractrix horn that happens to be Klipsch’s signature feature.

It basically allows the sound to be dispersed over a wider area while providing a greater detail, so things you’ve watched before will sound completely different with these.

It also allows it to reduce distortion, so that content will sound much cleaner as a result.

These have dual 5 way binding posts meaning you’ll be able to connect them however you please.

They measure 43.12 inches high, 10.9 inches wide, and 17 inches deep.

They also come in at an impressive 61.4 pounds so make sure you have the space beforehand.

If you do, then once again, these are incredible.

 

Pros

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• Horn loaded tweeter allows for a greater detail
• Dual 8 inch drivers allow it to be punchy and hard hitting
• Connection choice due to 5 way binding posts
• Looks amazing

 

Cons

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• Heavy at 61.4 pounds

 

Check Klipsch Reference Premiere RP-8000F II (Pair) Availability

 

 

 

BIC Amercia Acoustech Platinum Series PL-89 (Single)

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The Bic Acoustech PL-89 is another awesome choice for a home theater due to its audio capabilities.

Starting with its design, there’s a 6 ½ inch tweeter that’s also able to reproduce high frequencies along with some of the middle ones as well.

This allows a smoother pass off between both frequency ranges for a smoother resulting output.

Then you have array of dual 8 inch passive woofers that provide the satisfying low end so things like explosions and action immerse you.

The speaker’s ported design also gets rid of any port noise that may occur, helping to clean the sound up even further.

As a result, they’re able to go down to an impressive 25Hz which is incredible.

To put that into perspective, there are subwoofers out there that can’t even accomplish that.

This also means it isn’t required to use a subwoofer with these which is a plus.

To make things even better, they’re also extremely powerful, capable of a whopping 600 watts of peak power.

That’ll makes movies quite interesting to say the least.

As if that wasn’t enough, they also have an extremely high sensitivity of 98 decibels.

This means they’ll be extremely easy to power with even an average receiver, and will be able to reach louder volumes much easier with no discernible distortion.

The cabinet itself has black lacquer tops and bottoms that are also scratch resistant — while the sides are made of veneered wood.

All together it comes in at 43 inches tall and 39 pounds.

5 way gold plated binding posts are also present, so you can connect them anyway you please.

 

Pros

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• Dual 8 inch woofers provides a sound experience that is almost surreal
• Can go down to 25 Hz meaning it can actually outdo a lot of subwoofers
• 600 watts of peak power and 250 watts of continuous power
• 98db sensitivity makes them extremely easy to power despite their respectable capabilities

 

Cons

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• Large meaning you’ll need a decent space for them

There’s really not many bad things to say about these.

They perform in a way that’s hard to believe and are great for larger rooms.

 

Check BIC Amercia Acoustech Platinum Series PL-89 (Single) Availability

 

 

 

Polk Monitor XT70 (Single)

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The Polk Monitor XT70 is another great choice if you need a lot of output that doesn’t distort at higher volumes.

There’s 2 6 ½ inch woofers that pump out respectable amounts of bass without sounding muddy or dull.

Then there’s 2 8 inch passive radiators to further enhance the low end.

It also has a 1 inch soft dome tweeter that makes the higher frequency sound effects seem as though they’re happening right there in your living room.

Polk also utilizes what they call their power port technology which helps further reduce distortion and chuffing (which is unwanted port noise)

Their outwardly appearance is nice too, with an MDF finish that compliments their color depending on which one you pick.

They measure 40.4 inches tall, 12.5 inches deep, 9.25 inches wide, and weigh about 35 pounds.

You can use any connector as well due to their handy 5 way binding posts.

 

Pros

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• Capable of high output with little distortion
• Can pump out amazing low end bass
• Can also provide high levels of detail
• No port noise
• MDF finish looks premium

 

Cons

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• Warm sound signature may not appeal to everyone
• Heavy at 35 pounds

Overall, it’s extremely hard to find things that these don’t excel at. In a word, they’re excellent.

Check Polk Monitor XT70 (Single) Availability

 

 

 

JBL Studio 698 (Single)

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Here’s another excellent one for a lot of coverage in a really big room.

The best way to describe the JBL Studio 698 would be immersive, but that may have something to do with its dual 8 inch bass drivers that are able to dig incredibly low with ease.

The 6 inch dedicated midrange driver helps further with this, making dialogue crisp and easy to understand.

It has a 1 inch compression driver that retain its shape even at high volumes

This allows it to depict the fine details in content translating to a much better experience as a whole.

What makes all of this even better is the fact that JBL also makes use of their HDI (high definition imaging) wave guide horn technology that helps provide everyone in the room with an even and fulfilling soundstage.

The frequency response goes from 36 Hz to 40 kHz and it can provide up to 250 watts of power.

It also has a 90 dB sensitivity so it won’t be too difficult to power these.

They’re also 41.65 inches tall, 11.81 inches wide, and 15.75 inches deep so these aren’t small by any stretch of the imagination.

The 78.8 pound weight only perpetuates that.

But when looking at everything as a whole, it’s easy to see it’s a quality speaker.

 

Pros

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• Satisfying bass
• Great high end
• Relatively easy to power
• Horn technology disperses the sound to everyone in the room

 

Cons

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• Very heavy at 78.8 pounds

The Studio 698 is certainly worth your time if you desire a quality tower that’ll deliver crystal clear sound even when the volume is cranked to 11.

 

Check JBL Studio 698 (Single) Availability

 

 

 

Polk Audio Reserve Series R700 (Single)

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This is a speaker that’s incredibly versatile in its capabilities.

That could have something to with the fact that it utilizes a 1 inch ring radiator tweeter that’s incredibly adept at representing every miniscule detail that’s available in the content.

That coupled with a 6.5 inch turbine cone driver and dual 8 inch woofers provides you with a soundstage that’s almost surreal at times.

Something interesting about them too is their audio output responds well to proper amplification.

In true Polk fashion, their signature Powerport also makes an appearance here as well in the form of Powerport 2.0 using X-Port Technology.

This helps to further get rid of port noise leaving you with a much cleaner sound overall.

There are dual 5 way binding posts that allow for biwiring and biamping as well.

That’s basically where you connect 2 wires for each positive and negative terminal, and this is said to improve output quality even further.

It’s capable of an output of 300 max watts, has a frequency range of 38 Hz – 38 kHz, and a sensitivity of 88dB making it easy to power.

It’s 16.9 inches in depth, 45 inches tall, and 12.6 inches wide and weighs 61.7 pounds.

That means you’ll need sufficient space for them.

It also happens to look nice too, with a removable grill that showcases the multiple drivers on display.

 

Pros

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• High quality sound
• Great output capabilities at 300 max watts
• Incredible clarity
• Nice bass
• Detailed soundstage

 

Cons

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• Very heavy at 61.7 pounds

It’s an awesome 3 way tower speaker that performs great.

Check Polk Audio Reserve Series R700 (Single) Availability

 

 

 

Dayton Audio Classic T65 (Pair)

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Now for those of you out there interested in the premise of a floor speaker, but don’t quite want it to be a towering behemoth that some can be, then the smaller stature of the Dayton Audio Classic T65 might be right up your alley.

Coming in at 39.4 inches tall, yet only 7.8 inches in width and 7.25 inches in depth, means this could be an attractive option if your limited on space.

However don’t let its small size fool you, it’s capable of some surprisingly loud and crystal clear sound.

It’s dual 6 ½ inch woofers insures that it’s capable of pumping out large amounts of bass, making movies and games come to life.

It’s able to go down to 35 Hz which is pretty incredible given the fact that it isn’t super large.

This has to do with the port in the front that allows it do this while also helping to minimize distortion.

The 1 inch silk dome tweeter does a great job at recreating all the nuanced details that typically reside in a lot of content.

Being that it’s also only 18.47 pounds each, they can easily be moved around if need be.

Aesthetically it’s pleasing with a grill that can be removed if you chose to do so.

It also uses spring clips in the back, so you’ll need pin plugs to use with this one.

 

Pros

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• Big sound
• Great clarity
• Slim width & depth
• Bass goes to 35 Hz
• Lighter weight at 18.47 pounds

 

Cons

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• No 5 way binding posts means you’re relegated to pin plugs

Besides that, the T65 classic by Dayton is no doubt a great choice as well.

Check Dayton Audio Classic T65 (Pair) Availability

 

 

 

SVS Ultra Evolution 3-Way Tower (Single)

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If you’re into high end audio, then SVS is a name you’ll often come across. This is for good reason as the quality of the things that they put out often turn out well…quality!

This has never been more true than with one of their more recent offerings, their evolution tower models.

These can be described as premium, as the sound they put out is nothing short of breathtaking.

The dual 4.5 inch midrange drivers give the content played through them a truly immersive presence.

Then the quad 5.25 inch woofers provide a level of bass that’s often only seen with subwoofers.

With it reaching down to 30hz, that means it’s possible to run these without a subwoofer if you chose to.

The 1 inch dome tweeter manages to make anything you throw at them seem downright lifelike.

In terms of size, they’re 44.9 inches tall, 8.58 wide, and 16.69 in depth at about 59.5 pounds.

What’s particularly great about them is how they remain distortion free even at high volumes (capable of up to 300 watts), so no need to worry when it comes to that.

All in all, it’s hard not to be impressed by them.

They also come in different finishes that look stunning, but I will say that the piano black picks up fingerprints so do keep that in mind.

But if you likely won’t be moving these around too much, that may not be a long term issue.

Their cabinet is also curved since the drivers are time aligned, making them look really cool in my opinion.

 

Pros

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• Incredible soundstage
• Lifelike clarity
• Thunderous bass
• High output capabilities
• Attractive looks

 

Cons

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• 87 decibel sensitivity means you’ll need a decent receiver/amp to power these
• Heavy at 59.5 pounds

In short, they perform incredibly well.

Check SVS Ultra Evolution 3-Way Tower (Single) Availability

 

 

Decision Guide

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What Is A Floor Standing Speaker?

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A floor standing speaker, (also often referred to as a tower speaker) like the name implies, is a speaker that’s big enough to stand up from the floor without the need to place it on something.

They’re designed so that those with larger rooms can get adequate sound coverage with ease.

They typically come with much bigger drivers too and as a result, are usually much bigger in overall size.

A tower speaker can be a great choice for a home theater system due to their additional output and bass.

However, since they also come in varying sizes, they can also be used in smaller rooms if there’s enough space to accommodate them.

 

Why Choose To Go With A Floor Standing Speaker?

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If You Have A Bigger Room

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So why would you choose to go with one of these?

Well the first reason is one we actually just touched on; big room applications.

If you have a decently sized room and you have multiple seating arrangements, (meaning you’ll have people in different listening positions) then you’ll want a bigger driver to push more sound.

That way everybody will be able to hear the content loud and clear without any issues, even from far away.

Having a smaller speaker attempting to do the same could lead to less than desirable results.

 

If You Have A Smaller Home Theater Setup

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It’s not simply bigger rooms where a tower speaker can be helpful.

If you have a small home theater system in a smaller room, you may still choose to use one.

That’s because tower speakers are often capable of higher bass output, which can allow you to forgo the use of a subwoofer if it’s capable enough.

By not using a subwoofer in a smaller space, you can save space by using a tower speaker if it’s slim enough.

Plus moving it closer to the wall can give you additional bass output.

Though keep in mind if it’s rear ported, placement can be a little different since it’ll depend on that speaker’s size and your sound preferences.

 

 

Less Distortion At Higher Volumes Compared To Smaller Speakers Due To Higher Overall Output

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Having a smaller speaker in a large room can be disappointing if it doesn’t have the power to push enough sound when turned up.

This can lead to you not being able to hear it, but also another problem: distortion.

Distortion happens when the driver isn’t able to keep up with what’s being asked of it ( i.e. extremely loud volumes) and so it ends up altering the sound in a negative way.

This results in a very scratchy and garbled sound that is unpleasant to say the least.

In the audio world, this distortion is referred to as clipping because it ends up clipping some of the sound that would normally have been reproduced.

You definitely don’t want this because then you start sacrificing clarity in an attempt to make it audible.

What’s worse, is if you push a smaller speaker too much, this can sometimes cause permanent damage.

Though I’ll caveat that by saying that can happen to any speaker that’s pushed too hard, it’s just a bigger speaker may have a higher threshold.

 

For Cleaner Sound

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Due to these types of speakers often being larger, they also typically have more grunt so to speak.

So even if you don’t use all of that additional power, the extra headroom allows it to output the audio that much easier; resulting in a significantly cleaner sound overall.

However acoustics of the room will influence how they sound, and placing acoustic panels behind the speakers can help in improving that.

I’ve personally found them to be great with helping the sound quality of a few of my old speakers in that regard too.

 

 

Is A Floor Stander Better Than A Bookshelf Speaker?

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So if you had the option of going with one of these vs a bookshelf speaker, which would be the better bet to go with?

That’s definitely a hard question to answer since they both have their appropriate uses, so it honestly depends on your particular use.

It also depends on if you’re using them as front or surround speakers in your space since both can work well.

A bookshelf speaker is one that’s designed to sit atop a table or shelf, which makes it extremely convenient for the people out there without a lot of room that still want a full range sound.

Even better is the fact that some of them are still capable of pumping out respective amounts of volume despite their smaller stature.

This certainly makes it an attractive option knowing you can have both quality and a smaller footprint simultaneously.

The problem with bookshelf speakers however is that since they’re typically on the smaller end, (there are certainly exceptions) they aren’t as adequate at reproducing bass frequencies as a larger variant would.

This is why you’ll often see it recommended to use a subwoofer to go with them because they aren’t as capable to do so on their own.

A larger tower speaker doesn’t have this issue.

In fact, due to their increased cabinet sizes, they’ll often have their own subwoofers built right into them, making an external sub a lot less necessary.

That means in some instances, this would allow you to forgo a subwoofer all together if you were to get one powerful enough.

Another benefit is they’re usually a lot more powerful, which translates into a more fun experience overall.

This additional power can especially help if 3 of them are used in a line array where one of them is used as a center channel.

Also, if you’re someone who listens to 2 channel stereo often, then you’ll probably want to go with tower speakers as well because that’ll offer the greatest dynamic range when it comes to that.

This is also why before I said it depends because it’s really going to come down to what you’re listening to, your specific room size, and if your content is primarily movies, games, and or music.

Plus it depends on what you actually pick too.

From current personal experience since I’ve owned both, I like the bigger speakers for when I’m just listening to music.

But when it comes to movies, I like to let the smaller speakers handle all of the intricate sounds while my subs handle all of the heavy duty bass.

I often find it works better that way, but it depends on which ones you ultimately get; meaning I can’t say that this will always be the case.

 

Things To Keep In Mind When Looking For The Right Tower Speaker

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When you’re looking for the right tower speaker, there’s a lot that you’ll want to keep in mind too.

Your Budget & Price

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Above everything else, budget is going to be the single most important since that’ll dictate what you’re actually able to get.

Before you shop around, make sure that you set a budget for the price so you have something to work within.

Otherwise you’ll be looking for a while since there’s a boatload of choices out there.

Also be aware of whether the speakers you’re considering are sold as singles or as a pair, since that’s an important distinction to know beforehand.

 

Cabinet Size

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Do remember that tower speakers are not small.

In fact they’re quite the opposite.

While some aren’t too big in size, others are absolutely gargantuan.

So try to gauge how big of a space you have first, and then work down from there.

That way you don’t get them into the house and immediately realize you don’t have enough space for them.

 

Driver Size

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The bigger the driver size, (the external circular things on the front that produces the output) the louder and cleaner everything is going to sound.

So try to get one with the biggest driver that’s still small enough to fit in your room and works within your budget.

 

Wattage

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This is basically a measure of how much power or energy it’s going to take to produce sound.

The higher the wattage capabilities, the louder it can get, thus the better — at least most of the time.

The reason why I say most is because the higher in watts that you go, the more powerful of an amplifier or receiver you’re going to need.

This actually segues into my next point.

 

The Type Of Receiver Or Amplifier You Plan On Using With It

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The fact of the matter is that if you plan on using tower speakers, you’re going to need a sufficiently powerful enough amp or receiver to power them.

I would honestly recommend one that can at least provide 100 watts per channel so that it’s not underpowered, causing the sound to clip.

If you do need help with choosing a new receiver, I actually covered that as well.

https://easyhometheater.net/the-best-home-theater-receivers

 

 

The Ohm Rating Of The Speaker

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Ohm rating, often referred to as the impedance, is how much resistance a component has to an electrical current before it begins to produce an adequate output.

In other words, it’s the amount it takes before it starts producing enough sound for you to hear.

This is important because different speakers have different ratings, and if the receiver you have doesn’t support that rating, you could run into issues.

For example if your receiver supports 100 watts a channel at 8 Ohms, that means for every speaker, it can supply 100 watts rated at an 8 impedance.

However, if you were to use a speaker that that receiver wasn’t rated for, like 4 Ohms hypothetically, it could clip the sound, damage the receiver, and or even damage the speaker itself.

Though a speaker typically lasts for a while, an improper impedance can be what causes a speaker to stop working.

So it’s extremely important that you research what your specific receiver supports before you start looking around.

This is a pretty big difference between how car speakers work for example, since their impedance is often lower — allowing them to play louder with less electricity.

 

 

The Sensitivity

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Sensitivity is basically how easy it is for it to get loud.

The higher the sensitivity, the easier it’s going to be to do so.

This is often referenced in decibels.

Try to get one with a sensitivity that’s as high as possible since that’ll mean it take less power to go louder.

So for example if you see one speaker that has an 86 decibel rating while the other has a 96 decibel rating, the latter is going to have a much easier time of getting loud.

But if you have sufficient power, either can work well.

 

Passive Or Active

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When it comes to tower speakers, you’ll also likely run into two different types, passive or active.

Passive means that the audio component relies on an external means to power it, while an active speaker has the ability to power itself.

An active speaker has a built in amplifier (that’s the thing that amplifies the signal and helps produce the output) while a passive one does not.

Typically, if you don’t have a receiver then you’ll want to go with an active kind; especially if you prioritize things like Bluetooth or multimedia playback.

That way you’ll still be able to enjoy your content.

But if you don’t necessarily need this and you plan on using them for home theater, then you can just stick with the passive kind.

Also if an abundance of wires is a concern, besides hiding them, there are ways of making the speakers somewhat wireless, though it can be a little more involved.

 

Two Way Or Three Way Designs

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Yet another thing that you might come across is mentions of 2 way and 3 way designs.

To make things simple, a 2 way speaker has 2 drivers, one for the bass (the woofer) and one for the treble (the tweeter)

They’re the most common one you’ll see.

A 3 way is different in that it introduces a third driver for the midrange.

On average, I’ve found 3 way designs to generally sound a little more lively and realistic than the ones with 2, but there are some 2 ways that I prefer too.

So it depends on the speaker — and if it’s of high enough quality, then that won’t matter too much in my opinion.

My advice would be to try for one with a bass, treble, and midrange driver, but it’s not the most important thing.

That’s especially true if you plan on using these for home theater since the subwoofer would cover a lot of those frequencies anyway.

Though these are the types you’re likely to encounter the most often, there are additional types that aren’t as common.

They’re usually in higher end models, and boast an even greater frequency range.

Speaking of which..

 

Frequency Response

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The frequency response is another important metric when it comes to a good floorstander.

Think of this as the entire sound range that it’s capable of producing, rated at the minimum and maximum frequency.

The number on the left is measured in Hertz (Hz) and the number on the right is measured in Kilohertz (KHz)

You’ll want the number on the left to be as low as possible since this is a measure of how low the speaker can go.

Obviously the lower the better since that’ll make things that much more impactful and engaging.

For the number on the right, the opposite is true.

You’ll want that one to be as high as possible since this is a gauge of how high it can go.

The higher it is, the more detail you’ll be able to hear.

Ultimately the greater the distance between these 2 numbers the better.

That way you get the greatest dynamic range possible.

That’s also why I like to timbre match my front 3 speakers, so that way the output is exactly the same across all 3.

 

Aesthetics

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Lastly, while not nearly as important as some of the other points, the look of the speaker is still pretty important too.

It’s pretty subjective though since there’s lots of great options ranging from vintage speakers to modern looking designs.

So a good starting point might getting one that somewhat matches the aesthetic of the room so it isn’t an eyesore when it comes time to enjoy your content.

 

 

Final Thoughts

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Well that about does it for this one.

There’s undoubtedly a lot of great choices out there, so these are some of the ones that I’ve tried that I feel would be worth your time.

Hopefully you found it helpful, and you’ll soon be on your way to sweet surround sound goodness.

Until next time, make it easy, keep it simple.