Whether you're looking to spend a few hundred dollars or even a few thousand, the best floorstanding speakers will take your hi-fi system to the next level by delivering awesome, room-filling sound with authority, breadth and scale. If you pick the right ones, that is.
Floorstanders can deliver greater sonic scope and breadth than bookshelf speakers, with beefier bass notes and more dynamic highs thanks to their large cabinets and (often) more substantial drive units. You still need to choose wisely and make sure you pick the best floorstanding speakers for your budget and room size, as a bigger speaker doesn't automatically make for a better one.
We're here to help in that regard, as we've tested hundreds of pairs over the years and have listed our choice options below. Perhaps you're building a hi-fi system from scratch, or going up in size from a bookshelf pair to a bigger model? Or maybe you want to splash out on a pair of pricey speakers to give a premium system something awesome to work with?
Each pair of floorstanding speakers recommended below has been exhaustively tested by What Hi-Fi?'s experienced reviewers in our dedicated listening rooms, so you can trust our buying advice. You can discover more about our testing process or scroll down for the speakers we recommend below.
The quick list
You can see a quick breakdown of all the floorstanders on this list with a summary of what they’re best at and why we think they’re worth your money below. If you need more detail, just click the photo of a product to go to the in-depth entry.
The Q Acoustics 5050 are mature-sounding speakers that deliver impressive clarity, scale and insight. Just make sure you give them the proper care and attention when matching them up.
While others may demand your attention, these wallet-friendly floorstanders earn it with stacks of detail, snappy timing, and weighty bass.
Entertaining, refined, and affordable, the Award-winning Wharfedale Diamond 12.3 sound as good as they look. For this price, they're incredibly tough to top.
Affordable without a hint of compromise, the BR08 have a lot going for them besides a great price. If you like dynamism and punch, snap up a pair.
The Wharfedale Evo 4.4 pack in a lot of tech and use it to deliver a class-leading sound, proving that the brand can mix it with the very best.
The best floorstanding speakers overall
The 5000 range has signalled a new age for British manufacturer Q Acoustics, showing a desire to crack more premium price points and enter new territories. The 5050 take many of the design concepts from their outstanding 5040 counterparts, with bigger twin mid/bass drivers (15cm vs 12.5cm) and a larger cabinet aiming to dominate greater spaces at a higher price point.
Happily, the 5050 survived the transition upwards. Sonically, the 5050 treat us to a performance that feels comprehensive, professional and ever-so-articulate. As we stated in our review, the fantastic floorstanders offer "some of the most controlled and articulate bass that we have heard from a pair of towers at this level, (and) it's hard not to be impressed by the depth and definition of the music’s oh-so-powerful lows". The soundstage, too, is spacious and layered, and while their presentation can come across as a little forward if not properly managed, the clarity and insight on display are class-leading.
The 5050 need some care with partnering, though, especially regarding their slightly forward sonic nature. While the 5050’s high sensitivity (91.8dB/W/m) means they will produce decent sound levels through budget amplifiers, they deserve more talented partners – Arcam’s A5 (£750 / $699 / AU$1495) or Cambridge Audio’s similarly-priced CXA81 are great places to start for amplification. Get a proper source hooked up (the Arcam CD5 CD player or Rega Planar 3 record player are great options) and you've got a marvellous system on your hands.
Nicely finished and a delight to listen to when partnered properly, the Q Acoustics 5050 are the class-leading performers at this price.
Read our full Q Acoustics 5050 review
The best budget floorstanding speakers
If you're working with a more restricted budget, the Elac Debut 2.0 F5.2 remain a great option that don't take too many sonic shortcuts. The F5.2 are excellent performers for the money, offering a sophisticated and mature sound that belies their modest price and rather straightforward looks.
Ok, so they're not stunning to look at, but the build quality is solid enough and they're certainly not fussy regarding positioning in a given room. That's a big plus point, especially if you're after a pair of affordable, simple-to-use speakers that will get the job done no matter where you place them.
The speakers' main drivers use Aramid fibre for enhanced stiffness, resulting in a transparent sound with bags of detail and dynamic expression. Some rivals will offer a beefier, fuller sonic presentation, but that's understandable in this case. The F5.2 aren’t about delivering more; instead, they’re about offering the music as it comes with as much openness and transparency as possible, something they do with startling clarity and spirit given the price.
In terms of value for money, the Debut B5.2 are one of Elac's best efforts. If you're on a budget and need a simple, neutral-sounding pair of floorstanders, the F5.2 are very hard to beat.
Read our full Elac Debut 2.0 F5.2 review
The best mid-price floorstanding speakers
For customers just looking to get their first hi-fi setup assembled, the Wharfedale Diamond 12.3 are our outstanding affordable floorstander picks right now, so much so that we've lavished them with multiple Awards trophies over the past few years.
The Diamond 12.3 are sonically even more impressive than the revered 12.1, and considering the fact that the latter are five-star performers, that's not an easy task. Competition at this price comes from the impressive Elac Debut 2.0 F5.2 and five-star Fyne Audio F302i, yet we still feel that it's the Wharfedales that offer supremely good value.
They aren't massive speakers - just 98cm tall - but they benefit from having space to truly breathe - give them a bit of inward angling and you'll be fine, even if their wide sound dispersion means you don't have to fret about being millimetre perfect.
Sonically, they're classic Wharfedale: smooth, even-handed and refined. Feed them a crummy signal and they're skilled at revealing the shortcomings without exaggerating them, rounding off rough edges and downplaying unwanted aggression without sounding like they’re smothering the music itself.
Read our full Wharfedale Diamond 12.3 review
The best premium floorstanding speakers
As this list shows, there's no shortage of talented floorstanding speakers on the market, with the Triangle Borea BR08 providing another excellent example of a pair that gives you just a little bit of that special something.
The cabinets may look a little basic but look a tad closer and you'll appreciate that they're solid, well-made and unquestionably neatly finished. The provided plinths bolt onto the bottom for a bit of extra stability, although we'd prefer the spikes to be a little sharper to penetrate through thicker carpets.
A three-way design, the BR08 employ two fibreglass-coned bass drivers aided by a front-firing reflex port, plus a 25mm silk dome tweeter. Their high sensitivity means you should be able to get good volume levels from even low-powered amps, although their nominal 8-ohm impedance dips to a 3-ohm minimum, so make sure you check for proper compatibility.
Afford the speakers plenty of room to breathe (a good 40/50cm in all directions), angle them towards the listener and you'll hear the Triangles at their very best. We'd avoid bright-sounding electronics, but find suitable partners and you'll be treated to a showcase of their entertaining sound, with vigour and dynamic strength that many rivals simply fail to match.
Worth an audition, certainly, although we'd also urge you to seek out the Dali Oberon 5 as another entertaining alternative at a similar price.
Read our full Triangle Borea BR08 review
Best high-end floorstanding speakers
Wharfedale's premium Evo 4.4 floorstanding speakers still pack in some of the most up-to-date tech you'll find in a pair of towers at this level, and if you'd heard them, you'd hear how that pays dividends. The speakers' Air Motion Transformer tweeter usually comes packed into more costly models, and you also get the brand's impressive midrange and dual Kevlar bass drivers.
That all pays sonic dividends when the time for listening arrives. The grand, somewhat imposing speakers fire out a large-scale sound with weight and depth, but they also offer subtlety and transparency which helps to ensure a natural, easy-going presentation.
As a matter of fact, the opposite is true. There’s a sense that these floorstanders are attempting to dig deep into each recording to present the information they discover in a clear, honest way. The speakers track notes well, defining leading and trailing edges clearly without sounding staid or overly etched in the process.
Rival speakers may sound more forward and enthusiastic, but we found that over time the Evo 4.4’s easy-going presentation style was more natural and convincing, not to mention pleasurable, to listen to.
For this sort of money, these are possibly the best floorstanding speakers you can buy. If you can afford to fork out a little extra, we'd urge you to seek out PMC's Award-winning Prodigy 5 as an alternative, as they're easily some of our favourite speakers of recent times. Award-winners, too, don't you know.
Read our full Wharfedale Evo 4.4 review
Also consider
Q Acoustics 5040: While the larger, more expensive 5050 are a great choice if you have the cash, you'll love the 5040 if you favour speakers which let your songs shine without getting in the way. Partnered properly, they'll deliver a class-leading performance for around £999 / $1499 / AU$2349.
Sonus Faber Lumina V: The classy Lumina V, retailing at roughly £2499 / $2999 / AU$5295, might be the alternatives you've been looking for, blending classy aesthetics with a stylish, easy-going sonic character. They're especially good with vocals, while that vital lower-end is aided by some powerful, full-bodied sonic reproduction.
Dali Oberon 5: Despite having been around for a few years, the Oberon 5 are still going and, more importantly, they're still superb. A former pair of What Hi-Fi? Award winners, the Dalis thrilled us with their entertaining, informative character and expressive, involving dynamics.
Bowers & Wilkins 606 S3: Some might find the 606s' four-star review off-putting, but the Bowers towers will do a fantastic job for anyone who wants weight, volume and solidity from their chosen speakers. Yes, they're beatable for dynamic contrast and a sense of levity, but their weighty, full presentation means they'll suit listeners with larger rooms.
Wharfedale Aura 3: The Aura 3 are a showcase of what Wharfedale do best. Their presentation comes across as a neat balance of refinement and weightiness, with a midrange that feels agile and deeply articulate. Like most Wharfedale speakers they're made to a high standard, with a classy, refined build that oozes sophistication, and while we'd like more verve and power in the bass, those niggles aren't enough to detract from what is a very positive picture overall.
How to choose the best floorstanding speakers for you
First things first, decide on a budget. Your components should be evenly matched, both tonally and in terms of price, so consider this before breaking the bank on a new pair of floorstanding speakers that the rest of your kit can't do justice to.
You also need to make sure your floorstanding speakers fit your room. The majority of speakers require a little space to sound their best, so ensure you don't buy ones that are too big for your room. Large floorstanders mean higher volumes, but you again need space to ensure there's room for them to live and breathe.
There's also the choice between passive and active speakers. Most floorstanding speakers are passive - they have no amplification inside, so require a separate amplifier to work. Active speakers with amplification are becoming increasingly popular and can connect to your source directly without the need for an amp, though they do require a connection to mains power. Check out our pick of the best active speakers if you want to find out more.
For a more detailed explanation of everything you should consider, head over to our complete guide to choosing the right speakers.
How we test floorstanding speakers
We have state-of-the-art testing facilities in London and Reading where our team of experienced, in-house reviewers test the majority of hi-fi and AV kit that passes through our door – including floorstanding speakers.
What Hi-Fi? is all about comparative testing, so we listen to every pair of floorstanding speakers we review against the current leader in its field to gauge how it compares to the best-in-class competition at its price range. We keep What Hi-Fi? Award winners in our stockrooms so we can always compare new products against ones we know and love. We also do our best to review as many new models in as many markets as possible to ensure our contextual knowledge is the best it can be.
We are always impartial in our testing and endeavour to hear every pair of floorstanding speakers at its optimum, with the relevant sources and amplifiers for each price point. We test them in their best use case with different partnering source kit, whether that's with a record player, a music streamer or even a CD player, and we play plenty of different types of music through them. Naturally, we give them plenty of listening time (and time to run in) and try them in various positions in the room to find the sweet spot.
All of our review verdicts are agreed upon by the team as a whole rather than an individual reviewer, thus ensuring that personal preferences are eliminated and we're being as thorough as possible. There is no input from PR companies or our sales team when it comes to the verdict, with What Hi-Fi? proud of having delivered honest and unbiased reviews for decades.
You can read more about how we test and review products on What Hi-Fi? here.
FAQ
Floorstanders vs standmounts: which speaker type should I buy?
Ah, the eternal question. Thankfully, we've put together a rather handy guide covering this very topic, so if you need the in-depth rundown, that would be the best place to find out.
If you want the abridged version, here are a few pointers. Floorstanders tend to take up much more space and are often (not always, mind) more expensive than their standmounter counterparts. Those standmounter (sometimes "bookshelf") models need to be placed on top of suitable speaker stands, though, a consideration you don't have to make with floorstanders.
Sonically, floorstanders tend to deliver a bit more oomph at the lower end and a bigger spread of sound, thanks to the larger cabinet volume. This means you tend to get more bass, more volume and more scale compared with smaller standmounteres, and they can also offer a truly cinematic experience when used in a home cinema set up.
Finally, think about partnering and your system's capacity to be upgraded when the time comes. If you’re considering a more powerful amp as your next purchase, you may need a more capable pair of speakers that can get up the levels in the long term. If your speakers are very demanding to drive, you’ll need a powerful amplifier to get the most out of them.
Check out our how to choose the right speakers advice page for further info.
Should I put my floorstanders next to the wall?
Good question, and good job on asking in the first place.
Most of the time, no, especially if your floorstander has a rear bass reflect port that needs to stay unblocked – so you'll want to give plenty of space from a back wall. Still, it's always best to consult the manufacturer's recommendations in the manual provided with the speakers, as many brands provide guides for how far away the speakers should be from the wall, angling positions, the ideal listening placement and even whether to plug up the rear port or not.
If in doubt, check out our guide regarding how to set up and position your speakers in 4 simple steps and you'll certainly be put somewhere on the right track. Generally, placing speakers too close to a wall gives you too much amorphous bass, while excessive distance will affect the sound the other way and, naturally, put the units too close to your listening position.
Recent updates
- September 2024: Added the five-star Q Acoustics 5050 as our new best overall entry, while the step-down Q Acoustics 5040 moves into our Also Consider section.
- July 2024: Added Wharfedale Aura 3 and Q Acoustics 5050 to the Also Consider section.
- May 2024: Added Also Consider section to give readers alternatives to the listed entries above.
- March 2024: Added FAQ section to help with buying decisions and frequently asked questions.
MORE:
Our pick of the best speakers of every type and size
How to choose the right speakers for you
Here are the best active speakers you can buy
