So I'm in the process of upgrading my entire system.
I found a fantastic price on some B&W 686 bookshelf speakers and once I heard them, I couldn't pass it up. Absolutely fantastic sound for what I was looking for (wanted a bit of a brighter sound, metal tweeters which really bring the guitars and cymbals through on quality recordings, and a clear midrange). The smaller size integrates nicely with my room.
My Marantz SR18U receiver is in for repair and should hopefully be fixable (I should get a quote this week). If not, I do have a backup Onkyo Integra DS-TX939 (Onkyo's flagship receiver from '97 with a gloriously detailed and punchy sound).
I love the 686's, but they are lacking in bass, certainly. I was looking at getting a Velodyne VRP-10 or a B&W ASW 300. I want just enough bass to fill in what's missing in the spectrum, but don't need a huge amount of bass that would possibly overpower my 686's.
I must confess that from the start I wanted floorstanding speakers since they would put out more bass naturally, as well as handle a higher amount of power. I do like to listen to my music louder at times. Because of this, I'm a bit afraid of hurting the 686's with a max input power of 100w, and my Marantz puts out 110ish watts RMS, whilst the Onkyo does 120w RMS. Am I just being paranoid? Fortunately my receivers both have HPF's for the front main channels.
And this all becomes further complicated by the fact that a local private seller has some KEF iQ90 for $470 for the pair (I'm sure he'll take less). They're cheap because they have minor nicks and dings which I can probably live with (will be checking them out sometime this week likely). The reason I threw out the idea of floorstanders at the beginning was because the pricing was WAY too much for my modest budget. Not to be superficial, but I also found that many floorstanding speakers were just bloated versions of their bookshelf speaker equivalents (1-3 more drivers that are slightly larger and bigger cabinets is all). I couldn't see the reason for the price being 2-3x more.
I just want a quality 2 channel setup for listening to at moderate volume levels, while being able to crank it up every once in a while. My current setup with a subwoofer would be great, I'm just worried about the longevity of my little 686's with my more powerful receivers. I don't turn it up to distortion, either. This might be moot, but in the end the KEF's would constitute the better deal (they retailed for way more and might sound far superior--and would cost the same as my bookshelf+sub setup in the end), but on the flip side would be more difficult to sell (harder to ship etc. plus they're beat up--would be an "expensive" purchase in Salvatore's terms).
What do you guys think? I appreciate your honest feedback. This forum has been wonderful.
There is no right or wrong answer of course....as with most things audio. You can be just as successful with a standmount/sub combination as you can be with a tower or "full-range" set of speakers. You just need to find what will work in your listening room, and with your other gear. In some lines of speakers I have found the standmount versions sound better than their larger cousiins (which often are nearly identical other than being in a bigger box). With other brands, I haven't found that at all.
If you know what you're looking for, you have a far better chance of finding it.
Take your time Jexx. Listen for what sounds good to you in your room. My preference is for book shelf speakers with sub. However, I would not rule out certain floor models I've heard. Each type has its advantages & dissadvantages.
It sounds like your main question has to do with whether the 686 can take the amount of power your receiver dishes out. The 686 has a max input power of 100W, while your amps have 110/120. It does not sound like you are dissatisfied with the 686/subwoofer in and of itself.
I don't know a heck of a lot about receivers, but if I had to guess I'd say that the max power input of the 686 isn't abnormal, and the KEF might have a similar figure. There are people feeding speakers like this with integrated amps that are rated at 200W or 300W. A receiver like the Marantz or Onkyo is very unlikely to even approach it's rating, as most listening only takes several watts (furthermore, power ratings on receivers are usually overstated). On certain dynamic passages it may output significantly more, but the 686 should be able to take this because these passages wouldn't last long, and as you said most of your listening is at moderate volume levels.
In terms of floorstanders vs. bookshelves, like Chris said it's just two ways to get to the same place. My preferences tends towards bookshelf models with a 7" woofer or more, or a well made floorstander. Typically floorstanders do compromise the sound due to greater resonances from their larger box. Like I said though, if the floorstander is well made (a bit more higher end I suppose) this should be addressed with better build. I have typically not been successful with integrating a subwoofer. It's tougher than one might think (especially for music), but definitely not impossible, and if done right it should sound great.
Apparently the guy selling the KEF's is out of town until the 15th, so that's on hold for a bit.
The good news is my Marantz is going to be repaired soon (will cost $270 to fix...an IC on the standby circuit went out, reason it's so expensive is because it requires a lot of disassembly which I'm fine with).
The KEF's do handle 200w, and I was hoping that would factor into longevity. But if the 686's can last just as long, then I'll stay with that. I must confess that I have not heard any KEFs at this point either, but I hear they're similar to the B&W sound.