Whether you’re setting up a home audio system to relish in the pristine perfection of your record collection or you want to create an epic home cinema experience, bookshelf speakers are a great choice for delivering the impressive sound quality that’ll take your entertainment to the next level. Bookshelf speakers serve up far better sound quality than portable speakers, but they take up less space than floor speakers. (However, they are also sometimes referred to as standmount speakers as they can be placed atop a stand that essentially turns them into a modified floor speaker if that better fits your needs.) But in short, bookshelf speakers hit that sweet spot between form and function that’s so necessary when you want big sound, but you’re short on space.
That said, truly great bookshelf speakers — like all speakers — can get pricey quickly. But you don’t actually need to drop thousands to set up a solid sound system at home. All it comes down to is a few deciding factors to help determine what you need to drench your particle space in a veritable audio dream.
Should I get active speakers or passive speakers?
On your hunt for the best bookshelf speakers for your needs, you've probably encountered passive speakers, active speakers, and powered speakers, and wondered what the heck it all meant. Well, despite the very official-sounding terminology, it's actually quite simple, and it all comes down to the way the speaker gets its power and how involved you want to be in that process.
First and foremost, a powered bookshelf speaker is a speaker that gets plugged directly into a wall socket to gain its electrical power. A passive speaker, on the other hand, is one that does not plug into the wall, but is connected via speaker wires to a receiver or amplifier. This amplifier — or amp — gets plugged into the wall to gain electricity, then delivers power to the speakers that are connected to it via speaker wire. Sound systems with passive speakers are not necessarily difficult to set up, but they do involve a little more work as there are several moving parts to consider. You'll also need to have or purchase a separate receiver or amp to get them working properly.
On the flipside, active speakers require amps as well, but they're built into the speaker, making setting up your sound system a lot easier.
How much space do I need for my bookshelf speakers?
First, consider how you intend to use your speakers. Will they be used to bring life to a home theater or entertainment system? Are you an audiophile with a large record collection who wants to relish in crisp, clean sound quality from all your favorite artists? Or are you into video games and want to be immersed in a full audio and visual gaming experience? Considering what you’re going to use the speakers for will help guide your search as their necessary placement (and your subsequent space restrictions) will often determine how big you can go. Also, keep in mind that bookshelf speakers are often — if not always — sold in pairs. This is because one is intended to go on the right side of the room or viewing area while the other goes on the left, creating a stereo speaker system.
As their name suggests, bookshelf speakers are often designed to be compact enough and lightweight enough to sit comfortably and securely on a bookshelf, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be placed or mounted elsewhere. For example, shelf speakers make a great choice for setting up surround sound in your home theater without bulky freestanding speakers taking up a ton of space, but you’ll need to mount them carefully around the room for the best effect. In a home office or bedroom, bookshelf speakers can also serve as an elevated audio experience for your computer, particularly if you do a lot of gaming, work in an audio-visual field, or use your computer for media streaming. Just be aware that while smaller shelf speakers may be more suited for use with a computer, they may not put out enough volume for larger rooms and home theater setups.
While bookshelf speakers don't necessarily need to live on a bookshelf, you'll still want to be cognizant of their size no matter where you plan to place them. Whether you are placing them on a shelf, a desk, or a tabletop, consider their dimensions — particularly their height and depth — to ensure that there’s enough space for them to fit on the surface while also allowing ample space around them to let the sound escape into the rest of your room. A tight fit won’t do you any good as the audio will likely get muffled by all the obstructions and sound barriers around it.
Weight is also an important consideration for bookshelf speakers, particularly those that will be living on a shelf or mounted on some sort of similar, shelf-like platform. You’ll need to ensure that they won’t be too heavy to be supported by your existing shelving, because after all, the last thing you need is your expensive new speaker setup tumbling to the ground and crashing to pieces.
How do I determine a bookshelf speaker’s sound quality?
Once you’ve decided which type of speaker setup is good for you and where you’re going to place everything, you’ll want to consider the bookshelf speaker’s sound quality. For this, we recommend looking at what kind of drivers it has, such as tweeters, woofers, and midrange. This will help give you an idea about what kind of sound it is capable of producing.
In the simplest terms, woofers produce low-frequency sounds while tweeters produce the highest frequencies. Then, as its name suggests, a midrange driver fills out the frequencies in the middle. Not all speakers have all three, so you might want to consider the types of audio you'll be listening to as you consider your best bookshelf speakers. For example, if you like a lot of bass, you'll want your speaker to have a great woofer. But also keep in mind that you could always add a subwoofer to your speaker setup to really get those bass tones booming.
With the above considerations in mind, these are some of our favorite bookshelf speakers on the market right now:
