The 8 Best Tower Speakers to Play Everything Loud and Clear (2024)

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Sony is best known for consumer audio gear like its fantastic wireless headphones and earbuds, but the SS-CS3s are a classic for a reason. These towers have stood out from the crowd for years, delivering clear and detailed sound for a startlingly low price.

The only real knock against them is their somewhat ho-hum bass and some loss of fidelity at extra-loud volumes. Then again, you can easily take the cash you’re saving and buy a great subwoofer to add some extra punch to your system.

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Klipsch is best known for its peppy sound and brashly bedazzled speakers with copper-colored “ceramatallic” woofers aimed at minimal distortion. The RP-6000F II speakers sit in the middle of the Reference line, a follow-up to the popular RP-6000F.

You’ll find the usual copper flash in their dual 6.5-inch woofers, which have been fine-tuned for more accuracy. At the top, a titanium diaphragm tweeter is set in Klipsch’s classic Tractrix-horn waveguide design to maximize upper register efficiency.

We also love the fact that these speakers have specific connections that allow you to add upward-facing Dolby Atmos speakers to further maximize your home theater setup.

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Focal’s Vestia line is everything I love about fabulous speaker design. These speakers offer stunning detail, excellent stereo imaging, great balance across frequencies, and a rich and natural upper register that’s as smooth as it is clear.

They aren’t cheap, but there’s great value here. From the M-shaped Aluminum/Magnesium tweeters to the rigid cabinets, the Focal No.2s are well-built, stylish, and yet understated. The one knock is that the glossy finish shows off fingerprint smudges, and generally tends to get dirty easily.

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Q Acoustics has made a name for itself by offering great sound quality in affordable packages. Its 5040 towers, a follow-up to the beloved 3050i, are a fine example, offering impressive definition and a dimensional soundstage from a relatively small profile.

The new model adds performance upgrades, including new C3 Continuous Curved Cone mid/bass drivers for a more fluid transition between the lower and upper registers and improved internal bracing to minimize unwanted resonances that can cause distortion. The bass has also been tightened for improved accuracy, though you may still want to consider adding a subwoofer.

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Replacing Focal’s entry-level Chora series home theater speakers, the Theva line leverages years of Focal speaker technology, which delivers impressive audiophile-quality sound for substantially less than many comparable speakers. They offer excellent detail and definition, musical bass, and a wide and clear soundstage.

The Theva No.3-D also adds a secret weapon for home theaters: Built-in Dolby Atmos speakers on top of the tower bounce sound off your ceiling and create a hemispheric dome of sound. Especially when combined with surround sound speakers, Theva No.3-Ds are armed to deliver a stirring 3D listening experience with Dolby Atmos films, movies, and music. Just add an Atmos-ready receiver and get ready to rock.

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It’s perhaps no surprise that my favorite tower speakers are the centerpieces of the best full surround sound system. They combine a pair of SVS Primes with the brand’s excellent SVS center and satellite speakers to create a Voltron-esque beast of synergetic surround sound excellence. The Prime Center speaker is particularly impressive, offering a three-way design including dual 5.25-inch woofers, a 3.5-inch midrange driver, and the same 1-inch aluminum dome tweeter found throughout the series for spectacular vocal reproduction.

Want to take things up a notch? Add SVS’ Atmos-ready Prime Elevation speakers and an SVS SB-2000 Pro subwoofer for a full 5.1.2 or 5.2.4 configuration. Available in matte or gloss finishes, this system looks as good as it sounds.

Key Specs (Tower Speakers Only)

KEF’s LS50 Wireless monitors brought powered speakers to new heights, with fabulous components, an immaculately crafted design, and custom amplification/digital processing for near-perfect performance. The larger LS60 tower speakers take all of that up a notch (or three).

Like their shorter, squatter siblings, the LS60s are poised to deliver clear, organic, and dynamic sound with immaculate stereo imaging. Dual 5.25-inch woofers and KEF’s signature concentric tweeter set create a sparkling clear, organic, and dynamic sound.

The LS60s comprise a full hi-fi system on their own, which is a rarity among tower speakers, though we’re beginning to see it more often in smaller hi-fi options. They include inputs for multiple components, including your TV via HDMI eARC. Wi-Fi streaming is available in virtually every format at high resolution, all controlled by a powerful mobile app. They’re also crazy thin to boot.

These are wildly expensive, but when you know, you know. If you’re looking for the ultimate wireless tower speakers, look no further.

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Are tower speakers better than bookshelf speakers?

Tower speakers are prized for their powerful sound and excellent stereo imaging for music and movies, which can provide a more immersive and powerful performance than most smaller speakers. Because they generally have larger drivers seated in bigger cabinets, they’re also able to reproduce more convincing bass and lower mid-range frequencies than smaller speakers. That makes them a more enticing choice, especially if you don’t want to add a subwoofer.

That said, tower speakers aren’t always the best choice. To take full advantage of powerful speakers, you need a large listening room where you sit many feet away. For smaller rooms and near-field listening (sitting closely), bookshelf or stand-mount speakers are often the better option, especially when paired with a subwoofer.

How do I set up tower speakers?

While all listening rooms are different, there are some general guidelines to follow for setting up your tower speakers.

Start by placing your speakers as far apart from each other as they are from your listening position. So, if you’re sitting 8 feet away from the speakers, they should stand about 8 feet apart. Then you want to angle or “toe” them inward toward your primary listening spot.

Make sure they aren’t set too close to the wall, either. Keep at least 2- to 3-feet of space between the back of each speaker and the floor. Pressing the speakers against the walls will produce bloated and flabby bass.

Next, you’ll need to connect the speakers to your amplifier or receiver with speaker wire (sold separately). If your amplifier features auto-calibration, you can then start that process, which will tune the sound to your room.

Once properly placed, test them out and adjust your EQ setting to taste. When testing, make sure to use some familiar reference material.

What are active speakers?

Active or “powered” speakers have built-in amplification, so they do not need a separate amplifier or receiver. The best active speakers offer lots of built-in inputs to plug in source devices, wireless streaming over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and advanced features like EQ and even multi-room audio connection via a central app.

Active speakers are great for simplifying your setup. Their amplification is customized, so you don’t need to worry about calibrating an amplifier or receiver to optimize performance. They are generally more expensive than their traditional speaker counterparts, but they’ll allow you to simply plug them in and go if you don’t already have an amplifier or receiver, saving you time and money. They also offer a cleaner setup with fewer wires.

On the other hand, they can limit your options when it comes to building out a larger, multi-speaker surround system as they’re usually designed just for stereo or mono listening.

Are tower speakers good for Dolby Atmos?

Tower speakers are generally made to work in a pair playing in stereo. You can use them to create a Dolby Atmos listening configuration, but you’ll need to add more speakers to setup, including overhead speakers. That said, while that’s often an expensive proposition, tower speakers can fold into a large Atmos home theater setup quite well.

As an example, a 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos configuration would include the following: Two stereo speakers (the towers), a center channel speaker, and two rear speakers (this accounts for the “5”); a subwoofer (the “.1”); and two overhead speakers (“.2”). You’ll also need a receiver that supports Dolby Atmos content and/or its Blu-ray counterpart, DTS:X.

Ceiling-mounted speakers will provide the best overhead performance. But some tower speakers, such as our Best Dolby Atmos pick, feature built-in speakers on top that bounce sound off the ceiling and back down to the listener. Some manufacturers also sell Atmos add-on speakers that can sit on top of tower speakers to create the same effect. This makes it a lot easier to work tower speakers into an Atmos-compatible home theater, even if you start with just the towers.

Do I need a subwoofer or center speaker with tower speakers?

Tower speakers are fabulous on their own for stereo listening, especially for music, but you’ll get better performance for dialogue in movies and TV by adding a center-channel speaker.

Adding a subwoofer, which is a separate speaker dedicated to bass frequencies, may be less necessary given that tower speakers offer powerful bass. But you’ll likely notice cleaner bass and better overall performance in your tower speakers across registers if you add one. None of this is strictly necessary, but there’s almost always a path to improving the sound of your setup by adding or upgrading your speakers.