STEREO SPEAKERS

Seven pairs of floorstanders around the £1000 mark that we can recommend…

Budget is only one of the factors that matter when looking at any hi-fi component, but if you’re after a pair of great-sounding floorstanders then it’s best not to skimp.

If that sounds like a significant threat to your bank balance, console yourself with the fact that you won’t have to fork out for stands, the quality of which can make or break a standmounter speaker. Yes, you’ll almost certainly be paying for more wood or extra drivers but, equally, you’ll also have access to a broader range of sound-led design solutions.

That said, a large cabinet can amplify unwanted resonance – leading to greater distortion, difficulty with controlling dynamics and the like – so more care needs to be taken in cabinet design.

So, while there are now numerous pairs of budget floorstanders that make our feet tap as much as they do our test room shake, it’s in this £700 to £1500 bracket where we begin encountering what we’d describe as true hi-fi.

There’s plenty of Award-winning pedigree in this round-up, too, including Wharfedale’s Evo 4.4 – the current holders between £1000 and £1500 – and the Fyne Audio F501 towers, whose trophy they nicked. As if to beat that, the Dali Oberon 5s picked up two Awards this year – for best floorstanders £500£1000, and as part of our surround package Product of the Year – while they were joined in the home cinema section by Monitor Audio’s Silver 200s.

Bowers & Wilkins is no stranger to accolades for its 600 series, either, and the 603s make an appearance here alongside Acoustic Energy’s hefty sub-grand AE120 speakers. Last but by no means least are the Neat Iota Alphas, diminutive in size but not in talent.

If you’re looking to upgrade your system for the new decade and big sound is top of the agenda, then every one of these deserves an audition.