Anyone Successfully Go from Floor Standers to Bookshelf Monitors w/ Subs?

I have owned many floor standers ,a good monitors disappears better and images great . I mod all the Xovers in every loudspeakers I buy for even in $20k+ speakers and up many are 
not what I would consider great parts quality in their Xover which is the heart of all Loudspeakers.
i recently bought the very good Elac Vela 403 monitors with their latest gen -5 Jet AMT tweeter ,and Diamond sandwich Mid-bass,
very well thought out design and sounded very good even before Xover upgrades,and uses the excellent SVS  SB 3000 subwoofers with their excellent app. Loading the stands with sand ,lead shot 
makes a noticable improvement , and I had custom cut black granite tops  for monitors and subs which makes great mass loading for resonance absorption and increased imaging for  under $6k this setup competes very well with floorstanders 2x+ the cost.and does several things better.

I went from Salk Song3's (standard version w/bamboo midrange) to a pair of Clearwave Duet 6 monitors and a pair of REL T5i subs. First, both systems sounded great but there were tradeoffs probably because the speakers are different. The Clearwave's use accuton ceramic drivers vs the RAAL/bamboo/paper drivers in the Salk. With the Clearwaves and RELs the bass was more detailed, tighter, more accurate. I preferred the RAAL in the Salks to the ceramic tweeter but not by a huge margin. The RAAL just gets an airier presentation I prefer. Overall, I thought the Clearwave/REL system was more detailed, more accurate, and had better bass. However, I never tried the Salks with the pair of RELs, but I was pretty pleased with the Duet 6/REL combo and while I've moved on to Cube Nenuphars, I wasn't feeling like bringing the Salks back to replace the Duet 6/REL combo.

Spendor or ProAc mini monitors with a couple of 10–12” servo-controlled Velodyne subwoofers should work a treat. 

Dear @audiorusty @artemus_5  : I forgot that crossover frequency that's so critical and my take is to have the frequency crossover around 80hz-100hz.
In this way the monitors or today speakers will run/handled frequencies from 80hz-100hz and all the way up to its hig frequency limit.

R..

The short answer is yes. The helpful answer is probably much more complex.

If you want to use a monitor you will want to design the system so the subs do the heavy lifting. IOW the higher the crossover point the better. 

Your concern about a 6.5” woofer being able fill that large of space is legit. Speaker makers can design a very small box and cone to cycle quite low but I have yet to hear one do it at realistic volume levels.

In my opinion, depending on what types of music you listen to and how loud you listen to them, I would cross the subs at no lower than 80 Hz and preferably closer to 120 Hz and if you really like it loud probably higher than that.

Dear @artemus_5 : Normally you don’t need to worry about the monitors can fulfill your room because will does it even more than enough.

You have rigth now a " big " true problem with your Sonata speakers. Yes I know that you like it but this " you like it " just does not helps to disappears the problem.

Problem name is IMD ( InterModulationDistortion. ) high levels ( that you are accustom to. ) and THD too and the problem comes because the manufacturer designer choosed as crossover frequency 1.5khz and this means that that driver/woofer handled frequencies as low as 25hz all the way over 1.5khz.

We don’t add a paiir of self powered true subwoofers to achieve lower bass levels, this is an advantage to integrates subs but the main issue is to lower the IMD/THD of your room/system and this always will has a rewards because you will listening better quality performance levels with a lot lower distortion levels.

Here you can read the why of my take about:


https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/do-you-think-you-need-a-subwoofer/post?postid=310058#310058


You can do it with your today Sonatas crossing two a pair of TRUE self powered subwoofers that today normally comes with an integrated software and microphone to make the rigth system integration.

Or you can do it two with these excellent monitors:

http://www.silverlineaudio.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Item...

That’s why I posted to the gentleman that asked for the Wilson Alexx V one alternative with monitors/subs that with any single doubt will outperforms any full range passive speakers.
Unfortunatelly the overall knowledge levels on the specific issue is lower than what we think and not even " professionals " reviewers as M.fremer has it when for years is using full range Wilson speakers. Yes he is wrong when does it and the overall full range speaker owners could achieve good rewards if just think/learn how to outperforms what they have rigth know with a really small investment on monitors/subs alternative. That gentleman on the Wilson V instead to ask for a better alternative just wants to follows behind what he is accustom too even if it’s not the best path for him.

High Quality room/system levels is not about just money but mainly about knowledge levels.


Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

I've successfully gone from floor standards to the Fritz Carbon 7 SE mkii and and much more pleased with the more accurate, tight base in my 18 x 15 room then I ever have been with floor standers.

I have really been wanting to audition the Larsen 6 and 8 speakers. They can be (and are designed to) placed up against the front wall, have great bass, and throw up a wall of sound that sounds like a "live" performance, reviewers say. They are very room-friendly.

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/larsen-model-62-loudspeaker

<< I felt it was important to drive the 6.2s with an amplifier priced more in line with the Larsens, and so I connected them to a $995 Parasound Halo A23. While there was some loss of tonal refinement and detail with the switch, the bass definitely improved. The Parasound puts out 200Wpc into 8 ohms as opposed to 60Wpc for the Passes. Clearly, these little speakers thrive on power; in fact, I later learned that John Larsen’s reference amplifier is a Gamut Di150 LE, which is rated at 180Wpc into 8 ohms. I then did something I wasn’t originally planning on doing—powering the 6.2s with my 200Wpc David Berning Quadrature Z monoblocks, an undeniably unlikely pairing as these amps cost roughly eight times the price of the speakers. The sonic result was amazing, including the bottom end. Bass and kick-drum had satisfying punch, and the organ in the Philadelphia Orchestra’s recording of the Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 on an Ondine SACD was majestically massive. Like many well-designed loudspeakers, the Larsen 6.2s will perform well with modestly priced amplification of high quality but also have the potential to sound even better with über-electronics.

The other opportunity to improve bass performance came when I ran a DSP room-correction calibration with the Anthem’s ARC software. Inspection of the frequency response curves revealed some irregularities from around 30 to 400Hz—a phenomenon I’ve noted with most loudspeakers I’ve measured in this fashion. Employing the calculated room correction helped to smooth out the bass response considerably, on paper and to my ears. The lesson is this: The up-against-the-wall placement of Larsen loudspeakers offers a definite advantage in terms of bass output compared to free-standing speakers in a typical domestic environment. But that doesn’t preclude room-related irregularities in bass response that may require attention with either physical acoustical treatments or electronic room correction.

For its size, the Larsen 6.2 is a definite overachiever when it comes to bass output and dynamics that won’t leave most listeners uninvolved—whether with late-Romantic symphonic repertoire or energetic pop and rock. If you’re going for realistic dB levels with Boris Godunov or Daft Punk, you’re going to be disappointed. For many, though, the 6.2s will effectively transmit the power and excitement of large-scale music of all sorts because of all the things it does so well. What we have in the Larsen 6.2 and other Larsen models is the full realization of a decades-long effort to understand the behavior of real rooms and to leverage those observations in the design of a loudspeaker that will play music with a minimum of coloration and distortion. If your loudspeaker budget is anything up to $5k, the Larsen 6.2 deserves a very, very long listen.>>

Thanks for the answers so far. FWIW, I have 2 Sumiko S10 subs which are a clone of the Rel S5. they have Fiberglass Cones instead of metal (I believe that is correct). The speaker size and amps are the same size 12" & power 550 watts as well as their connection types. They are very easy to integrate and work well with my speakers now. I agree with Eric, in that integration is extremely important. 
I've also considered the Silverline Prelude Plus which are thin towers with 4 3 1/2" woofers/mids & soft dome tweeter. Supposedly go to 35hz. Yeah, mine were supposed to do 20hz. Also I have heard the Gen 4's and they are quite amazing for monitors. Bill Watkins was a master of bass who holds several patents including for the  Infinity-Watkins Dual Drive Woofers . The Gen 4's go to 41hz with great clarity. But again, the amount of air pushed is questionable

Maybe go with smaller and attractive floorstanders that punch above their weight?  Also obviously avoids the hassle of integrating subs.  Something like the Joseph Audio Perspective 2 might pass the WAF and size test and still fill your room adequately.  I also suspect they’ll have the same sonic qualities you like about your excellent Sonatas.  Best of luck. 

Thats much more than a speaker, it's a system.   How much for everything  needed turn key?

You're looking at the wrong monitors. You're right a 1in and 6.5in won't compete without a subwoofer. Instead look at a 1in tweeter - 8in mid - 8in X 2. Woofer. 


https://dutchdutch.com/8c/

In our former home, I moved my system with two excellent Totem Fire monitors and a Velodyne 10" powered subwoofer down from our 13x22' living room to our 24x26' family room and the system just didn't seem to fill the new space.

That gave me an "excuse" to upgrade all the components in my system!  :-)

Some big Monitors like Ref 3A de Capos or Audio Note?  8 inch woofers.

Here's an article I wrote on this matter. The short answer is, if you must go with subs get an integrated or pre with built in room correction and automatic bass management.

https://speakermakersjourney.blogspot.com/2020/04/how-to-not-buy-subwoofer.html

Went there...   no substitute for larger drivers, went back to floorstanders.