Why "bookshelf" sspeakers?

I have stand mount speakers mostly due to the constraints of my listening space.  I have a smallish room and am not far off from near field listening.  The stand mounts made more sense to me than a floor standing speaker.  I thought the floor stander might be too much for my room.  The stand mounts have the ability to disappear as well which may or may not be the case with a larger floor stander, at least in my room.  That said I just purchased a pair of REL subs to fill out the bottom end so maybe it’s all a wash.  The speakers with stands and the subs certainly take up as much room as a floor stander would.

I’ve always been a fan of bookshelf/standmount speakers. I heard the comment in the past that a good big ‘un beats a good little ‘un and generally I agree with that, though I still like standmounts for a few reasons. I agree that standmounts with stands taking up pretty much the same amount of floor space, but I find the standmounts can have a smaller visual impact. 
 

I tend to build my own speakers, so I find that smaller speakers are easier to build in my shop. Materials cost is less as well. 
 

As mentioned above, for a given budget it may be possible to go higher up a manufactures line for a smaller speaker, though in some cases the cost of the stands can even out that difference. 
 

Good thing is that there are plenty of options no matter your preference. 

Bookshelf speakers are typically smaller, simpler, and less expensive for a given quality level. At a given price point, less money has to go toward a larger cabinet, and can go toward better drivers and crossover parts. A well designed two-way can have pretty incredible clarity and coherency...there's no high pass capacitor in series with the midbass driver.

One disadvantage of tower speakers is that, depending on your room, the placement that is ideal for the mids and highs may not be ideal for the bass. 

gdnrbob: I never had a bookshelf speaker until computers became mainstream. Bought my first pair of bookshelves when I got my first computer at a Radio Shack.

Personally, I don’t remember seeing many bookshelves back then. Everybody (at least in my circle) wanted 15" floor standing speakers on a short stand, or a pair of the now legendary Acoustic Research AR9 towers (still have mine)!

The bookshelf speaker "thing" is fairly recent.

 

I remember there were lots of small factor loudspeakers in the 80's, actually more than floorstanders. Though no subs were available then.

Lower costs, pointsource preference, nearfield listening vs less bass extension and energy.  Footprint is difference so small it’s usually immaterial 

Smaller speakers with drivers in closer proximity or even concentric have a better chance of sounding more coherent in many rooms where listening position is closer to speakers. Standmounts also tend to cost less for a certain level of overall build quality.  Larger resonant  resistant cabinets cost more.  

Back in the day we were happy to listen to the sound coming from a grammaphone and feel we had wonderful music.  Things got better from there.  When I was in college is was very common to put bookshelf speakers in bookshelfs.  Many still do.  Many spouses (the one more concerned about how things look than how the music sounds) insist on it.

In the mean time, those of use concerned with sound figured out that they sound better on stands.  But we also figured out they don't sound as good as a floorstander.  Thus, if the spousal unit will allow it, don't even go with a bookshelf at all.

jerry

When bookshelf speakers are placed on stands instead of a bookshelf or table there is more room for adjustment. The stands can be manipulated and placed away from the wall and the soundstage, depth etc. can be adjusted more accurately to one's liking, but the same can also be said for tower speakers. There is some truth in that the stand can help isolate the speaker from the floor (good for apartments and improved sound). Some stands resonate and can make things worse. Some put sand or lead inside the speaker stands.  It's really difficult generalize and say that bookshelves are better than towers or vice versa.  All things being equal, towers generally extend the low end more when compared to a bookshelf.  There are too many variables involved. 

The bookshelf speaker "thing" is fairly recent. They were not as common when I started this hobby in the 80’s as they are today. Budget, location, room size, neighbors or no neighbors, apartment or house, space, aesthetics, convenience, "the wife"/ (or husband) listening styles, music genres, playback volume, occasion and many other resons I’m sure.

Personally, I have a couple of each type in 6 different rooms. I like the bookshelves with 2 subs for background music and towers or the PA speakers for when I want to rock and get my fix!  

Obviously, my comment is brief and only scratches the surface.  If you can do it, why not have every combination and get the full experience? Life's short!