1. I completely understand the general perception that FS would sound better than BS for Stereo especially with regard to Bass response.
However that argument is valid is an exceptionally large room 200 sq feet or more.
FS need place to breathe distance from back wall, distance to side walls etc etc. a speaker with a rear port would need a minimum of 1.5 feet or more to get a transient bass response and not sound boomy or excite in room frequencies. Front ported speakers would be a little easier to place atleast wrt to distance from rear wall. but the recommended is still around 1.5 feet or more.
A lot of people fail to factor in speaker placement and end up buying speakers which sounded great in an acoustically treated room at a AV shop and at home the same speakers sound mediocre.
(Placement is key) if you want to extract the best from your loudspeakers especially in 2.0 Stereo (an Equilateral triangle is the starting point where the speakers make up the 2 points and your Cranium
the 3rd)
Room treatment is another aspect which is overlooked. technically and practically Acoustic treatment/speaker placement would make your low fi speakers sound way better than someone who has a lakh, 2 lakh plus stereo system with bad room placement etc
2. FS will excite your smallish room and cause the bass to be a little overbearing. if 2.0 stereo us what you are looking for you will listen to it in pure direct mode on your AVR to get the best possible sound. By using the tone controls on your AVR to reduce bass or increase trble u are just degrading sound quality and moving away from what the recording artist intended. you need to understand when u use the tone control on your AVR is either boosting the 100hz(low frequency range) or 10khz(high freq range) and not the entire spectrum. So in simple its not a linear boost but a specific boost.
3. Important Question what sort of music do u listen to if u are into classic rock, classical , instrumental etc . BS will do .. if u are semi crazed headbanger or into bassy Hip Hop, techno then a high sensitivity FS would be better. However with the later 2 genres let accept facts that SQ is not really important :lol:. For a crtical stereo listener imaging , soundstage, tonal qualities play a important part. So if SPL is what u are looking for FS is the way to go. If you listen to music at levels not enough to wake up the dead BS a way better bet
4. BS also produce a lot of bass not in the same league as FS though. most BS have a frequency response of 40hz - 20khz -3db or more but if u listen to the sort of genres i mentioned above there will be just the enough amount of bass etc because most music material does not go below 60hz or 40hz at its least. Hip Hop/ trance, synthesized stuff has a primary stress on LF's so lower fq's are expected
5.Look at it this way . 40k-50k for FS buys u a bigger box, multiple drivers etc. whereas 40k-50k also buys u a BS with a single driver and a tweeter ... So where do u think the tradeoff is.. ?? well it all boils down to the quality/ tech of the Drivers . if you are a critical listener BS will give you a much better sound at your budget price point because of better bass driver, better midrange and a far superior tweeter. better crossover etc 40k-50k approx buys u basically a low fi or mid fi floorstander but the same amount buys you a mid-fi to hi-fi BS. Lets not forget you are gonna buy a Sub . although personally I am against subs for Stereo since its pretty much difficult to integrate unless u know exactly what you are doing. there are several members in this forum who have great success with integrating Subs for stereo.
If you are truly looking for good FS with SQ your primary concern i would say a budget of 1 lakh plus is a starting point
6. Tannoys mate well with Onkyo as Spiro mentioned.
7. Audition FS vs BS same price range for example not a 20k BS vs a 40k FS.
8. Don't rush in. Take your time even if it takes 5 months before you make your final call .. Audition, Audition, Audition . At the end of the day its your money and your ears . Dont get roped in by reviews or get swayed by forum members. Use it as a reference point not a deciding point
9.For Stereo at the end of the day its not speakers alone that dictate sound quality, its also your source material. Dont expect lossy mp3 to sound as good as a Lossless file formats or Cd's. There are a lot of associated equipment that will help to attain Audio Nirvana such as DAC's, Interconnects, CDP's, Amps etc etc etc etc. Speakers are just one component of the entire chain
Disclamer ::: I am no GURU . just an audiophile who has made and still makes mistakes I am still learning. I am still and will always be a Noob.:yahoo:
Cheers
- F l a s h -
hyeah: 
