Bookshelf speakers are what the name says. Speakers designed to stay on a flat surface, and small enough to fit on a bookshelf. They usually have two loudspeakers in them, a small tweeter, designed to reproduce higher frequencies and a larger one, designed to work well with medium and low frequencies. They are built with either an enclosed design, where there is no opening in the speaker chamber, or with a ported design, where there is a small opening that allows the air to circulate from behind the larger speaker. The ported type will produce a deeper bass.
The bookshelf speakers are usually used in two scenarios. They can power a small stereo setup, where they act as stand alone speakers and are used as left and right channels. They can also act as parts of a larger, 5 channel or 5.1 channel surround system. In this scenario, they are used as satellite speakers, in the front, in the back, or in both positions. As positioning in the room, they can be disguised very well on a bookshelf (hence the name), or can be placed on special stands that will allow them to stay on the floor. A word of warning with regards to the positioning. The ported types can have their port in the back. When this happens, they can’t be placed with their backs very close to the wall, as this will cut on the airflow from the port and will prevent the speaker to function as designed.
The bookshelf speakers appear to be the most common type that is being produced nowadays, so you will find a very large selection, from a lot of manufacturers. In the same form factor, you can find poor to average sound quality, as well as some of the best engineered speakers with superb sound quality. Therefore, a lot of effort needs to be put into determining which bookshelf speakers are best for a certain usage scenario.
We have collected on this site a lot of bookshelf speakers reviews, from a lot of customers. These are genuine reviews, from real world users of these speakers. Check out below some of the speakers we found reviews for and make your decision.