bookshelf vs. towers (and other stuff)

i built my system as follows:

Yamaha RX-V871 AVR
Infinity P363 tower fronts
Infinity P163 bookshelf speakers for surround
Infinity Center channel (forget model number)
Outlaw audio LFM1+ for my sub

I bought the infinity speakers because they were cheap, but they sound good, however, when I was looking at the infinity speakers at frys, they had several other sets of speakers on demo, but I wasn't able to spend a lot on speakers.

However, while listening to speakers, I also listend to a set of Polk TSX440's (i think they were), and I noticed that the sound seemed cleaner, more vivid. I kind of regret not spending the extra money and getting those.

Anyway, I am now pondering the idea of upgrading from the infinity speakers to a different set, but now the question of, should I stick with full tower speakers, or can I actually spend the same amount that I would have spent on a tower, and get a better quality bookshelf instead, and end up with better sound?

I guess the basic question is, is there really any need for a full tower? Does it provide any benefit over a bookshelf, or is it merely looks? In a system where im doing about 65% movies and 35% music, which direction is generally best?

It is my understanding that, in general, tower speakers are better suited to music, and bookshelf are better suited to home theater. Does this sound accurate?

I assume that, in general, tower speakers gives you more speakers in the box, bookshelf usually gives you 1, maybe 2 speakers at most. I'm assuming that the more speakers, you get better seperation of sound? More volume? A wider range of frequencies? Or perhaps it's just that the speaker becomes more efficient since, rather than relying on one speaker to do all the work, you have 2 or more speakers to do the job, i.e. 1 speaker for lows, 1 for mids/highs, 1 for upper highs, and then the tweeter?

With the inclusion of a sub, that takes away the need for the speakers to do the low frequency things.

So, I guess all this is to say, does a person generally get better performance from towers, or bookshelf speakers? Would that same person get better performance if they were to take the money they would have spent on a tower speaker and use it for a better quality bookshelf?

Reading an article of an interview with Dr. Hsu, he mentioned that, and i'm paraphrasing here, with the inclusion of a sub woofer, if he had to build a home theater system, he would opt for bookshelf speakers rather than full towers.

Anyway, i'm just basically wondering what your thoughts are on this.

Thanks

I like tower speakers for HT. When push comes to shove the bigger the speaker radiating area the bigger the sound effects and a lot of HT is all about the impact of sound. I like the idea that I can use my towers down to about 35 hz and then let the subs do their thing. This is especially true for music which usually doesn't have a lot of lower register stuff.

thanks, ive always been one for towers myself, due to the fact that it just seems to me that a tower has the ability to play a more authentic sound and has a wider array of frequencies available, but, I just wanted to check just in case I could get the same sound and performance out of a bookshelf, and save money.

I also like a nice pair of tower speakers (both my old Paradigm Reference Studios and the Atlantic Tech AT-1's are personal favorites), but I've had great results from Outlaw's old BLS bookshelves and was able to change from the Paradigm Studios to the BLS's (both paired with an LFM-1 sub) without sacrificing my low frequency range.

I'm using Klipsch RF-82 towers and I love them. To get great bookshelves you would need a larger bookshelf and I high quality one such as Focal 1008be etc. Quality is best but it comes at a price. Still I would want to be able to set my mains/sub crossover at 60hz and that would be a tough job with bookshelves.

When I auditioned Definitive speakers I was intending to buy a pair of bookshelves. I A/B'd bookshelves against towers. Even with a sub paired with the smaller speakers, the towers sounded more open and transparent. The bookshelves sounded like they were behind a heavy curtain.