5 Highly-Rated Bookshelf Speakers Worth Your Money

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Bookshelf speakers are a fantastic compromise between the mediocre sound of Bluetooth or smartphone speakers and the high end delivery of massive cabinet speakers. Let's face it, most of us don't have the space or the agreeable neighbors to accommodate the latter, and the former are really meant for mobile use. But bookshelf speakers can fit in almost every room and give you a wide enough range of clear sound that you'll enjoy your listening experience. Of course, nobody wants a set of these speakers that sound like they've been dropped in the toilet, so we've put together some of the most highly-rated bookshelf speakers on the market to help you find the best sound for your buck.

These speakers are clear, powerful, and worth every penny you'd spend on them. You don't have to take it at our word since we're only including bookshelf speakers that the public have decided are worth the ratings. We've looked at multiple audio equipment sellers to see which of these speakers buyers have rated the highest. We've also left out speakers where the reviews didn't justify the price. So, a $1500 speaker with the same rating as a $600 speaker lost out since price-to-value is, at the core, what makes a purchase worth money.

Klipsch actually has several sets of highly rated speakers, but their RP-50M model is one of the highest. These passive bookshelf speakers come in at 340 watts, which will give you plenty of power for the $300 price tag. Each box has a built-in 5.25-inch woofers, 1-inch tweeters, and a specially designed horn to give you full sound at a wide range of frequencies. At 13.9 inches tall, 7 inches wide, and 9 inches deep, it's easy to find a place on your shelves for these moderately priced powerhouses.

The speakers don't only have the components to make for a great-sounding stereo setup — they're also quite slick in the aesthetics department. They come standard in a sleek black woodgrain that pairs well with your beginner record player setup, and if you remove the speaker covers, they add a copper-toned touch that can liven up your decor.

When it comes to ratings, the Klipsch RP-50Ms are no slouches. With nearly 600 reviews on Best Buy, these speakers have secured 4.8 stars from customers. Likewise, they're rated at 4.6 on Amazon and just over 4.9 on Crutchfield. You'll be hard pressed to find a higher rated set of bookshelf speakers for the price.

The Sony SS-CS5M2 3-Way Bookshelf Speakers might just be the best bang for your buck you're going to find. They have a standard list price comparable to the Klipsch RP-50M, but you can often find them online for just over $150. Depending on your level of sound system knowledge and your budget, you might shy away from speakers this cheap, but the customer ratings might make you think twice.

Customers at Best Buy give them a 4.8, Amazon buyers have rated the Sony SS-CS5M2s at 4.7 stars, while they sit around 4.5 stars on Walmart's website. Now, these aren't perfect scores, but finding perfect ratings for any product is beyond a rarity — especially for a set of speakers you can pick up for the price of a decent blender.

Let's look at the specs. Like the others on this list, the SS-CS5M2 is a passive speaker, meaning it derives its power from an external amplifier. Don't worry, your stereo receiver almost certainly does this on its own. Each speaker box is 13.25 inches by 8.75 inches by 7.125 inches, making them an easy fit in your setup. They come with three speaker components each, hence the 3-way in the name: a 5.12-inch woofer, a .98-inch tweeter, and .75-inch super tweeter. This trio will work to give you some of the cleanest sound you can find in the price range.

Coming at just over $260 each, the MartinLogan Motion Foundation B1 Bookshelf Speakers are another highly rated set in both the mid-range for price and performance. And it's that ratio that really makes them worth your money unless you have elite finances. At which point, you probably have the space for a larger setup anyway.

The B1 is the physically smallest model in the MartinLogan Motion Foundation line — a line with other highly rated speaker types you should consider if you're putting together a vinyl turntable ecosystem. This bookshelf speaker is loaded with a specialty tweeter designed specifically to pack more of a punch than other tweeters of its size and a 5.5-inch midbass speaker. It comes in three different styles — walnut, white, and black — so you can match it to just about any aesthetic. At 13.625 inches high, 7.25 inches wide, and 9.5 inches deep, they're small enough to fit on the shelves in your tiny apartment and versatile enough to accent the massive sound system in your mansion's home theater.

Customer ratings for this model change depending on where you're looking. That said, those shopping at Best Buy have given this speaker set 4.9 stars, which is massive for electronics of any kind. Crutchfield has them scored at 4.6, which isn't quite as good but still impressive.

These SVS Prime Bookshelf Speakers are among the most highly rated speakers out there. They hit this list with a 4.9 from 175 reviews on the SVS website and 4.7 on Best Buy. As a higher end bookshelf speaker, they're priced right around $700 for the pair. Each speaker box comes with a massive 6.5-inch woofer, a 1-inch tweeter, and proprietary crossover tuning technology meant to make your listening experience supreme.

Your choice between a black woodgrain or a black gloss box frames a modern front plate that looks almost like it came from a high-end car audio setup, and for anyone that knows the car audio world, you'll know that's a compliment. They stand a hair over 13 inches in height with a width of 8 inches and depth of slightly over 10 inches with the front cover on. The lack of color and finish options with this set might make it a little harder to match with your home aesthetics, but black is fairly neutral and should fit with most decor.

SVS also has a couple upgraded versions of these speakers — namely the Ultra Evolution and the Ultra Evolution Nano — that likely have an even better sound quality at $1200 and $900 respectively. So, in this case, any of these SVS models would be worth your money depending on what your budget allows. And, in the world of home audio, you often get what you pay for.

No other speaker on this list has the range of aesthetic options that the Triangle BOREA BR04 bookshelf speakers have. You can buy them in four different colors and grains with different front plate options for a total of six design combinations. As an upgrade to the BR03 model, each BR04 comes with Triangle's proprietary EFS silk-dome tweeter and better sounding mid speakers than you'd expect for $650 per pair — which isn't a small price to begin with. They're a bit beefier than some other options, at nearly 17 inches high, over 8.5 inches wide, and a bit over 12 inches deep.

It's true that there are better sounding options out there than the BR04 or others on this list, but at that point, you're looking at diminishing returns when it comes to price for performance. Sure, a $2000 speaker setup will almost surely sound better than a $600 one, but saying it would sound several times better is a bit of a stretch for most ears.

Customers rated the BR04s at 4.93 stars on Triangle Hi-Fi, and the sentiment seems to be mirrored over a range of smaller sound audio retailers as well, with many of the sites we looked into rating these speakers from 4.7 stars to a solid 5.0. And even though the smaller sites had fewer total reviews, the numbers clearly support Triangle's BR04s as some of the best bookshelf speakers to invest in.