Skytronic SHFT52B Tower

Is the Skytronic SHFT52B Tower worth buying?

Yes, the Skytronic SHFT52B Tower is worth buying at £149.99 if you own an amplifier and want two floor standing cabinets rather than one. The money buys a 500W pair, and each tower holds a 6.5-inch bass subwoofer in its side panel, two 3-inch midrange drivers and a 1-inch tweeter in a 3-way layout. Nineteen owners rate the pair 4.5.

It suits a film-first system in a room where you can leave a hand's width of air beside each cabinet. At 8 ohms and 88 dB it asks nothing unusual of an amplifier, and at £75.00 per tower it is the cheapest way here to put two cabinets on the floor. Skip it if you want Bluetooth, a built-in amplifier or a remote-controlled all-in-one.

What does 500W across two towers actually mean?

It works out to 250W per cabinet. Divide £149.99 by the two towers and you pay £75.00 each, which turns into roughly 3.3W of rated power for every pound you spend. Inside each one, a 6.5-inch driver handles the bass on the side panel while two 3-inch drivers cover the midrange and a 1-inch tweeter takes the top.

The figures that decide whether your amplifier copes are 88 dB and 8 ohms. A single watt gives about 88 dB at one metre, so a 50W amplifier already plays louder than most living rooms need, and the 8 ohm load is the one nearly every stereo amplifier is rated for. That combination is why this pair runs happily on modest gear.

What comes in the box with the Skytronic SHFT52B Tower?

Two towers, and nothing else. There is no amplifier, no speaker cable, no spikes and no remote in the box, so budget for a stereo amplifier and a length of cable before the first film night. The cabinets are black, built from plastic and metal, and stand as plain towers with no controls on the front.

One detail to plan around: the pair takes an RCA connection rather than bare-wire screw terminals. That means a phono lead from your amplifier, or a phono-to-terminal adapter if your amplifier only has binding posts. There is no wireless technology of any kind here, so phone or tablet streaming has to come through whatever source you plug in, and Skytronic keeps spare parts available for seven years from purchase.

Where does the Skytronic SHFT52B Tower fall short?

The bass driver fires sideways, and that is the catch for tight rooms. Push a cabinet against a wall, a sofa or a sideboard and the 6.5-inch subwoofer loses the air it needs, so you hear less low end than you paid for. Leave clear space at both sides, which is not possible in every corner.

Two smaller points matter over time. Nineteen ratings is a thin sample to lean on, even at 4.5, so you are buying partly on the design rather than on a long track record. And the midrange sits on a pair of 3-inch drivers, which keeps voices clear but gives you less weight in that band than towers carrying 5 or 6.5-inch midrange units.

Skytronic SHFT52B Tower vs the Fenton SHF700B and Q Acoustics 3050i

The Fenton SHF700B costs £9.91 more at £159.90 and fires its dual 6.5-inch woofers forward, with a horn tweeter on the front baffle. Buy the SHF700B if the two cabinets have to sit close to furniture or a wall, because it does not depend on side clearance the way the SHFT52B does. Buy the Skytronic if you can give each tower open space and want its sideways bass and its lower entry price.

The Q Acoustics 3050i is the step up at £499, which is £349.01 more, and it brings two 165 mm (6.5 in) drivers and a 22 mm tweeter per tower, 91 dB sensitivity and 119 buyers at 4.5. Choose it for a larger room or a better amplifier, where that extra cone area and efficiency show. Stay with the SHFT52B if £150 is the ceiling and you already own the amplifier.