Vertical or horizontal?

Belling

Does it make any difference if bookshelf speakers such as RTi4 or RTi6 are placed on a bookshelf horizontally or must they be vertical? Thanks.

I-SIG

Vertical is prefered, however strong results can be attained going horizontal. Now, it depends on how much seperation there will be between the speakers to determine whether or not you want the tweeters on the inside or outside. If they are close, then put the tweets to the outside. If there is a good spread between them, you can put the tweets on the inside.

Wes

gmorris

Also, "bookshelf" speakers is kind of a misleading term. Those style speakers are not really designed to sit on a bookshelf. You generally will get poor bass response from positioning a speaker on a bookshelf.

"Mini-monitor" or just "monitor" is actually a better term. These speakers are actually designed to sit on a stand. The tweeter is generally positioned at a height from the floor of about 24 to 36 inches.

To get somewhat technical, positioning a speaker horizontally could introduce phase & time-alignment problems.

If I had to make a blanket recommendation, I'd say vertical orientation is the only way to go.

tbPAF

I'm building a cabinet and plan on purchasing and using the rti4's and a csi3. Ideally, I'd like to position the rti4's horizontally so that the speaker shelf height above the tv is minimized and I think that the 3 speaker grills happen to match up nicely in this configuration.

Does anyone know if the dispersion pattern on the rti4's are different in the horizontal or vertical axis where it might be a problem to go horizontal?

If I had the speakers already, I would do my own testing, hence my question.

Thanks!