Non Optimal Speaker Placement

TerrellC

Just a quick question on the front and center speaker placement. My wife is dead set on getting an entertainment center to go around the TV...you know for cute decorations:)

The room: The room is 10' wide by about 30 feet long. The TV viewing area is only about a 10' x 15' portion of the room. 8' ceilings.

With the entertainment center and TV (60") on the back wall together I am only left about 5 inches on either side between the side walls. The speakers I am using for the fronts are LSI9's and they are around 10" wide each.

It looks like my only option is to put the front speakers on top of the entertainment center and as wide as possible.

Should I angle them down to the main couch which is about 10' back?

I always read about the tweeter needing to be at ear level. How will this speaker placement affect me if they are angled down from a lot higher(6') than ear level.

If the fronts are on top, should the center also be at the same level as well?

As always, thank you for your help. This forum amazes me.

Terrell

LittleCar_w/12s

You can always do what we c/a guys do... build it to suit! Get out that saw and get to building, you'll be happier in the end. You can make cable traces hidden behind the backing on side-shelves, etc, almost build in your speakers and TV, etc...

If you don't want to paint, H/D carries pre-white or woodstained panels to build from if I remember correctly. It's a convenient thing to have pre-finished panels, though they'd explode in our (c/a) applications.
-Jerry

LittleCar_w/12s

I didn't even focus on your ?...
Yes, that height difference will make a difference. Don't do it man! That's why tower speakers have them at the top - the ear-level effect makes it more real and staging is much better. As for your standard-range drivers, you will be loosing a good bit of floor-loading on your low end, it might sound a bit empty.

TerrellC

Thanks for the response. Unfortunately I'm no "Tim Taylor" (home improvement guy). I think I am stuck with the entertainment center. She loves the look of it and I wouldn't be able to reproduce that.

However, two other options occurred to me:

1) Put the speakers on the bottom shelf of glass cabinet. This would put them roughly ear level. We would have to open both of the side cabinet doors to reveal the speakers. Would the speakers in this location adversely affect the sound reproduction?

2) Attach the speakers to the front side walls about 1 foot in front of the TV. Since the room is 10' wide and the couch is 10' back, the speakers would create a good triangle. I've never seen fronts attached to the side walls before...any issues with that?

Thanks!

Terrell

Early B.

Can you simply put the Lsi9's on stands slightly in front of both ends of the cabinet and toe them in? Placement is critical for your 9's, so you should consider building in some flexibility to whatever scenario you choose.

BTW, forget about option 1. Don't place your speakers in the cabinet. You'll choke them. Option 2 has some potential, but you will need to find a good speaker bracket that swivels, can hold the weight of the 9, and that does not require drilling holes in the speaker cabinet.

Frank Z

I guess I'll be the one to say it....Tell the wife "NO CABINET...Damnit!"

WAF is always a bear but in this case speaker placement needs to be a priority. Hell even a pair of "Telephone Tables" used as speaker stands (that are open at the bottom for stuff) are a much better option than cramming a damn fine pair of speakers into a space that will practically ruin the sound.

Time to make a stand my friend.

(No pun intended.)

TerrellC

Frank you crack me up:) Funny post. My wife was in the room and read the post and laughed too.

I will look into the telephone stand or speaker stand options. I agree, no reason to spend that kind of money for lousy sound.

Early B: Thanks for the warning on placing the speakers in the cabinet.

Terrell