Speaker Placement and Tilt

[Euler]

Hi All,

In a few days,a UPS truck will deliver a pair of C7ES-3s to our home. We have no room for stands. The speakers have to go on top of a wood cabinet which is built into the wall and houses the TV and audio equipment. The top of the cabinet is 4 ft high, 8 ft wide, and 22 inches deep. The question is, given this less than ideal situation, where the speakers have to be so high, what speaker placement and tilt would produce the best sound?

(a) vertical and tilted downward
(b) horizontal (with the tweeters to the inside) and tilted downward

In either case, I'd use something like a rugger door stopper, wedged under the rear of the speakers, tilting the speakers downward to aim the tweeter at the listener's ear (about 9 ft away from the cabinet).

Of course I can test various placements myself, but my ear is not that well-trained, so I'd appreciate some initial guidance.

Thanks for any advice,

Bruce

[Euler]

I'm attaching a picture of the cabinet. As you can see, there's also the problem of the speakers being close to side walls.

Bruce

[Supersnake]

My suggestion is to place that right speaker on a stand about 1 foot in front of the brick ledge and perpendicular to the center of the right set of drawers. Then place the left speaker on a stand of equal height perpendicular to the center of the left drawer.

Alan in a prior thread suggests distancing speakers two units apart. Then sit 3 units in front of them. No mater what the distance is between the speakers that will be two units of distance.

I prefer to arrange the speakers so that if they are about 2 units of length apart, then I sit and listen 3 units of length away from them. That's my personal preference.
The units could be feet or metres. [A.S.]

Note that (a) 2 units of length apart and 3 units of length in front is the same as (b) 1 unit of length apart and 1.5 units of length in front which may be easier to measure.

You can also make that triangle an equilateral one and see how that sounds. If you utilize your fireplace you should disregard my suggestions if your speakers are going to be subject to directed radiant heat from the fireplace. One other consideration would be to have your missus hang a drape in front of that side wall window and a railed curtain over the window behind the speakers, I would imagine that sound bouncing off glass would not be advised.

See the edited snapshot. Hope this helps.

[Euler]

My suggestion is to place that right speaker on a stand about 1 foot in front of the brick ledge and perpendicular to the center of the right set of drawers. Then place the left speaker on a stand of equal height perpendicular to the center of the left drawer.

Thank you for your reply and your suggestion. Unfortunately, placing stands anywhere on the floor, including where you suggest, blocks well-tracked areas. The only feasible place for the speakers is on top of the cabinet. So the question is, given that constraint, how should I position the speakers to get the best sound?

[Jmohd]

Hi,

Is the fireplace in the middle of the room?
I suggest that you place the the speakers by the side of the fireplace (fieplace in the middle)
Pls visit audiogon to view various set-up.

[garmtz]

Tilt them down, placed vertically with the tweeter on top. This will give the best time-alignment I think.

[Euler]

Hi,

Is the fireplace in the middle of the room?
I suggest that you place the the speakers by the side of the fireplace (fieplace in the middle)
Pls visit audiogon to view various set-up.

Yes, the fireplace is in the middle of the room, which extends off to the right in the photo. But the couch where we sit is opposite the TV and the cabinet, so the speakers _have_ to go on top of the cabinet. So the questions are: vertical or horizontal? tilted downward to aim at the listener's ear?

[ryder]

Placement of speakers is extremely critical to obtain the best sound reproduction and as such, Supersnake's idea is ideal. I can understand your main concern on WAF and the possibility of tripping over the cables running across the floor. One suggestion is to use flat speaker cables such as Nordost and place a rug on top of the cables. This way you can have access to the TV and the shelves on the sides without tripping over the wires.

If the speakers still need to go on top of the cabinet, place them vertical as they are intended and tilt them downwards a little. I doubt there will be any significant difference tilting them a little. Just make sure they don't topple over and fall to the ground with too much tilt. Have fun experimenting. Cheers.