Best Center Speaker Position

[echoesian]

Above or below TV? Please vote for your preference and share some of your thoughts pls...

[crazyBLUE]

Below & in a Vertical position rather than Horizontal

[echoesian]

vertical placement is ugly IMHO

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by echoesian

vertical placement is ugly IMHO

But it will give you the best performance. Real audiophiles care more about sound quality than ugliness.

[Fors*]

I would love to add a 3rd tower as my center and place it under my screen vertically, but space limitations wouldn't allow it. So, if you have a more traditional horizontal center speaker, most will tell you to place it under the TV, possibly directed upwards towards your ears at your primary seating position.

AQ > aesthetics = true audiophile.

[Kali157]

From experience (and BD's stickies), you can solve the problem of the traditional MTM (mid-tweeter-mid) design by getting a center w/ its tweeter vertically aligned w/ its mid. I had a Polk CS20 and the sweet spot was about 2 ft wide (I am being generous too) w/ the sitting position 9.5ft away. Switching to the Aperion 6C solved that... the sweet spot difference is literally night and day.

In terms of top or bottom, from what i read, it doesn't matter as much as making sure your tweeter is pointed at ear level. I stuck w/ under TV b/c of convenience, but more importantly fear: having a 40lb speaker that is angled DOWN 7ft up= disaster to me. Plus if we are talking about looks, having a box that sticks out a foot from the wall looks ugly... why get a flat panel, right?

[Yeha-Noha]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

But it will give you the best performance. Real audiophiles care more about sound quality than ugliness.

In the real world us married guys have to worry about WAF. Horizontal placement wins. Vertical center speakers, unless they're towers, look too darn ugly.

Besides, I have tried positioning my Energy Speaker center both ways while my wife was out shopping. I couldn't distinguish any differences in performance.

Thus, I can have my cake and eat it too.

[BigAl87]

Originally Posted by rwojtalewicz

In the real world us married guys have to worry about WAF. Horizontal placement wins. Vertical center speakers, unless they're towers, look too darn ugly.

Besides, I have tried positioning my Energy Speaker center both ways while my wife was out shopping. I couldn't distinguish any differences in performance.

Thus, I can have my cake and eat it too.

Seriously Rwo that C-100 is one of the Best MTM center I've heard aside from the Totem Mite-T C, sweet spot is not narrow at all.
As for positioning as long as there is not more than 15 degree angle to the Main seating position angled upward or downward at the listener's ear level it does not matter to me I experinced both and they work the same but having 2 horizontal center is good too one top and one bottom. .

I will agree with the fact that a Vertical Center is the ultimate best.

[Gremal]

Originally Posted by BigAl87

Seriously Rwo that C-100 is one of the Best MTM center I've heard aside from the Totem Mite-T C, sweet spot is not narrow at all.

You ever heard the B&W HTM1D?

[Beta Man]

Originally Posted by Gremal

You ever heard the B&W HTM1D?

Which brings up the point, that placement is very dependent on the speaker also...... since the HTM1D is meant to be placed exactly as you have it..... not this "ear level" pseudo-rule people try to follow.

[BigAl87]

Originally Posted by Gremal

You ever heard the B&W HTM1D?

No, I'm sure it's very good since B&W tend to raise the tweeter above the 2 midbass drivers, I only say basically from what I auditionned. BTW your center is not excatly an MTM design from what I can see.

And as I stated in my post We recommend people to audition does not mean it's going to sound great to your ears because it does to mines or vice versa. All that beeing said sound is subjective.

Just saying what Rwo has is really well done since it does not seem to have the problem that most MTM design have.

BTW really nice gear!!!

[BigAl87]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Which brings up the point, that placement is very dependent on the speaker also...... since the HTM1D is meant to be placed exactly as you have it..... not this "ear level" pseudo-rule people try to follow.

Beta I could not agree more whith this statement, exception to the rule and speaker placement is really important accroding to manufacturer specs.

A speaker design to work mounted on the floor such as that B&W HTM1D should follow it's own rule.

This one does not exactly fall into my budget.

[statikcat]

Which ever is closest in line with your L/R speakers height wise. I would guess for most people this is below the tv.

[Kali157]

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Which brings up the point, that placement is very dependent on the speaker also...... since the HTM1D is meant to be placed exactly as you have it..... not this "ear level" pseudo-rule people try to follow.

wait, so pointing ear level isn't what you were supposed to do?

[28BlusLater]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

But it will give you the best performance. Real audiophiles care more about sound quality than ugliness.

The center channel sounds better vertical than horizontal???? I've never heard of that. I might have to test that out tonight. What makes it sound better being vertical?


As for me, I believe under the tv is better. In my living room, it's literally two inches below the tv.

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by 28BlusLater

The center channel sounds better vertical than horizontal???? I've never heard of that. I might have to test that out tonight. What makes it sound better being vertical?


As for me, I believe under the tv is better. In my living room, it's literally two inches below the tv.

Read posts #1 and #2 of the sticky thread on this issue. Pay close attention to the conclusions at the bottom of post #1.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/speakers/8...d-avoided.html

[28BlusLater]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Read posts #1 and #2 of the sticky thread on this issue. Pay close attention to the conclusions at the bottom of post #1.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/speakers/8...d-avoided.html

Thanks for the link!

Would the sound waves be a bit different since my MartinLogan uses an ATF driver and not a tweeter? Would I still benefit more from vertically putting the center than horizontally?

I do know that the Encore TF is made to be able to be horizontal, vertical, or mounted. As you said, I prefer the best sound I can get over if it looks good or not. My center channel is at an angle and I do notice that it spreads the sound throughout the room very well, even when on the side of the system. Perhaps that's just because I'm in such a small room though.

[28BlusLater]

Originally Posted by Fors*

I would love to add a 3rd tower as my center and place it under my screen vertically, but space limitations wouldn't allow it. So, if you have a more traditional horizontal center speaker, most will tell you to place it under the TV, possibly directed upwards towards your ears at your primary seating position.

AQ > aesthetics = true audiophile.

I was originally going to have 3 Prefaces and use one of them as the center. I have the same problem, I don't have the space to add another floorstanding speaker as my center. I do have more than enough room to place my center vertically, though.

[ryan4blu]

Originally Posted by 28BlusLater

The center channel sounds better vertical than horizontal???? I've never heard of that. I might have to test that out tonight. What makes it sound better being vertical?


As for me, I believe under the tv is better. In my living room, it's literally two inches below the tv.

ya i dont know if i believe this or not. why would speaker companies spend millions on horizontal speakers if they were not made to be that way. i think it boils down to preference and what you like and can do with your space. center channels were mostly created to be horizontal to begin with.

its kinda like the whole speaker wire/ power cord debates. i just cant see trying to put a 3rd Dali Ikon 7 tower infront on my tv. it would be too tall, now sound wise i dont know. i will give it a shot with my Dali center and see what happens. still dont believe it though

[Yeha-Noha]

Originally Posted by statikcat

Which ever is closest in line with your L/R speakers height wise. I would guess for most people this is below the tv.

Then that may explain why my MTM type Energy C-C100 works as well as it does when horizontal. It is nearly in line with the tower speakers woofers and tweeters. Statikcat, that's a good point. It makes sense to me!

When I tested it vertically oriented, the C-C100's tweeter was nearly a foot above my towers tweeters not to mention blocking my screen. But it was just a test to see if I could hear a difference. There was no way I could lower it to line it up better with the towers. I didn't hear any improvement in dialogue clarity whether on axis or 30 degrees off axis which extends to the extremes of my listening area. The towers are 8 ft apart and the sweet spot is 8 ft from the C-C100 in the center.

In theory perhaps vertical placement is best. But in the real world it doesn't seem to be that simple.