CECAA850 Posted December 8, 2004 Share Posted December 8, 2004 I've owned many bookshelf speakers in my life, but for the first time ever, I am actually thinking about putting them on an actual bookshelf. I currently have 2 RB35's as my rear surrounds in a 7.1 set up. They are on top of the bookcase angled downward toward the listening position. They have all been calibrated with an SPL meter. If I sit off axis in a non prime seating location, I can hear the info fairly well, but at the seating position, I don't seem to hear it as well as I think I should. My thinking is that they are too high. To bring the speakers down from their current 9-10 foot height to roughly a heigth of 5 feet I would have to lie them on their sides. The front of the speakers are molded so the horns can not be turned. My question is, has anyone tried this (laying them on their sides) and how did it work? Thanks, Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted December 9, 2004 Author Share Posted December 9, 2004 23 views, no posts, time for a bump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nicholtl Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 I kind of have the same issue as you in my bedroom. My rear RB5II's sit about 9 feet high, atop a bookshelf. Laying them on their sides at 5 feet make them sound better only because they are more at ear level. However, for movies, the 9 foot height provided more spaciousness and a movie theater-like resemblance. I've never critically listened to the bookshelves on top vs. sideways at ear level, but if I had to guess, I'd say it's not much of a compromise, considering your setup is already doing so. It'll probably sound the same, more or less. Unless you've got some funky acoustic anomalies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinipig523 Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 Wouldn't the soundstage get messed up if a speaker was placed in a position where it wasnt supposed to be? Laying it on its side would be detrimental to the overall coherence of sound, I would think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scp53 Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 pinipig523, i would think so too. those horns are meant for a certain direction. tipping them on there side is going to make it disperate the sound different/incorrectly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMcD Posted December 9, 2004 Share Posted December 9, 2004 I believe you're misconceiving the complextity of the situation, and concluding that change will make things worse. Some experimentation is necessary. It may well get better. 90 percent chance of that. An "uncle" of mine had bookshelf speakers up at the ceiling of his small study. On "beautiful music" (WTFM Monatavni strings) they sounded grand. On more demanding material (which was for us, PP&M and Beatles) everything was dull and coming from nowhere. Like elevator music but now you know it is wrong. The suitcase phonograph with detachable speakers sounded better. In those old days I was fooling around with car stereo. Bigger speakers in the back gave more bass. Good but no image. The real breakthough was angled speakers mounted on the doors high up near the listener. They looked like kludges but very effective. Not much has changed in that application. Three inch speakers in car walls. The point is that we can sometimes start with a very poor situation and want to focus on achieving the optimal . . . only to find that we're getting into another, different, sub optimal situation. But it can very well be better. You have to experiment with your speakers in your room. There are no pat answers. Getting more on-axis is a good first step. I wouldn't worry about putting the horns on their sides. Some to the issue is whether they direct sound away from the floor or ceiling, or a close boundry which creates a problem. There are many nearby boundries (walls) so it may be impossible to solve all issues. Move things around. Be happy. Gil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted December 10, 2004 Author Share Posted December 10, 2004 Thanks all, I'll probably play around with them after the holidays. Don't think I'll hide the speaker wires till after I'm happy with their final destination. (Are we ever finally happy with our set ups?) Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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