Height of Speakers???

[saurabh]

I am confused in the height of speakers. I know that the height of speakers should match the ear levels of the listeners, but I am confused about center speaker, I can either place it on top of TV (which becomes slightly above ear levels, above the head to be precise) or below the TV(in the rack) (which will become at knee levels, in sitting position).

Also should I align the front L/R speakers with the center speakers(whereever they are placed) or is it best to keep them at ear levels.

 

[jaxvon]

The way to get the best sound of your center speaker is to aim the drivers at the listeners. An easy and cheap way to do this is to use a couple of rubber doorstops from Home Depot under the back of it to aim it down, or if it's under the TV, a couple under the front to aim it up (though, I would think the first option would win for aesthetics). Play with its placement and see how you get the best sound.

As for relations to the main L&R speakers, all three should be about on the same plane, as poorly illustrated with test below:

{L}____________________{C}_____________________{R}
<-------------------------PLANE--------------------------->

 

[MDS]

Just try to get the center within about 2 feet of the L/R speakers. You can experiment with aiming like Jaxvon suggested as well.

Note also that if given the choice, above the tv is better than below. This is because we can more readily localize sounds below us than above and for home theater you don't want to be able to tell that the sound is coming from below the tv - you want it to appear as if the sound is coming directly from the actor's mouths.