How critical is height of Fronts

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Foxrox

Junior Audioholic
I'm finishing my basement and putting in a custom-built entertainment center. Believe me, I'm aware that this is not optimal. I've already accepted that my HT system won't be perfect. I've fought WAF and practicality issues from the beginning, but I may be still be able to save the height of my left and right fronts if it is critical.

Right now the plan is to have the top of the entertainment center where the speakers will sit at 34" high, but I can squeeze that down a bit if I have to. The tweeter on my Polk LSiM 703s is 10-1/2" above the bottom, so that puts them at 44-1/2" above the floor. Listening distance will be about 10'. Are the speakers too high? Will the sound stage be weird or out of balance somehow? The center will be below the TV with tweeter at about 24" above the floor. I know I'll probably need to angle it up a bit but that's okay. No second row. I can't really angle the bookshelves down though. Or can I? Should I? That sounds weird. Please advise.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
What height will your ears be at in the normal listening position? You generally want the tweeters at that height....
 
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Foxrox

Junior Audioholic
I have not yet purchased the furniture, but I’m assuming my ear height will be about 40” or slightly lower, as per the norm. I’m aiming for equal height but also maximizing space and practical use of the entertainment center. I’m wondering if worrying about the few inches difference is making a mountain out of a mole hill.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Okay. If you do angle your speakers (angled up or down, or even turn the speakers upside down altho that may not work well outside a bookshelf model) to get the tweeters in line with the ears it should be fine but I wouldn't worry about say up to 10 degrees off myself....just depends how picky you want to be :)
 
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Foxrox

Junior Audioholic
Alright, even with a worst case I’m not even close to 10 degrees so I’m going to call it a mole hill and move on. Thanks for the input!
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
I think if the tweeters within about 18” of each other you should be ok. That might depend on how far apart they are, but I think if you angle all speakers toward your ears you’ll be ok.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
Within about 6" of ear level should work, but the reality is it depends also on the environment and the speaker itself. Speakers image differently, so it may require a bit of trial and error and also I'd try to allow yourself the ability to make some minor height adjustments. You won't really know until you try it out.

I've used the LSi7s in a setup similar and found that they actually sounded better with a phantom center unfortunately. Angled up is better than angled down IMO, so I'd shoot for straight out for the mains as long as they aren't too far above.
 
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