Question about front speaker height (1 Viewer)

[Chris_House]

I just ordered my new front speakers (Polk RT35i's), and I am now looking for speaker stands. That seems like it wouldn't be a very big deal, but I have a delima. My center speaker is set up so that it is fairly high above my TV, and I really have no other place to put it. What I need to know is how high my front speakers should sit. Should they be even with the TV, or with the center speaker?
I drew some rough pictures of my setup to help explain what I am talking about. I made two, one showing the speakers sitting even with my TV, and one with the speakers sitting closer to the center channel. Here is the first picture (I think you need to copy and paste the URLS):
http://www.angelfire.com/mo2/mydvdpage/setup1.jpg
You can see that the speakers sit at just the right height for the TV, but too low for the center.
Second pic:
http://www.angelfire.com/mo2/mydvdpage/setup2.jpg
Here, the speakers sit well above the viewing level, but closer to the center speaker. I assume this will make for better imaging, but is it too high above the TV?
So which scenerio is better? Is it more important to keep the three speakers aligned, or to keep the mains level with the TV? Thanks for any advice.

 

[Juan M]

See http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...801#post575801
I think people will tell you to keep the mains at ear level and try to angle the center so that it aims at the listening position.
I really couldn't tell you from experience, but that's what I've read here

 

[Greg_R]

Option #1 is better. Have the main's tweeter at ear level and angle the center down so it is pointing at your listening position.

 

[jeff lam]

ditto

 

[Ed_A]

Chris,
I think you might get some mixed opinions about this....
There was a thread (last week?) that talked, a bit heated at times, about this very subject. You might want to run a search for "speaker height".
IMHO I like the "tweeter at ear level" scenario. Just above ear level has worked well for me too...
In your case, as with mine, the center is higher than the mains...There's really no way around that; it's either above or below your TV, unless you have a projector with a perforated screen. What I've done is angle it down toward the listening position and have obtained really good results. You might want to try that.
Your picture links didn't work for me but I think I got the jist of it...in scenario two all three front speakers are at the same height, this would be ideal but puts the speakers far above ear level. If you angled all three down toward the listening position it might work. I think scenario one would be my choice with just angling down the center. That's what I did.
I think you should experiment with the different heights to find what sounds best to you.

 

[Chris_House]

Thanks a lot Ed! By the way, did you try copying and pasting the URLS? I think that should work.

 

[Ed_A]

Chris,
copying and pasting worked like a champ!
Scenario one would be my choice. If your drawing is to scale, it looks like 28" to 30" stands might work well for you.

 

[Phil Iturralde]

Another recommendation is to keep the Center tweeter dome-center axis within 2' (or less) from the Front Mains tweeter dome-center axis.

Phil