[steveT77]

I'm working with a cabinet guy on a home theater cabinet, built to include all components, plus L,C,R speakers. I'd appreciate help with these two questions:

1. Is center channel speaker placement better above or below the TV? I'm fitting in a 60" flat screen, and am building in my L,R speaker towers (38" tall) on the sides. The bottom of the monitor will sit about 30" off the ground. So if I put my 11" tall center speaker above the monitor, it'll sit pretty high, way above the L/R. If I put it below, it's a bit close to the ground...

2. I've asked the cabinet guy to put in as many channels for ventilation as he can. If most components are in cabinets below the monitor, what else should I do to help ventilation? I've read about using fans; would it be a good idea to put a couple of fans mounted horizontally flush with the bottom of the TV shelf (above the component area), pulling air up out of the bottom cabinets where the components are, trying to create airflow up behind the TV and then up to the top of the cabinet? Or do I need to push air down into the component sections, trying to get the air flowing across the components? Or something else altogether?

Thanks for all opinions...

[Robert_J]

1. Most people mount it above the screen, angled down towards the listeners.

2. Hot air rises. Pulling it up just helps it rise faster. Have some type of vent, hole, gap at the bottom that will pull in cool air.

-Robert

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Welcome to the Forum, Steve!

1. I’ve had mine both above and below. Just angle it towards the seating. When you get engrossed in a program you won’t be paying any attention to it anyway.

2. You didn’t mention of the cabinets will be fully enclosed (i.e., with doors). You probably won’t need ventilation unless it’s fully enclosed. As Robert alluded, a fan should be configured to exhaust hot air out of the cabinet. Depending on how your gear is situated, however, there may be locations preferable to a top-of-the-cabinet. In the cabinet I used to use, I had the receiver on the bottom shelf, and the rest of the gear on shelves above it. Since the receiver is the only heat-generating device, I installed a exhaust fan behind it in the rear panel of the cabinet. Hot air was blocked by the shelf above the receiver, and pulled out before it could rise up to the other components above. If I had installed the fan at the top of the cabinet, there would have still an accumulation of heat between the shelves where the receiver was located. This way the receiver was kept cool, while above the receiver things got only mildly warm.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt