JBL S38II Speaker Placement? (1 Viewer)

[JohnE]

Well my S38's arrived today so I thought I'd ask a couple of questions about placement. Do those of you that have these set them vertically or horizontally? Do you use a speaker stand or just have them sitting on the floor? If stands, which ones? I was also thinking of building my own stands and was wondering what the optimal height would be?

Thanks for any advice. I haven't had a chance to hear them yet since my receiver hasn't shown up yet, but I really like the look of them. They are a bit bigger than I was expecting though, but not in a bad way.

 

[David_Rivshin]

John,
Firstly congratulations on your purchase, I'm sure you'll enjoy them as much as I enjoy mine
As for your questions:
Optimal height for any speaker is so the tweeter is about ear level. Sometimes to get it closer to the level of the center channel you compramise about, but ear level is ballpark. This basically requires the S38's to be on stands. I have mine on a pair of MetalTech (aka WoodTech) TMT-30 metal stands filled with some regular play sand. The S38's should definately be placed on their side for proper imaging, as described in the manual. The tweeter baffle is optimized for horizontal dispersion, and you would likely get lobbing effects if the tweeter and midrange were side-by-side anyways.
Also, if you're a die-hard tweaker you might want to search for a recent thread on upgrading the crossover network of S26's. The same info would be useful for upgrading the S38's crossover. I haven't had the time or patience to do it myself yet but am planning on it "eventually"

Hope this helps
-- Dave

 

[JohnE]

Thanks very much David. The advice does indeed help a lot.

 

[Joe Casey]

I had them and preferred them horizontal on 28" stands away from the rear wall.

 

[Citizen87645]

I have them placed horizontally and on the top of my audio racks. I bought self-adhesive rubber bumper pads and placed them on the corners to elevate them from the shelving.

Enjoy!

 

[Drew_W]

I actually have these things vertical about a foot and a half from the celing on bookshelves in my parents room. If you pull on the JBL nameplace thingy, you can actually pull it out and rotate it.

The large cabinet allows for great bass reproduction, and for stereo listening, these things are absolutely fantastic. Hope you enjoy them.