speaker height for new apt. (1 Viewer)

[BenW]

hey, first time post. any help would be appreciated.

i just moved into my new apartment and am looking to arrange my 5.1 surround. the ceiling in the living room is fairly high, prob 14 ft. and, at the top, there is some nice, old molding that could invisibly conceal speaker wires. now, here is my question. i would love to mount these speakers near the top of the wall, prob around 10 ft up and spaced accordingly around the room. i want a very clean look to this room and placing speakers at ear level will screw that up. will i be sacrificing a tremendous amount of sound quality for this idea? also, i bought wall mounts for the speakers. does this dampen the sound in any way, as opposed to stands?

again, apologies for the inexperience contained in this post. i am new

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Welcome to the Forum, Ben!

It’s always best to have the front speakers as close to ear level as possible. However, some people prefer form over function, and if that’s you then go for it. After all, you’re the one who has to live there everyday, not us.

Would the compromise in sound quality be tremendous? Well, “tremendous” is a pretty strong word. Sure, it’s a compromise, but I wouldn’t say it’s a tremendous one. What you might try is doing a temporary installation for a few days to compare the two (the fronts up high and at ear level) to see what you think. “Temporary” in this case means you don’t go to all the trouble to hide the wiring.

Seems kinda moot since you want to wall mount, doesn’t it? Where you gonna find 10 ft. stands?

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[BenW]

what about placing the center and fronts at around ear level and then the rears up about 10' and then angled down towards the listener?

 

[Kevin_Spradley]

I have seen this done several times. My current setup is like this as well. But you have to let your ear(s) be the judge.