Center Channel speaker placement

[Trashman]

I have a 58" flat panel that sits on a 24"(height) stand, tower speakers on each side of stand, I'm trying to decide where to put center speaker....would it be better to wall mount brackets on top of tv for center roughly 60" high so it would be above tower speakers height wise.......or to put center on 24" stand in front center of tv.
I guess what i am asking is it preferred to have center above or below seating level??

 

[spidey07]

I find it lower is better in that size/height. Whatever get's it closer to tweeter height of your mains. My center is barely a foot (tweeter level) off the floor but it works much better than at 6 feet. Try both to see what works best for you and your room.

 

[kalrith]

I have my 50" plasma on this 27" tall stand with the center on the top shelf angled up a little bit (I know that the speaker shouldn't be in a cabinet, but there's nowhere else for it). I use 36" tall towers for the mains, so the center's tweeter is probably 10" lower than the tweeters in the mains. I'm very pleased with the resulting front sound stage, and I think it blends really well.

But like spidey said, the best placement of the speaker is what works best for you and your room. In my case that was the center on the top shelf of the TV stand.

 

[Noubourne]

They key to center placement is to put it where you get the best impression that the sound is coming from the TV directly.

Ideally, the sound would originate directly from the TV - where the people's mouths are - to give the best impression that you are actually there listening to them. Because you have a plasma TV, and not an accoustically transparent screen, you basically do not have any ideal options.

So whichever option you can set up that provides the best illusion of sound coming from the TV is the one you should use. That said, many people have to make compromises based on what is easiest to place - or least dangerous.

I have mine sitting below the TV - propped up to point at the listening position, and that is the best I can do with my setup.

Good luck!

 

[iRONic]

These:

Originally posted by: spidey07
Whatever get's it closer to tweeter height of your mains. My center is barely a foot (tweeter level) off the floor but it works much better than at 6 feet. Try both to see what works best for you and your room.

Originally posted by: Noubourne
They key to center placement is to put it where you get the best impression that the sound is coming from the TV directly.

I have mine sitting below the TV - propped up to point at the listening position, and that is the best I can do with my setup.

 

[Trashman]

many people have to make compromises

thats where i seem to be at, i didn't plan properly regarding speakers when i purchased the stand.
The only way to put speaker on stand below tv is if i wall mount my tv in order to raise tv 2-3" higher off of stand, so the speaker will not block tv screen. Stand doesn't have a speaker shelf, gotta put on base of stand.
So I bought some wall mount brackets so i could put speaker on top of tv......thats what got me thinking.
My 3rd option a block of wood about 2" tall and shape it to fit base stand of tv and stain to match my stand without looking crappy.
But yeah i do agree with spivey that it does sound better below tv than above...thanx

 

[SlickSnake]

Originally posted by: Trashman

many people have to make compromises

thats where i seem to be at, i didn't plan properly regarding speakers when i purchased the stand.
The only way to put speaker on stand below tv is if i wall mount my tv in order to raise tv 2-3" higher off of stand, so the speaker will not block tv screen. Stand doesn't have a speaker shelf, gotta put on base of stand.
So I bought some wall mount brackets so i could put speaker on top of tv......thats what got me thinking.
My 3rd option a block of wood about 2" tall and shape it to fit base stand of tv and stain to match my stand without looking crappy.
But yeah i do agree with spivey that it does sound better below tv than above...thanx

With the center speaker, you only have compromises as far as placement. One of my centers on my HTs is above my TV a few inches on a shelf. The other center on my other HT is actually behind the TV itself.

On the application where it is above the LCD TV which sits on a stand about 2 feet 6 inches high, the center speaker is a 3 way IL36c that is less than a 8 inches out of horizontal alignment with the tweeters on the towers, but the shelf is about 5 feet and a few inches high but only about 2 inches above the TV. I also have 3 way IL40s towers standing about a foot and a half off the ground. One is on a IL120 sub, the other one is on a stand built to the same height as the sub. While the height of the towers in this arrangement is about 6 inches too tall to be ideal, the towers are a bit short to begin with. And they are about a foot shorter than the powered IL60s are on my other system, which are the ideal listening height. And I also have a spare IL120 sub for this HT arrangement I am not using ATM due to space restrictions, which is why I had to make a stand.

On the second HT, I originally had a 2 way IL25c behind the TV on a dresser 3 feet high matched to a pair of IL60s. And the center was a bit muddied by the placement. So I picked up a Beta c360 center (which is basically the same speaker components as the Interlude series) and the problem with the muddy center blocked by the TV was completely eliminated. I also experimented with turning the center upside down so the tweeter was on the bottom. But it sounded better with the tweeter partially blocked on top, like the normal array would be. And the center is about 6 inches out of horizontal alignment with the midranges on the IL60s.

So if you choose to block the center somewhat behind a large LCD TV, you need a TV that is raised up a bit off the stand (or raised up a bit with a few blocks of wood under the stand) with a beefy center to place behind it.

 

[erwos]

Alas, mine is above the TV by a couple feet on a pair of bracket mounts. Nowhere else to put it. I missed being able to put it on the shelf below the TV by a couple inches.

On the plus side, sound quality is still pretty good - the receiver compensates a bit for the distance. It's not like it feels like the sound is coming from above or anything.