• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Advice on stereo speaker height. Floorstanding or standmount when a couch is in the way?

Blew

Active Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2020
Messages
178
Likes
62
Location
Sydney, Australia
Hi all,

I am looking at purchasing a new stereo hi-fi system to replace my existing standmount speakers & integrated amp. The existing system is too small for the room size (10.5m x 4.1m). I bought it for our previous house, so want to move that system to a smaller room that's better sized for it. I'm looking at a new pair of speakers and integrated amp.

The problem is there is a couch that sits perpendicular to my listening position and in the line of sight to the right speaker, which is about 6m away from my listening position. My existing standmount speakers (Audio Physic Classic Compact) are 1 metre high in total, but. because they are only 30cm in height. the 70cm stands they are on allow full line of sight of the right speaker over the offending couch. There is a small coffee table at the end of the offending couch, then about 1m of space to the hi-fi and speakers. Having full line of sight means the speakers are at about ear level when I'm sitting down so I dont' feel like much sound is being obstructed by furniture. I also have a sub in the corner to complement them. So they sound quite good considering, but just not powerful enough.

Given the room size I feel floorstanding speakers are necessary. I am concerned that most of the speaker domes in the floorstanders that I've seen will be below the couch height of 70cm, meaning the couch will obstruct the directional frequencies (above 300Hz?) and impact the sound coming from the speakers to my listening position. I don't want to buy expensive floorstanding speakers only to find I can't hear them properly from where I sit!

So my questions are:
  • Should I be looking at more powerful standmounts with a sub or two instead of floorstanding, so that I can raise the entire speaker above the height of the couch again?
  • Will the frequencies on the floorstanding woofers (below 70cm height) be low enough that directionality is not an issue from my listening position?
  • Is this something that can be compensated for effectively with YPAO etc?
  • Am I right in assuming that the taller the floorstanding speaker the better?
Any advice here is appreciated!
 

Hipper

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jun 16, 2019
Messages
753
Likes
625
Location
Herts., England
Of course generally it's best not to have anything - couches, coffee tables - between your speakers and listening position (LP). Frankly I would look at some way to get the couch out of the way. I appreciate it may not be possible.

Six metres from speaker to LP is quite a distance. I don't suppose you could bring your current speakers closer to your LP? You could always move them out of the way when not listening. In this way perhaps, firstly it would get rid of the couch problem, and secondly, it may allow your speakers to be heard well enough that they won't need replacing. Positioning of speakers and LP has a major effect on what you hear, especially bass, so you can improve the sound too with careful positioning.

To hear what effect having your couch in the way of the bass driver of your speakers might be you could as an experiment lower them both so that the right one's bass driver is hidden, then listen to how the bass is affected.

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) with the ability to have different settings for both channels would be helpful. You would need to be able to measure and correct each speaker separately. However increasing some frequencies which are already being muffled by the couch probably won't work as it just means more sound is absorbed.

Floorstanders generally still need the tweeter to be about ear level so unless they are of an unconventional design they would typically be about the same height as standmount/bookshelf speakers. Indeed some companies like Harbeth only make standmounts but they can still apparently fill a reasonable sized room with sound. In either case a sub will be useful.

The other possibility is to raise you current speakers so high that they are completely above the couch, then angle them downwards so that the tweeter still points at your ears. You could try that initially with books or blocks of wood and wedges to angle the speakers.
 
OP
Blew

Blew

Active Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2020
Messages
178
Likes
62
Location
Sydney, Australia
Thanks for the advice. It sounds like I either have to go for standmount speakers and ensure they are fully over 70cm in height to avoid the couch getting in the way, or rearrange the speakers to be infront of the couch.

The Focal Aria 906 standmounts look like a good option because both of the drivers sit above the port, giving them a little extra height. Does it matter if the port it a little obstructed at all?
Yes I could keep my existing standmounts in that case too, but I'm looking for an excuse to move them downstairs!

If I went for the other option and rearranged the speakers to be infront of the offending couch (so that it becomes my new LP) then they'd be on the side wall of the rectangular room and would need to be fairly close to the wall. How would that fair for the acoustics of the room as a whole?

The other issue with this arrangement is that the other couch (my current LP) would be very close behind the left speaker, which may cause complaints about volume from those sitting on it! I'd also have to buy new, longer, speaker wire to run from the front of the room where the hi-fi gear is now. I have very good speaker wire at the moment as I found it as offcuts in a bargain bin, but would like to understand more about just how important expensive speaker wire is.
 

Hipper

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jun 16, 2019
Messages
753
Likes
625
Location
Herts., England
I too have expensive speaker wire. However many on here would say I've wasted my money and cheaper but well made cables are just as good. They may well be right. Check out some threads on here - some people can be quite passionate on the subject! In any case their effects are at most minor compared to moving speakers and LP about.

I don't know much about speaker port behaviour.

If you can post a plan or some photos of the room it would be easier to offer advice on locations.

From what you say you are listening whilst others are in the room who will not be listening - is that right. Apart from headphones I've no idea what solution there is for this. Some highly directional speakers maybe - those that throw out sound mostly forwards but very little sideways or backwards.
 
OP
Blew

Blew

Active Member
Joined
Jul 24, 2020
Messages
178
Likes
62
Location
Sydney, Australia
I too have expensive speaker wire. However many on here would say I've wasted my money and cheaper but well made cables are just as good. They may well be right. Check out some threads on here - some people can be quite passionate on the subject! In any case their effects are at most minor compared to moving speakers and LP about.
Interesting. I'll have to do more reading up on that. So then let's assume that speaker wire is not a limiting factor here.
don't know much about speaker port behaviour.

If you can post a plan or some photos of the room it would be easier to offer advice on locations.
The photo below is the vide from my listening position. The speakers are currently just on bar stools as I play around with the positioning. I want to get speaker stands at the right height once I've decided what I'm doing. The coffee table is temporary too.

View attachment 183501

The couch on the right is the problem, but the other day I discovered that I can quite easily fold down the back cushion to reduce the overall height. This brings it down to 60cm high. The bar stools are 68cm high. Once I did this I noticed a distinct improvement in the sound coming from the right speaker. I'm now much happier with the placement in the room as folding down the cushion doesn't take much effort to do. Because of that I'm now wondering if it's better to keep these speakers in the room, and instead work on putting in appropriate stands, speaker placement, new amp/receiver, and adding another subwoofer. I'm concerned that most floorstanding speakers won't have all drivers high enough to match the 70cm that I think is ideal for clearing the couch and matching the tweeters with ear level at the listening position.

However, the sound stage of these speakers sounds a lot better when sitting closer to them. I don't think they were ever designed for a room of this size. The sensitivity of the speakers is 86dB and 8Ohm impedance. That appears to be similar to many other standmount speakers. Does that mean that others with the same specifications will produce the same volume as these? ie, not much point in replacing them with other standmounts?

The alternative placement is putting speakers on either side of the mantlepiece, which is opposite the couch in the picture. I'm now thinking that would look too crowded and not do the room justice, as it would only really be suitable for sitting in that one couch.

From what you say you are listening whilst others are in the room who will not be listening - is that right. Apart from headphones I've no idea what solution there is for this. Some highly directional speakers maybe - those that throw out sound mostly forwards but very little sideways or backwards.
Ideally it would provide a great experience for listening on my own as well as being well placed for playing in the background at lower volumes when others are in the room. Hence the comment above.
 

Hipper

Addicted to Fun and Learning
Joined
Jun 16, 2019
Messages
753
Likes
625
Location
Herts., England
I can't open the attachment. It says 'The requested page could not be found'.

I'm not to clued up on speaker sensitivity etc. but I think your interpretation is correct.

https://www.lifewire.com/speaker-sensitivity-3134850

If you are closer to the speakers you won't have to play them so loud so they are less likely to annoy others in the room. If they sound better to you as well......

What decides how close you can get to your speakers is whether the drivers of each speaker will integrate to sound like one speaker and not a separate woofer and tweeter. Also the distance between the speakers can only be as wide as getting the strongest centre image - the vocals usually. The usual test for that is to place them close together and then widen the distance until you hear the centre image weaken. Don't worry about having to make an equilateral tringle (all sides equal), just an isosceles triangle (the distances from both speakers to your LP are equal).

I have floor standing speakers but they are only 1.5 metres away from my LP. It looks odd but sounds good!
 
Top Bottom