Turning bookshelf speakers on the side (horizontal) vs upright (vertical)?

[NewbieAudiophileExpert]

Does this make a difference in your opinion?

I have a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 225s coming that I am planning to lay on their side and put my TV on, so that they provide a platform for the TV and make space for the center speaker under the TV.

These will be hooked up to my integrated amp and used for music listening, so I'm curious as to how laying them on the side will affect the sound? So far it seems to me that they would be similar to a center speaker, really, although some people say that this will mess with the sound profile.

In any case, is it better to lay the speaker down horizontally so that the tweeter in on the outside or the inside - me thinks that it's better for the tweeters to be on the outside, since this will improve stereo imaging?

Let me know your thoughts though?

 

[TrevC]

It'll be fine. As you say tweeters on the outside will give a wider stereo image.

 

[MZKM]

You are swapping the horizontal/vertical off-axis response. If your speakers are decently far from any side-walls, it shouldn’t make a ton of difference, especially when used for watching tv.

 

[digitalfrost]

The difference in the distance of the Z-axis between the woofer and the tweeter will tilt the speaker response, also repending on crossover topology.

See

Loudspeaker time alignment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

and

Linkwitz-Riley Crossovers: A Primer

Before exploring Linkwitz-Riley designs, let’s review just what these alignments are and how they differ from traditional Butterworth designs.

www.ranecommercial.com

If you put the speakers on the side it will certainly affect things unless you have something like a Genelec One.

If you need to this, I'll be fine I guess it's like not you were aiming for perfection anyway.

 

[NewbieAudiophileExpert]

The difference in the distance of the Z-axis between the woofer and the tweeter will tilt the speaker response, also repending on crossover topology.

See

Loudspeaker time alignment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

and

Linkwitz-Riley Crossovers: A Primer

Before exploring Linkwitz-Riley designs, let’s review just what these alignments are and how they differ from traditional Butterworth designs.

www.ranecommercial.com

If you put the speakers on the side it will certainly affect things unless you have something like a Genelec One.

If you need to this, I'll be fine I guess it's like not you were aiming for perfection anyway.

That's a good point - I mean of course I want the best performance possible, but at this point in time, this will be the only reasonable way to set these speakers, since I already have two tower speakers on the side of the TV for HT use, and these will be used to music use.

The only option would be to place these on top of the towers, which is no a good idea due to the height, otherwise the way that I am planning to place these speakers, it will be closer to ear level (center speaker level) and they will be about two meters away from the listening position.

 

[Zek]

I am planning to lay on their side and put my TV on

I don't think it's a good idea to put the TV on top of the speakers because of the vibrations that will be transmitted to the TV.

 

[NewbieAudiophileExpert]

I don't think it's a good idea to put the TV on top of the speakers because of the vibrations that will be transmitted to the TV.

Aww mate I don't think that I'll be playing the music THAT loud - besides, the TV won't be on when the bookshelf speakers laying on their side will be playing music.

 

[ferrellms]

Take a look at off-axis measurements of 2 ways in the reviews, typically the dispersion is more even and the response is flatter with the drivers in vertical use (ie better side-to-side smoothness than up and down smoothness), how much real audible difference this makes will vary and depend on your head's locations vis a vis the speakers.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Why not use the theatre speakers for music or vice-versa? Two sets of speakers is a bad idea, sine the unused set "join in", affecting the fidelity.

Speakers designed to be vertical, placed on their side, always sound different to how they're designed to sound.

 

[NewbieAudiophileExpert]

Why not use the theatre speakers for music or vice-versa? Two sets of speakers is a bad idea, sine the unused set "join in", affecting the fidelity.

Speakers designed to be vertical, placed on their side, always sound different to how they're designed to sound.

Well that's because the towers are connected to my AVR and I bought the Diamond 225s for use with my integrated amplifier.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Well that's because the towers are connected to my AVR and I bought the Diamond 225s for use with my integrated amplifier.

Probably the most common approach is to use the integrated amplifier to drive two good speakers for stereo. The AVR drives the centre and surround speakers, with the the good speakers acting as FL and FR. With a bit of tuning, the AVR can also drive a sub for a 2.1 quality setup. This is a much better approach than 2 speakers for movies and 2 different speakers for music.

 

[TrevC]

Speakers designed to be vertical, placed on their side, always sound different to how they're designed to sound.

As long as he doesn't measure them it'll be fine.

 

[mhardy6647]

This topic reminds me of this legacy Heathkit product from the 1970s
source: https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Heathkit-Catalogs/Heathkit-Christmas-1975.pdf

 

[NewbieAudiophileExpert]

Probably the most common approach is to use the integrated amplifier to drive two good speakers for stereo. The AVR drives the centre and surround speakers, with the the good speakers acting as FL and FR. With a bit of tuning, the AVR can also drive a sub for a 2.1 quality setup. This is a much better approach than 2 speakers for movies and 2 different speakers for music.

I did have it set up like that, but my AVR keeps having pops and clicks when it feeds the amp from the front pre-out(s), so I called it quits and bought some nice and decent bookshelves for music listening.

I do not regret the purchase and based on reviews so far, the Wharfedale Diamond 225s are supposed to be really good speakers.

As long as he doesn't measure them it'll be fine.

I'll actually try them out in a 'normal position and then set them on the side - heck, I might even use my UMIK-1 for 'good measure'.

This topic reminds me of this legacy Heathkit product from the 1970s
source: https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Catalogs/Heathkit-Catalogs/Heathkit-Christmas-1975.pdf

View attachment 237769

View attachment 237780

Wonder what the manufacturers of speakers with tweeters at the bottom would have to say about this. ^

 

[sarumbear]

Does this make a difference in your opinion?

I have a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 225s coming that I am planning to lay on their side and put my TV on, so that they provide a platform for the TV and make space for the center speaker under the TV.

These will be hooked up to my integrated amp and used for music listening, so I'm curious as to how laying them on the side will affect the sound? So far it seems to me that they would be similar to a center speaker, really, although some people say that this will mess with the sound profile.

In any case, is it better to lay the speaker down horizontally so that the tweeter in on the outside or the inside - me thinks that it's better for the tweeters to be on the outside, since this will improve stereo imaging?

Let me know your thoughts though?

I don’t have data for your speakers. But here is dispersion data of a very decent bookshelf speaker.

If you want to replace something like this:

With something like this:

Do go ahead

 

[NewbieAudiophileExpert]

I don’t have data for your speakers. But here is dispersion data of a very decent bookshelf speaker.

If you want to replace something like this:

View attachment 237952

With something like this:

View attachment 237953

Do go ahead

Like I said, I'll try both ways and then decide on the one that sounds the best - if I can tell them apart, that is.

 

[tuga]

 

[NewbieAudiophileExpert]

Ahh yeah, okay, so now you just spoke a language that I understand.

 

[mhardy6647]

I did have it set up like that, but my AVR keeps having pops and clicks when it feeds the amp from the front pre-out(s), so I called it quits and bought some nice and decent bookshelves for music listening.

I do not regret the purchase and based on reviews so far, the Wharfedale Diamond 225s are supposed to be really good speakers.

I'll actually try them out in a 'normal position and then set them on the side - heck, I might even use my UMIK-1 for 'good measure'.

Wonder what the manufacturers of speakers with tweeters at the bottom would have to say about this. ^

Well, I guess they'd have a hard time gettin' jobs with Heathkit.
As an aside, Heathkit still kind of exists/exists again. Sort of.

Shop | heathkit.com

Heathkit makes the world's finest kits. You can build professional-quality electronics equipment yourself, even with no experience.

shop.heathkit.com

 

[NewbieAudiophileExpert]

Okay, so having played around with it for a bit, placing this speaker on the side is basically a sin.

I've played around with the EQ settings and all and boy do these sound good - the amount of bass these are capable of reproducing is astounding IME with bookshelves.