What height do you prefer to have the tweeters on your speakers when in listening position? At ear level, above the ear level, or below the ear level?

[BobbyTimmons]

What height do you prefer to have the tweeters or your speakers? At ear level, above the ear level, or below the ear level?

I'd been led to believe that the speakers should be at a height where your ears should be between the tweeter and the mid/low frequency driver. So that would imply the tweeter should be slightly above the ear level. (However, looking at the majority of speaker stands being sold in shops like Richer Sounds, the majority of speaker stands would seem to be place the tweeters below ear levels when seated).

 

[Doodski]

I voted for ear level although I've had speakers where I preferred them to be slightly above ear level for better imaging.

 

[valerianf]

As I do not fear too much high frequencies i prefer having the tweeter at the same height as my ears.
For bookshelf speakers it is easy using a stand.
But for the tower speakers it is very rare to find anything else than the tweeter at the top position.
Hopefully I found one properly designed.

 

[Frgirard]

What height do you prefer to have the tweeters or your speakers? At ear level, above the ear level, or below the ear level?

I'd been led to believe that the speakers should be at a height where your ears should be between the tweeter and the mid/low frequency driver. So that would imply the tweeter should be slightly above the ear level. (However, looking at the majority of speaker stands being sold in shops like Richer Sounds, the majority of speaker stands would seem to be place the tweeters below ear levels when seated).

The ears should be at the height of the acoustical axis.

 

[MarsianC#]

Depends on speaker and boundaries. Geometry, driver/waveguides and crossover topology make huge differences. Somewhere in this forum is a great thread about impact of different crossovers for vertical directivity. Need to search for it asap Found it, look here!

 

[test1223]

With Stereo there is the effect of elevation of the center image. Therefore slightly below the ear level is a good placement. On a desk a greater distance to the desktop is better so above the ear level is often the best compromise.

 

[abdo123]

usually 5 cm above ear level, this way it's also closer to the mid point of 2.4 meter ceilings.

 

[XpanD]

With Stereo there is the effect of elevation of the center image. Therefore slightly below the ear level is a good placement. On a desk a greater distance to the desktop is better so above the ear level is often the best compromise.

Kind of off-topic, but do you have any reading material on this? I've noticed this effect in my room and it drove me crazy before, although my current speakers seem to behave a bit better there. Would love to know if this is actually a known effect or just something my room is doing. (strong ceiling reflection or the like)

 

[restorer-john]

Definitely below my ear level. Mostly I listen standing up, rarely glued to a single point in a chair. So vertical dispersion and off axis vertical is important to me.

Back in the day I had a chair, in the right place, but these days, there's too much going on to be sitting still.

 

[MarsianC#]

German wikipedia on "Blauertsche Bänder"
Oben=above in blue @XpanD
I had a pair of B&W 685's in a nearfield setup for some time. (Edit: All first reflections treated). I always had the feeling that the soundstage was above me, a bit like standing first row in a concert. No "problem" with LSR305's. My educated guess is high and low order crossover will "pull" the sound up. Quite sure there are papers covering soundstage perception on different speakers.

 

[digitalfrost]

I try to have it exactly at ear level when sitting upright, I use this for 'ciritical listening'. Of course it depends on the speakers. I try not to own speakers that have elevated treble. However, I will often slouch in the chair and the tweeter will be above my ears, but then I don't care since I just want to listen to music

 

[DSJR]

Acoustic axis is spot on for many designs, but in my experience it varies from maker to maker and model to model... My two rather antique speakers have 'super tweeters,' either for marketing (the newer one) or to put a touch of 'air' above 13kHz which is the upper limit of the old Celestion HF1300 tweeter in the mid 70's Spendor model. The newer model was measured in Stereophile and correct axis was at the main tweeter level. the old antique model has a 'hole' at 4kHz directly on tweeter axis which fills in slightly above so you can 'just' see the top of the box when listening. I remember trying a pair of B&W M805's some years back and on axis with the bass driver (2m listening distance), the sound integrated well but as soon as I stood up, the 'tweeter' seemed to detach itself and 'float' above the rest of the sound - very odd and this appears to be a 'feature' of subsequent generations, even exaggerated I think. Some other once UK-popular small floor-standing speakers which were quite cheap, also had simple crossovers, yet one could sit or stand, the 'entire' soundstage seeming to lift with the listener and freeing off how one interacted with the music.

 

[KSTR]

I like a incident angle of -5...-10degree, which feels much more live-like. Depending on distance it usually does not matter if that is anchored to the tweeter axis or in between tweeter and midrange. Also, it depends on the speaker with what amount of tilt/toe-in that incidident angle is used..

 

[test1223]

Kind of off-topic, but do you have any reading material on this? I've noticed this effect in my room and it drove me crazy before, although my current speakers seem to behave a bit better there. Would love to know if this is actually a known effect or just something my room is doing. (strong ceiling reflection or the like)

It is a known fact that the image in stereo is shifted upwards. I don't have any references at the moment but it shouldn't be hard to search some research articles or books. Stereo panning and spatial hearing are key words Jens Blauert has done a lot of research and wrote a chapter for an audio handbook about spatial hearing. But I can't remember if this exact topic is mentioned there.

There are different panning algorithms which will shift the image slightly different. The often used two microphone recording techniques, or two mono signals at both speakers will always result in a higher position of the phantom image.

Strong early reflections can shift the image and the the frequency dependent directivity of the speaker also plays a role.

 

[RayDunzl]

My MartinLogan "tweeters" cover an area 2 feet below to 2 feet above my ear height. They are used for serious listening.

The JBL LSR 308 located outboard and adjacent are about 20 inches above my ear height, just because that's where they can be conveniently placed. They are used for daily casual listening -whatever comes out of the TV or HDRadio.

Both use the same signal chain except for amplification.

Both, are 10 feet distant.

 

[richard12511]

Recently put my speakers on 4-5" lifts. They used to be directly at hear height, but I found that moving them 4-5" above ear height subjectively improved the realism of the center image. They're very neutral speakers, so it's not a matter of them being too bright on axis.

 

[JackStraw5877]

This question comes at an interesting time for me (many of us, perhaps, given Amir’s recent review of 228be)...

At 43” from the floor, I’m having a hard time getting my head around the tweeter height of the 228be - almost guaranteeing my inability to listen at ear height.

Would this “demand” a significant minimum listening distance (disregarding potential for room modes, etc due to twin 8” LF drivers)?

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Sorry if this was touched on in the review thread as I missed it if so. Thanks.

Edit: Feel free to move if this should be under the F228be review thread.

 

[Wes]

My tweeters stretch from the floor to the top of my head while standing.

 

[richard12511]

This question comes at an interesting time for me (many of us, perhaps, given Amir’s recent review of 228be)...

At 43” from the floor, I’m having a hard time getting my head around the tweeter height of the 228be - almost guaranteeing my inability to listen at ear height.

Would this “demand” a significant minimum listening distance (disregarding potential for room modes, etc due to twin 8” LF drivers)?

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Sorry if this was touched on in the review thread as I missed it if so. Thanks.

Edit: Feel free to move if this should be under the F228be review thread.

What is your listening distance? I had my tweeters at about 37", and I found that I preferred them even more with the tweeters moved up to 41-42". Seated ear height hear is between 35-38", depending on posture. Listening distance is a little over 10 feet(3.2m), and my speakers have similar tonality.

 

[Balle Clorin]

The tweeters are fixed in height by the speaker.-floorstanders- Nothing more to do then, but choose a chair of suitable height! Well wife deceided on the furniture so am sitting with 2 degrees above the tweeter axis.. do not notice any difference if I lower my head 3inches to match tweeter height , 104 inches listening distance