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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
Same problem the Meridian DSP5200 are really to short for my sofa , no wonder that pro speakers are rarely floor standing even if they are huge your supposed to buy correct high stands or flush mounts them into the wall or place them on your mixing desk .
Had a pair of snell E3 when I was young and bought an aftermarket short stand to get them higher the mid and treble got more balanced but they lost some bass
I find the answer to this question depends on the tweeter used. With my BMR monitors I like the RAAL tweeter at 45" which is exactly ear height while I'm at work in my chair.
With the Revel F328Be I have the Be Tweeter at 49" which is 10" above ear level while seated at the couch 11' away from the speaker. The Be tweeter is less sensitive to being right at ear level than the RAAL. I have tried several ear heights with the Be tweeter and I don't notice much difference. With the RAAL it's pretty obvious that being right at ear level adds definition.
Based on my experience, I think this is a trick question.
I like tweeters way up high, because despite others' opinions here, I find stereo to depress the image and put it low. Also, I have worked in studios where a big thing was to center the woofers 1/3 up the room height. Worked for me.
My LS 50 Metas are on 22" Soundanchor Stands and I sit in Ikea Poang which also sits quite low to the ground. Even so, the tweeter are around 6-8 below ear level. Not exactly a tragedy as being closer to the ground helps the woofer-mid and the tweeter is designed to be listened to around 20 degree off axis. It all seems to work well, especially with full range eq and DL 3.
It really does depend on the direction of the main lobe of the adjacent mid/tweeter driver summation. Varying schools of thought inject preference as to which way it should be, or results of a design to be a certain way dictating the best results.
I've to date done 2 pair of designs that were intended to be listened to with the tweeter below the listener due to the stature of the loudspeaker tower. The towers were shorter, and could not have the average seated listening tweeter height of 32-40". The way to get around this, especially with the longish AMT in one of the designs, is to literally design for the lobing and listening axis to be increasing distance from the floor the further the listener is positioned. This is usually not more than 3-5* of angle, as eventually the distance will dictate standing room only.
So you CAN have a diminutive floor-stander, sit down for critical shorter distance, and stand up in the adjacent room or back of same room and get the best of both worlds.
This is one reason why some smaller 2-ways have the woofer atop of the tweeter as it directs the lobe upward a touch, and the vertical off-axis result above the tweeter does not suck down the mids so horribly.
For many years I designed with the intention that the center of the tweeter be at approximately seated ear height, largely because that made the most obvious sense to me.
Then a couple of years ago I asked my beta-testers to elevate a pair of speakers such that the center of the tweeter was about six inches above seated ear height. I was working on something which would not allow a lower tweeter height, and wanted experienced opinions on how badly the presentation would be degraded. (The tweeter had good vertical dispersion so that wasn't an issue, like it might be with a ribbon.)
Well to my surprise my beta-testers all preferred the presentation with the tweeter elevated, which was unexpectedly good news for what I wanted to try.
If this is directed at me, in the case I mentioned the main lobe in the crossover region was straight out in front. The tweeter was physically offset to the rear of the woofer by an amount which corresponds with the delay due to phase rotation in the crossover. The desired physical offset came from the depth of the waveguide used... so, two birds with one stone.
I designed my desk & desk monitor riser shelf so that when I’m sat in my chair the speaker tweeter height is pretty much spot on at ear level but there is quite a sweet spot up/down in which I can slouch or sit straight backed before I notice any difference in clarity, if I buy the Dynaudio lyd 48’s (3 way) then I guess I’ll need to raise my monitor shelf slightly or raise the isoacoustic aperture stands, then again I’ll prob not bother and just be happy enough with how it sounds.
For many years I designed with the intention that the center of the tweeter be at approximately seated ear height, largely because that made the most obvious sense to me.
Then a couple of years ago I asked my beta-testers to elevate a pair of speakers such that the center of the tweeter was about six inches above seated ear height. I was working on something which would not allow a lower tweeter height, and wanted experienced opinions on how badly the presentation would be degraded. (The tweeter had good vertical dispersion so that wasn't an issue, like it might be with a ribbon.)
Well to my surprise my beta-testers all preferred the presentation with the tweeter elevated, which was unexpectedly good news for what I wanted to try.
I really think there is something to this. I found it a clear improvement when I moved my speakers up 4-5 inches above ear height. Tonality didn't really change, but imaging sounds more realistic.
Too bad with all his tech he can't measure a speaker. How is he not just changing the timing and lowering the highs? Has the man ever EQ'd anything or is it all a matter of moving things around like building blocks? I wonder if his car looks like the Flintstone's car?
I find Z to be a bit of a sexist moron/car salesman.
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..
Sorry if this is ignorant sounding.. what does an incident angle of -5 mean? Like the speaker is facing downwards towards you, or that you're around -5 degrees under the tweeter, with the speaker facing frontwards, straight on?
Sorry if this is ignorant sounding.. what does an incident angle of -5 mean? Like the speaker is facing downwards towards you, or that you're around -5 degrees under the tweeter, with the speaker facing frontwards, straight on?
Basically, line of sight to speaker isn't horizontal but slopes upward as seen from the listener. With most speakers you don't need to tilt them down to match that angle but of course that's the way to go if you insist to listen straight on-axis.
I really think there is something to this. I found it a clear improvement when I moved my speakers up 4-5 inches above ear height. Tonality didn't really change, but imaging sounds more realistic.
And this also depends on the recording. Listening to Mark Wilder's stereo remastered Colombia releases of Miles Davis's first great quintet, I thought that the horn players are low in my room with the tweeters at ear height, as if Miles Davis and John Coltrane are playing while they were sitting down on a chair.
However, if you are on the sofa, it seems more realistic if they seem to be standing above you, as it would be if you were an audience member at the Five Spot Cafe or Cafe Bohemia (where they would additionally be elevated above you on the bandstand)
I really think there is something to this. I found it a clear improvement when I moved my speakers up 4-5 inches above ear height. Tonality didn't really change, but imaging sounds more realistic.
This has to do with the speaker's directional lobe, and that for the average TM design with tweeter atop the woofer, that the blending of the 2 drivers is better below the tweeter and suffers above it. It is also possible that on axis is optimized flat response and closer to the mid creates a small peak or emphasis the gives the focus you are hearing.
I recently added IsoAcoustics GAIA II Isolation feet to my JBL Synthesis HDI-3800 towers (adding 3-4" in height, including the carpet spikes) and I think I prefer the presentation after the isolation feet. There might be some perceived improvements from the isolation feet themselves, but it also seemed to increase the perceived soundstage height a little bit.
