Laying bookshelf speakers on their side

[benmarks]

Hi, space is limited in my home (at least speaker space). I'm confined to a farily deep bookself only 30cm high. Big speakers always sound better. Can anyone recommend bookself speakers (maybe front ported or sealed) that could work well if they were layed on their side (i.e. they're more than 30cm high?). Or is laying speakers on their side a complete no no these days? Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Others would know more than me, but I would think laying speakers on their sides is a bit of a no no.

You don;t mention your budget, so it's hard to recommend a speaker for you, but if you're looking for something under £200, the Q Acousitics 2020i would be my recommendation. They're around 27cms high, but they're quite unusually deep, which sounds about right for you.

http://www.whathifi.com/q-acoustics/2020i/review

http://www.richersounds.com/product/standmount-speakers/q-acoustics/2020i/qaco-q2020i-wal

 

[dim_span]

JBL Control 1 speakers ... £70 from Richer sounds or ebay .... they are only 22.8ch high.

£115 gets you the JBL Control 1 Pro speakers

 

[hg]

Hi, space is limited in my home (at least speaker space). I'm confined to a farily deep bookself only 30cm high. Big speakers always sound better. Can anyone recommend bookself speakers (maybe front ported or sealed) that could work well if they were layed on their side (i.e. they're more than 30cm high?). Or is laying speakers on their side a complete no no these days? Thanks for your thoughts!

Speakers designed to work on their side and next to a wall on bookshelves are rare in home audio but common in professional audio. A speaker on its side requires the woofer to be to the side of a tweeter above a midrange. Next to a wall requires the "baffle step correction" in the crossover to be disabled or removed via equalisation. Normally done with switches on the back.

You do not give a price range but the Neumann KH 310 is an excellent if rather expensive example.

 

[dalwen]

 

[hg]

http://www.whathifi.com/neat/iota/review

This has the same problem as laying a normal speaker on its side! If you move off axis to the side the output from the tweeter and the midrange in the crossover region will start to cancel rather than sum as they are designed to do on axis. This problem is reduced to negligible levels in speakers that are properly designed to be used on their side by crossing from a woofer to a midrange at a much lower frequency where the wavelengths are approaching 10 times larger and therefore requiring the difference in path lengths from the ear to the two drivers to be ten times larger to get the same level of cancellation.

 

[TrevC]

Bookshelf speakers will work perfectly well on their sides. Where do people get these peculiar ideas from?

 

[dalwen]

There’s a lot that’s unusual about the Iotas, from the planar ribbon tweeter to the fact they’re designed to be used ‘on their sides’,

maybe the manufacturer/ designer

or what hifi tester can reply your mail.

Read more at http://www.whathifi.com/neat/iota/review#5wv43EWWPppOdd9z.99

 

[hg]

Bookshelf speakers will work perfectly well on their sides. Where do people get these peculiar ideas from?

It is very easy to find out why it is not done. Put a speaker on its side and then move sideways off axis and listen to what happens. Having a narrow listening window vertically is much less of a problem than having one horizontally.

 

[andyjm]

Bookshelf speakers will work perfectly well on their sides. Where do people get these peculiar ideas from?

It is very easy to find out why it is not done. Put a speaker on its side and then move sideways off axis and listen to what happens. Having a narrow listening window vertically is much less of a problem than having one horizontally.

The only point at which there will be a narrowing of the off axis response is at the crossover frequency when both drivers are driving. Given that the speaker only has two drivers - it is hardly a line array, and given that it is going to be stuck on a bookshelf, I doubt the effect will be in any way noticable.

 

[hg]

I doubt the effect will be in any way noticable.

What many of the posters on this forum find noticeable is interesting. For many it seems reality, whatever that may be, is almost inverted with the basics like sensibly sized and orientated drivers being largely irrelevant but the brand of the cables being vital.

 

[dalwen]

Please inform the manufacturer about your theory with relevant and correct arguments and convince them....

then, let us know what the results are.

again the current quote: they’re designed to be used ‘on their sides’

 

[hg]

Please inform the manufacturer about your theory with relevant and correct arguments and convince them....

then, let us know what the results are.

again the current quote: they’re designed to be used ‘on their sides’

I am curious about why you think the laws of physics may not hold? The wavelength of sound is a straightforward concept as is the different path lengths to the drivers when sitting off axis. Despite assertions to the contrary, it is straightforward to hear by moving sideways when listening to a speaker on its side. Yet this way of thinking that you were taught in school counts for little in the presence of marketing bumpf from a luxury goods industry? Or perhaps it does hold and one can hear the loss in the crossover region when moving sideways but it is unimportant? Or perhaps something else?

 

[Bender]

Bookshelf speakers will work perfectly well on their sides. Where do people get these peculiar ideas from?

Read the Geometry Lesson section at the bottom of this page.

Now click on this web link human jerkbags

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Well, atleast this thread hasn't descended into pointless argument whilst ignoring the OPs original question. Oh. *stop*

 

[Prof. Hurbert J. Farnsworth]

Eh, Wha?

 

[TrevC]

With a two way with drive units only around 7 inches apart for any cancellation to be a problem you would need to stand way over on one side of the speaker, and at that point it's hard to tell which way up the speakers are anyway. How do I know? I tried it! Angle them towards you with the tweeters on the outside and they sound exactly the same as vertical.

 

[Vladimir]

Was 'you will have to tilt your head to listen to the band properly' joke done already?

 

[hg]

With a two way with drive units only around 7 inches apart for any cancellation to be a problem you would need to stand way over on one side of the speaker, and at that point it's hard to tell which way up the speakers are anyway. How do I know? I tried it! Angle them towards you with the tweeters on the outside and they sound exactly the same as vertical.

You do not give the crossover frequency but assuming it has a half wavelength of around 2", we are at listening distance of few metres and my rusty trig is OK then the centre of the first cancellation dip will be at an angle of somewhere between 15-20 degrees. Perhaps you cannot hear it but it is the reason almost all speakers place the tweeter above the midrange and many studio monitors go to the expense of putting the tweeter and midrange on a rotatable plate so that they can be used both horizontally and vertically.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

No wonder the OP hasn't returned to this thread.

Why don't you give him some advice instead of disagreeing with each other? Just an idea.

 

[hg]

No wonder the OP hasn't returned to this thread.

Why don't you give him some advice instead of disagreeing with each other? Just an idea.

Possibly for the same reason you are not giving him more advice?

 

[Bender]

No wonder the OP hasn't returned to this thread.

Why don't you give him some advice instead of disagreeing with each other? Just an idea.

Possibly for the same reason you are not giving him more advice?

Now you're disagreeing about disagreeing. Dumb humans with your inferior intelligence.

Us robots ought to wipe you all out and start our own civilization with me as the king. I'll think I'll build my house on a mountain of your skulls overlooking blood lake.

 

[Jota180]

UniQ speakers can be placed on their sides. Makes no difference to the sound. The port may be an issue unless you use the bungs.

 

[Electro]

I have no idea of your budget but the only pair of speakers that I can think of that are specifically designed to work on their sides and also in the upright position are the PMC two two range , the two two 5 or 6 should be around your size requirements .

http://pmc-speakers.com/products/professional/active/twotwo5

http://pmc-speakers.com/products/professional/active/twotwo6

They are active dsp speakers with built in amplifiers and DAC and they sound absolutely fantastic , they are expensive but worth every penny imo .*smile*

 

[andyjm]

Please inform the manufacturer about your theory with relevant and correct arguments and convince them....

then, let us know what the results are.

again the current quote: they’re designed to be used ‘on their sides’

I am curious about why you think the laws of physics may not hold? The wavelength of sound is a straightforward concept as is the different path lengths to the drivers when sitting off axis. Despite assertions to the contrary, it is straightforward to hear by moving sideways when listening to a speaker on its side. Yet this way of thinking that you were taught in school counts for little in the presence of marketing bumpf from a luxury goods industry? Or perhaps it does hold and one can hear the loss in the crossover region when moving sideways but it is unimportant? Or perhaps something else?

The theoretical basis of your argument is quite correct - there will be a dip in frequency response at the crossover frequency at certain points off-axis to the speaker when the speaker is on its side.

More relevant is whether this effect will be significant for a £200 speaker on its side stuck in a bookshelf with who knows what other resonances from surrounding shelves and other various room effects.

My guess is that it will work just fine.