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ianrjones

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A lot has been posted lately about floor standers and standmounts. I was wondering if it's O.K. to lay said speakers on thier sides and place them on top of wooden cabinets. Where there is room. With sound deadening material in between, of course. I am saving up for Dovedale or Heresy IV 's . Not because I believe in them, but because they fit in said position!
 

Edbostan

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A lot has been posted lately about floor standers and standmounts. I was wondering if it's O.K. to lay said speakers on thier sides and place them on top of wooden cabinets. Where there is room. With sound deadening material in between, of course. I am saving up for Dovedale or Heresy IV 's . Not because I believe in them, but because they fit in said position!
I knew a guy who 40 years ago had a Cyrus 2 amp and Mission speakers and placed the rather large Mission speakers on their side on a sideboard. Sounded OK to me at the time.
 
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landco

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A lot has been posted lately about floor standers and standmounts. I was wondering if it's O.K. to lay said speakers on thier sides and place them on top of wooden cabinets. Where there is room. With sound deadening material in between, of course. I am saving up for Dovedale or Heresy IV 's . Not because I believe in them, but because they fit in said position!
It doesn’t matter what you use: stands, shelves, tables or something else. It is important that the placement follows basic acoustic rules. It is advisable to place the tweeter and midrange speaker at approximately ear level; your stand should not transmit vibrations/resonances from working speakers, etc.
 
A lot has been posted lately about floor standers and standmounts. I was wondering if it's O.K. to lay said speakers on thier sides and place them on top of wooden cabinets. Where there is room. With sound deadening material in between, of course. I am saving up for Dovedale or Heresy IV 's . Not because I believe in them, but because they fit in said position!
No reason why not, you could also hang them from lampshades if needed, truth is, though, you'll never hear them at their best. All speakers, unless they are specialists models, such as ceiling or wall mounted versions, are designed to work best, when sitting, for the tweeter to be around ear height.
 

abacus

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No harm in trying, however the speaker response changes on how off axis you sit, so as the horizontal axis now becomes the vertical, axis and the vertical axis is usually less wide than the horizontal axis, it may not work as you wish.
May be worth sending he manufacture an email to see if it will cause problems.

Bill
 
A lot has been posted lately about floor standers and standmounts. I was wondering if it's O.K. to lay said speakers on thier sides and place them on top of wooden cabinets. Where there is room. With sound deadening material in between, of course. I am saving up for Dovedale or Heresy IV 's . Not because I believe in them, but because they fit in said position!
Personally, I’d consider that a complete waste of those two designs. As mentioned above the dispersion of large 3-way speakers is completely unsuitable for what you’re considering. Small 2-ways might be ok, but spending four grand to lay them down is bonkers!

If you want to do as you say, then consider two centre channel speakers, as these are usually aligned horizontally. Or a concentric speaker design, as typified by KEF and Tannoy, amongst others.

PS. Placing any speaker on a wooden cabinet is a ‘no no‘ too. It’ll just resonate and muddy the sound.
 
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AJM1981

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A lot has been posted lately about floor standers and standmounts. I was wondering if it's O.K. to lay said speakers on thier sides and place them on top of wooden cabinets. Where there is room. With sound deadening material in between, of course. I am saving up for Dovedale or Heresy IV 's . Not because I believe in them, but because they fit in said position!
I once came across an old ad for a bookshelf speaker from the 60s or 70s. They were placed horizontally. I think both positions were optional those days and still are for the boxy shaped two way loudspeakers.

Also read about a producer who turned his monitors horizontally and had better treble. It is also a non brainer that from sitting at the desk position with the monitors' woofer at ear level, bringing the tweeters there as well solves a lot (for when they would be otherwise much higher than ear level) . I should have done that with my small bookshelf tannoys in the past as well. I dont think it will do much when you are having the tweeter at ear level in vertical position already and 3 way speakers are a different ballgame.
 
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ianrjones

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Personally, I’d consider that a complete waste of those two designs. As mentioned above the dispersion of large 3-way speakers is completely unsuitable for what you’re considering. Small 2-ways might be ok, but spending four grand to lay them down is bonkers!

If you want to do as you say, then consider two centre channel speakers, as these are usually aligned horizontally. Or a concentric speaker design, as typified by KEF and Tannoy, amongst others.

PS. Placing any speaker on a wooden cabinet is a ‘no no‘ too. It’ll just resonate and muddy the sound.
No-no, I confused you. I don't want to turn dream speakers on thier sides. That is the vertical limit, 70cm. Any speaker taller than that is no use to me. (unless I lay them on thier sides). I understand your concern about the accoustic position, and the neccesary sound dampening. You see I really don't have any option. My present speakers are up there. My next upgrade is to replace these. Thanks for taking the time.
IAN
 
A lot has been posted lately about floor standers and standmounts. I was wondering if it's O.K. to lay said speakers on thier sides and place them on top of wooden cabinets. Where there is room. With sound deadening material in between, of course. I am saving up for Dovedale or Heresy IV 's . Not because I believe in them, but because they fit in said position!
Horn loaded speakers that use a ‘letterbox’ style horn (wide horizontal dispersion/limited vertical dispersion) should be used on their sides. Whether a more conventional driver based loudspeaker can really depends on their design. It can work for two-way loudspeakers that use a low crossover point - the lower the better. We’re talking way down in the mid 1000s maximum, rather then the 2000Hz plus that most speakers are. The close you are to the speaker, the more the left/right bass/treble layout will cause dispersion issues. The further back you sit, the less of an issue it becomes - IF they’re placed correctly (firing directly at you. The drivers need to be close together too.
 
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No-no, I confused you. I don't want to turn dream speakers on thier sides. That is the vertical limit, 70cm. Any speaker taller than that is no use to me. (unless I lay them on thier sides). I understand your concern about the accoustic position, and the neccesary sound dampening. You see I really don't have any option. My present speakers are up there. My next upgrade is to replace these. Thanks for taking the time.
IAN
It was the bit where you said “I was wondering if it's O.K. to lay said speakers on thier sides and place them on top of wooden cabinets.”

That made me think you were proposing what you wrote. I think a picture might help?
 
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ianrjones

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Aug 31, 2023
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Personally, I’d consider that a complete waste of those two designs. As mentioned above the dispersion of large 3-way speakers is completely unsuitable for what you’re considering. Small 2-ways might be ok, but spending four grand to lay them down is bonkers!

If you want to do as you say, then consider two centre channel speakers, as these are usually aligned horizontally. Or a concentric speaker design, as typified by KEF and Tannoy, amongst others.

PS. Placing any speaker on a wooden cabinet is a ‘no no‘ too. It’ll just resonate and muddy the sound.
Hi, I was looking to spend 4k on speakers when I remembered your suggestion, on thinking outside of the box.
You told me, to think about a pair of centre speakers! Brilliant, I just thought it through. You had it so so right.
On top of my list is now is B+W CT7.3 LCRS, paired. Thanks. IAN.
 
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Hi, I was looking to spend 4k on speakers when I remembered your suggestion, on thinking outside of the box.
You told me, to think about a pair of centre speakers! Brilliant, I just thought it through. You had it so so right.
On top of my list is now is B+W CT7.3 LCRS, paired. Thanks. IAN.
Glad it helped. Let us know how you get on. (Just looked them up and they should blow the roof off! 😀)
 

ianrjones

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Aug 31, 2023
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Me, I am waiting for the new year. After balancing twelve speaker options, I am now totaly convinced, I have the right option. Single options times two, may sound risky. They are not paired. but I can assume they are manufactured to a equal standard. I will purchase two center speakers. B+W CT.3 LRCS. And Forget the bins and horns that look so impressive. P.S. I found a pair of speakers for £1,000,000! Like the B+W, I don't want daleks in my home. I'm glad I found this site. You guy's rock.
 

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