Most home cinema systems use speakers at or just above ear height. In a real cinema the speakers are way higher; why is this? I presume it's something to do with the acoustics of conventional cinemas.......?
In a home system you're only requiring the sound to cover two seats or at most a smallish group of people, but cinemas have to flood large areas with sound, so it's best to use speakers up high with a bit of 'down angle on the bow planes, number one.' It's the same reason why big arena rock rigs now tend to use flown arrays of speakers instead of the old-school monster stack of bins either side of the stage.