Question Speaker positioning - can they be angled downward

[Jeremy]

Hi,
I'm wrestling with options for speaker placement in a small (4x4m) room which also has to "look nice". I'll be wall mounting ...
This is fairly entry level kit (Pro-ject Debut III, Rega Io) to headphones until I get Speakers. Sounds good so far though and I'll probably go for Elac Debuts (front-ported).

The reason for this post ... I'll have to mount the speakers too high and that means I'll have to angle them downwards. That got me thinking; do speakers care about that or will they just behave acoustically as if they were slightly further away i.e. is the imaging likely to be unaffected.
It got me further thinking; will angling them downward reduce the impact of being so close to the wall (wall surface will be at an angle, not flat-on). Would that bring rear-ported speakers back into my options?

I'd appreciate your views on the acoustics of all this.
Cheers

 

[Deleted member 116933]

I had my speakers up high when I was living at home, as I didn't have enough room. Though not ideal speakers really don't care at all.

The only problem you might find is that today's speakers are all sorts of funny shapes so find wall brackets somewhat problematic in some cases

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

Speakers create a stereo image between them - that's literally between them. Yours will be set too high, though whether that matters depends on you. Some people are more after the overall sound, in which case it may not matter at all - others (like me) crave a lifelike stereo image, so this wouldn't be an option for me.

Having them angled may mean that some of the rearward output won't bounce straight back, but I'd be wary of rear ports in the setup you describe.

 

[jjbomber]

Hi,
I'm wrestling with options for speaker placement in a small (4x4m) room which also has to "look nice". I'll be wall mounting ...

Cheers

SVS Prime Elevation.

 

[nopiano]

The most obvious difference to a more conventional placement will simply be that the image emerges from above you. So, unless you listen in unusual venues you will need a leap of imagination to hear a conventional stage impression. (My concert attendances tend to be orchestral or piano recitals, so I’m either at roughly stage level in the stalls, or looking down from a tier or balcony). However, if you mostly listen to studio created music there is no original to recreate as it’s all the producers imagination.

Most of the usual requirements about toeing in, for example, still apply. I’ve a pal with a super little system in his kitchen and his speakers beam down from the corners. They are Linn speakers, like these, no longer made.

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Krescendo HiFi is a specialist in Linn and Naim HiFi. Here for sale is one pair of Linn 5110 speakers in white. Note that these speakers can be painted using thinned wall paint but are supplied just as they were when they left the Linn factory.

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