Stands for floorstanding speakers?
May 18, 2006
I have a pair of Monitor Audio speakers. I was thinking
about getting a set of stands to raise them up. They are floorstanding speakers, but the
tweeter seems quite low. I’m looking for better highs and wonder if this might help.
Shaun
Probably not a good idea. If the speakers are a
floorstanding design, then they have been engineered to be the correct height for a seated
listener. Raising them up on stands would alter the tweeter axis’s relationship with
the listener considerably, and that would likely throw off the sound, not in a good way. A
better alternative is to experiment with toe-in -- angle the speakers to directly face the
listening position and listen, then move them outward a bit and listen again. Note how the
highs change as you angle the speakers away from you. This may help you attain a more
acceptable balance in the highs. As well, if you have absorptive furniture between you and
the speakers -- chairs, an ottoman -- removing/moving them will affect high-frequency
performance. So move the furniture a bit and see what happens to the sound. Let me know
how it works out.
Downward-firing or front-firing subwoofer?
May 15, 2006
Is there a difference between the bass created by
downward-firing versus front-firing subwoofers? Should I look into one over the other for
a home-theater setup?
Tim
Scientifically speaking, I’m not sure that one type
of subwoofer loads a room with bass any differently than the other. Perhaps since the bass
driver on the downward-firing subwoofer is closer to a room boundary, it may elicit
slightly more room gain. What I can tell you, however, is that a front-firing subwoofer
pointed directly at the listener is easily localizable. This is caused when it is crossed
over so high that midrange information is being reproduced by the subwoofer, and because
it is pointed at the listener, directional frequencies are heard quite easily. By
comparison, any midrange information coming from a downward-firing subwoofer is absorbed
or diffused by the floor. The other side is that some listeners prefer a front-firing
subwoofer because it produces punchier midbass -- higher-than-bass frequencies that need
correct directionality for impact with the listener. I’ve heard these rules of thumb
both supported and proven incorrect with various products, but I’d say they are good
general explanations.
Phantom center setting?
May 10, 2006
My receiver does not have a function in the menu for a
phantom center channel. Am I missing something or is there just no way to do this with my
receiver? Will turning off the center speaker accomplish the same thing?
R.J.
You’re correct about turning off the center
speaker. Doing this will re-route all of the center-channel information to the left and
right front speakers, creating a phantom center channel. There is no setting within your
receiver beyond this that accomplishes that configuration.
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