Please help with sideways speaker installation


I am setting up a new home theater system and need to place my bookshelf mains on their sides. These are Paradigm Studio 20 v.3. I have the matching Paradigm center between the two bookshelf speakers of course. My question is should the tweeters on the sideways bookshelf speakers be to the inside (closet to center speaker) or to the outside? I can’t tell much difference listening to music but haven’t watched any movies yet.

fishcaller

Give bothways a try and listen to which way you prefer!

Arguments for Tweeters on the Outside

It’s easier for our sense of hearing to place higher-pitched sounds than lower-pitched sounds. Low-pitched sounds are less directional.

This is why people often have speaker for very low frequencies – a sub-woofer – rather than two. You can’t really tell where very low frequency sound is coming from so one speaker will often do the job.

This should mean that placing the tweeters on the outside would produce the best stereo separation, and result in the most faithful stereo image.

This is because your ears place the higher-pitched sounds much more precisely than the lower-pitched sound coming from the mid/woofer speakers located on the inside.

That’s the theory anyway.

Theory: tweeters, narrowest wavelengths, to the insides.

However, in my office, horizontal seated ear height, they surprised me by sounding better on the outside. Probably because it moved the 10" woofer inside away from the left side wall

 

you simply listen, and take the time to reverse them to decide.

btw, real in/on a shelf bookcase speakers should not have rear ports

This pair was for nostalgia (my first 'real' speakers when in college 1966-70), to be in my garage/shop system. After updating the crossover and two level controls, they sounded soooo good I moved them to my office. Next I bought another pair, updated them, now sounding great in my Garage/Shop system. I highly recommend them to people capable of the easy and inexpensive refurb.

 

they have separate level controls for the tweeter and mid (output relative to each other and the woofer). easy to get them 'best' in various locations.

I had a listen last night and surprisingly they sound best with the tweeters to the outside. I thought tweeters to inside would be better but not in may situation. 

Why are you surprised? That is the correct position for sideway placement!

Normally oriented 2 way speakers often have better response below the tweeter axis than above it. They measure better at the midwoofer axis than above.

This has to do with low order-ish crossovers and phase mismatching above the tweeter.

Any number of Stereophile measurements will show this.

With 4th order filters this matters less .

 

Wisurround speakers I would move the tweets to rear and point the woofers to your seat