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Tweeter height - how to compensate?

My new speakers are too tall! The tweeter sits about 6 to 8" or so above my ear when I sit on the couch. This is really my first true experience with conventional speakers as I previously had Maggies, where tweeter height is not an issue.

Besides changing the furniture (not an option - and anyways, the sofa would look ridiculous - the one we have is already of a decent height), what else can be done?

I have tried raising the rear of the speaker a half inch or so but it sounds like this broke up the soundstage or something - I did not like the sound even as much. The speakers sound good but walking around and just before parking butt they sound better.
kck

Showing 2 responses by hpshps

hpshps
66 posts
 
You did not describe what is wrong with the sound. It's just a rule of thumb that the tweeter should be at ear height but ultimately the distance from the speaker, the speakers dispersion characteristics and whether the speaker is used as the designer intented matters, too.
hpshps
66 posts
 
Something doesn't add up here: if you are of average height, sitting on a standard sofa and your ear is 6 to 8" below the tweeter, then either the designer of the speaker is somewhat detached from the real world or she intentionally put the tweeter above the average listener's ear. In the latter case, either
(a) the speaker design is botched, or
(b) your are sitting much closer to the speaker than it is designed for, or
(c) the effect you are hearing should not really be attributed to the relative tweeter height but to a system quality or synergy issue.

Not knowing anything about your system, I do not want to speculate. What makes me curious is that this thread started about the tweeter rather than an apparant roll off in the highs at your listening position. You should not be able to identify and locate individual drivers of a speaker unless you bring your ear next to the speaker's baffle. Of course, it is entirely sensible to suspect that high frequencies are emmitted by the tweeter ;)
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