How high are your bookshelf speakers' tweeters off the floor?

Interesting to see the different schools of thought about pretty much everything audio-related.

Some websites recommend placing the tweeter at ear level. SVS, for instance, recommends it being 5ft off the floor. Posts from some members indicated they prefer to lower their bookshelf speakers so the tweeter is on the low side.

Wondering on average what height do most people here choose to set their bookshelf speakers tweeters' to.

 

That's an odd rec., unless you like to stand all the time. Ear level when you're sitting is more like 30-36", not 5 feet, unless you're a giant.

jeff

 

Chances are, with any common dynamic tweeter, if you're listening off axis -- either left or right, or up or down -- the frequency response is not going to be flat. Baffle design, crossover design, driver design, driver alignment are going to affect all of this. But most likely you're going to want the your ears to be at around the height of the tweeters, sometimes maybe at the height of some imagined line between the tweeter and the woofer in a two-way, or maybe if you're sitting below the tweeters, with the speakers angle up at your ears, for flat high frequency response.

Does the company really recommend tweeter height 5 feet from the ground with a bookshelf/mini monitor style speaker? That's only three feet from the ceiling in a typical US home with 8 foot ceilings. You'd basically have to be standing up to be listing to a speaker with the tweeter elevated to 60 inches. Are you sure that's not a recommendation for a rear or "height" channel speaker position in a surround sound arrangement? I think the SVS Tower speakers too are only circa 36 inches high. I'm sure the company doesn't intend them to be installed up on two-foot platforms to get the tweeters up to 60 inches.

 

About 36 inches.

 

45" for me. At ear level when sitting down.

 

I've always gotten the best listening experience having the tweeters at ear level.

 

My tweeters are four and a half feet off the ground
six and a half inches above my ears when I am in a sitting position
the speakers are angled down at about 10 degrees angled toward me.

 

Most of my listening is in the master bedroom, sitting up on the bed. More relaxed that way! So with the bed being fairly tall, I use really tall stands. But, I invert the speakers, tweeter down, so the tweeters will be at ear height. It seems to work OK. And with the grills still turned right-side-up, no one knows but me!

 

Tweeters 36 inches, ears 38 inches.

This question reminds me of two speakers in particular where the tweeter was off axis. First was a pair of PMC monitors that I never got along with until, quite by accident I lowered them about 6 inches and heard them sound great. Another was a pair of Silverline Audio SR-11s that needed to go about 4 inches higher than normal to sound their best.

 

Floorstanders; tweeters always at ear level when sitting on the couch.

 

45" in my living room system. A little higher than ear level when sitting on my couch.

 

Ear level when sitting.

 

Ear level when slouching ...

I use short stands, on purpose. Don't like tweeters firing directly at me. Use minimal toe-in as well.

 

there shouldn't be a general rule of thumb on this. tweeter height relative to floor is often desired to be ear level when sitting (44 in. for me). the problem is that different speaker designs, crossover designs and voicing may sound best at heights much lower or higher. e.g. point coincident, MTM or tweeter below midwoofer. the kef ls50s for example sound best with tweeters much lower than ear level because the response is too bright on axis.
when in doubt consult your owners manual, the better manufacturers take care in advising specific position limits.

 

Ear level. Center of tweeter is at 36" and my wife measured my ear at 37" -close enough for me.

 

If you look at the tweeter on-axis/off-axis response plots for any given set of speakers, you'll see, they're pretty much universally flattest on axis and roll off and get peakier and peakier the further you're off axis. I'm not doubting that you like the sound of the LS50 listening well above axis, and as these measurements go the LS50, though they get peaky in the 20 Hz range as you move up and down off axis, are pretty smooth relative to other speakers -- lots of non coaxial set ups like that have big suckouts at the tweeter crossover frequency as you move up and down. Though as you move off axis side to high the highs roll pretty considerably.

 

About 32 inches

 

My main listening room the tweeters are about ear level. The tweeters in my kids play room are about 20” from the ceiling firing downward and are great for cranking Mono recordings.
Dedicated listening around ear level is best from my experience.
Ultimately it is what sounds best to you.

 

Ear level crossed just behind by head ( when optimal), but I do bend foreword a lot to grab my beer.

 

34.5". Ear level when seated in the listening chair.

 

Exactly. There isn't anyway but I created the thread to show the big differences from member to member and also to start a discussion.

It's interesting to me how people have their systems set up.

 

40”...which is the manufacturer recommended ear height set up in my listening space.
Speakers are towed in enough so I can just see the inside of each speaker while sitting in my favorite listening spot.

 

Floorstanders with the center of tweeter 42.25" from the floor and my ear at ~41.5" from the floor and about 9-10' away with the speakers pointed 5' behind my head (as per the manufacturer). Sounds great!

 

35.5 in the living/jam room
37 even in the “jam” room.
Ears dropped or raised to match

 

ear level