Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Centre Speaker Height

Was wondering if anyone uses a vertical centre speaker that is smaller than the Left and Right speakers?

I use a DSP7kVC between a couple of 8ks.

Would it make sense to place a custom stand under the 7k and match the tweeters of the 8ks?

Thoughts welcome!

howie

Howie I run a 7000 VC like you in between 2 8000s. I believe floor standing speakers are not meant to be taken off the floor- they will lose some of their bass impact. What I would do instead is adjust the individual axis settings on each speaker. Normally the control such as corner, boundary, etc are set for all the speakers, but you can trick the system by doing one speaker at a time- turn off the other speakers. In my case my DSPs are on the floor but my seating is on a riser so I am a drop higher than the speakers would ordinarily be. I believe the speakers come with a default axis rating of -1. I set my 8000s to 0 and I set my 7000 to +2 (or maybe +3 I forget now). Point is this made the soundstage seem more even. These controls work. I would not use any of the boundary or corner controls with your setup since you have MRC- those location controls were like a poor mans MRC. Given your speaker locations I can understand why you have not chosen an 8000 VC (side firing woofers- thats a lot of side firing woofers going on!) but perhaps as a future upgrade thought you might consider a 7200 VC.

Very nice setup you have there.

After moving house last summer I switched from 3x5200s in the theater and 2x5500 in the living room, to 2x5200 there and 2x5500 + a 5200 (VC) in the theater. I was concerned at first that I would have to raise the 5200 the 6" required to match tweeter height, but it hasn't been an issue. I remember someone posting a comment from HH2 that Meridian stated height matching wasn't important since the ear is sensitive to horizontal positioning but not vertical.

I still want to play with raising the 5200s by 2 feet or so sometime, to make poor man's 8ks Just to see if there is a bit more presence and sense of scale from height alone.

Wow Howie - sitting there looking at that trio - how can you tear yourself away to watch a movie.

While I think there may be something in this tweeter height thing (or there may have been years ago) modern drivers have better vertical dispersion (a la THX?) than speakers of old. Against all the advice and theories, my system (smaller, vertical centre with tweeter below the level of the front left & right - just like yours, Howie lol) produces a pretty seamless front soundstage with no obvious dip in the middle (indeed the imaging is so natural that the 'centre' position seems to be coincident with the screen).



I've been dwelling on my dream M system lately (dreaming I wake up with a spare �20k under the mattress) and thinking, "Oh, I would have to have an HC" forgetting that I have effectively had a vertical centre for years!

Howie,

I have got exactly the same speaker set up like you. Never mind speaker heights - if you have a normal sofa, that 7200's tweeter's height should be exactly spot on the seating ear height.

If you can, I would suggest moving all 3 to the same line (screen line?) and re-run the calibration and room correction. You will then have the smallest necessary number of DSP operations. Less is more with DSP.

Chenko

Everyone, very nice setups and pictures. I love the 2.4 setup!!!

Thanks Jerry. Do you think the axis adjustment is necessary if you use the 861's MRC??

howie

Great set up you have there. My 7kVC actually sits behind my screen with the 8ks sort of in line with the screen. If i move my 8ks back I am worried they will be too close to the bookshelf.

howie

Howie I suspect you are fine the way you are. Depends little on how close you sit though.

I agree with Jerry not to raise the center speaker for the reason he described.

However, the Axis settings were NEVER designed to compensate for differences in individual speaker heights. It was designed to raise or lower the entire image.

You might give tilting 8K's heads down a tad though. It's a cheap easy test.

http://www.meridianunplugged.com/wiki/index.php?pagename=DSP6000%20Analog%20Axis%20Tilt

Howie,

first of all,you should get your center away from the wall closer to you,
just far as your screen allowed.
Thats gives you a deeper room impression and should give you a more precise bass.
Of coarse you have to enter the new distance and run MRC.
For the different heights of the tweeter you can use a stand, but then the center image higher as before.
But that is not so easy as the weight of your center needs a ver stable(screwed) stand.
I dit have my 8k on stand for a different reasons, and dit have heavy duty stands with a electrical height moveable platform(where the speakers are bolted).Then you drive your speakers in the desired height.I have a picture on that if you are interested.

You dont loose bass really, the 8k have enough of them.

Simpler and close to that the solution is the recommandation of george to tilt the heads of the 8k a little, with the addition to tilt also the center a little in the opposite direction(front screws longer or higher).
Then the imgage should be in theory at the same height- on a certain distance. This should be your listening position if that is possible,-means that you are not sitting to close to the speaker -so that the tilt or the angle of the heads get to big.
But anyway everthing will help to get the different heights closer.

Robert

So I guess my Centre is way too low?

Trifield seems to work quite well though.

Having the same three 'speakers made a huge difference, when my centre was different, even though it was from the same manufacturer and had the same drive units, Trifield didn't really work and I always listened with the Direct preset.

Steve.

Steve, I think yours and Howie's systems look just fine to my eyes - (are they Dynaudio? Those bass units look interesting.... I notice how you both have the centre set back a little with the L/R toed-in to give a concave or 'dished' plane which I think I might play with.... mine look to 'regimented' firing down the room the way they do.

Loving the Sooloos and the big screen a few posts back - very elegant.