Sitting Below The Tweeter?

vfrpilot · « **on:** 12 Oct 2004, 07:15 pm »

I have one lingering question about the 1801's. I currently have 24inch stands for my GR research Paradox's. The speaker is 12" high and the tweeter is about 3" below the top of the speaker. I currently sit with my ear right at or just below the tweeter level.

If I purchase the 1801's I will still want to use my Osiris 24 inch stands with them. This will probably put my ears about 6-7inches below the tweeter level. What effect will this have on the sound of the speakers?

Has anyone listened to these speakers upside-down? This would help align the tweeter height with my ear but would upset some of the woofer / floor boost.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

aaron

jackman · « **Reply #1 on:** 12 Oct 2004, 09:20 pm »

I have tried the 1801's on 20 and 24 inch stands and they sounded great on both. That tweeter has amazing dispersion and will work either way. Do not turn the speakers upside down because I believe it will mess things up. Speakers have to be designed to work that way.

Just my opinion. Also, hang on to those stands! They are very good.

J

David Ellis · « **Reply #2 on:** 12 Oct 2004, 10:19 pm »

Aaron,

I don't see much of an issue with slightly taller stands. I did this at my last home with no problems.

Many folks maintain they can hear the precise point where the speaker is correctly phased. I can't. Sure, if the phase is way out of whack, there are obvious cancellations. I can hear these and I hope others can too. However, if you are in the "zone" around the midwoofer/tweeter, you will be just fine. I was very happy with very tall stands for a couple years. I think my stands were 24" tall too.

Or, you can build your 1801s in a floorstanding configuration and put the tweeter about 40" high.

vfrpilot · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 Oct 2004, 03:28 am »

I am unclear how turning a speaker upside-down could affect the sound other than the woofer might have a little less floor sound support.

I would assume that the dispersion characteristics are similar above and below the speaker. This would mean that turning them upside-down would just flip the dispersion patterns.

I am interested in what the science is behind whether the speaker can be flipped or not. Perhaps I will check this out in my Loudspeaker Cookbook.

David Ellis · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 Oct 2004, 02:49 pm »

You are generally correct in your assumptions regarding a speaker that is flipped upside-down. There are a few changes, but these are generally swamped by room reflections. Acutally, many anomalies are swamped by room reflections.

I don't think the cookbook has much about polar response. I suggest you spend some time with the software programs available here:

http://www.pvconsultants.com/audio/frdgroup.htm

A few of them address response patters. I have spent a little time with these, but am not overly competent in this matter. I have spent considerable time with the Baffle Diffraction Simulator (BDS). I find the BDS extremely helpful.