Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Centre channel above or below screen?

I think it all has something to do with that brain cell discussion we had a while ago .

I had my center channel above my TV for almost 10 years and ever since my recent purchase of my Sammy it's sitting below the TV and I find it to be a much better placement. I would love to get it off the table and mount it just below the TV but I don't know where to start looking other than omnimount. If you guys could help me out also it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Cam

You know Jay, I'll be willing to bet a 40" Sammy would fit nice between the mantle and the VP150 there.

The volume is only one factor - a big one - but not the sole factor. The reflections play a large role as well. If the first order reflection is close in time, you end up with a virtual driver (sound source) to right of the main speakers. So instead of the image centered between 2, it is centered across the three speakers, with the third (virtual) speaker being played at a lower level and not in time phase with the other two.

From Adrian's description of his room, I think this is the problem. His boundaries are not equal, and that will pull the image around and force it to move as frequencies change. I lived through this in my last room. I think this article had some useful info on same. If not in this article, check his other articles. Hodas

Actually Adrian, I have my eye on a 58" Panny, I have to remove the shelf and ceiling mount the VP150 to make it fit. I am just waiting for the 36" 9 yr old Panny to die first, the front panel controls on it are already dead, I can only operate it with the remote .

My decision to place the center channel above the TV was based on science and research.

I realized that if I put the speaker below the screen, my dog would often stand in front of it (research) and absorb the highs (science) therefore causing me to suffer decreased intelligibility of dialog.

Mark, have you considered telling the dog to "stay" in the corner, and use him as a bass trap?

Actually, I've often encouraged his "woof" as a second bass source, but I can't get him to do in sync with Darla tapping the damn fishbowl...

Ha! Ha! a different type of "woofer".

Hey Adrian,

As others have pointed out, center-channel placement always comes down to performance and freedom from audible coloration. In my case (a 50-inch DLP Samsung rear-pro), my center sounded much better on top of the Samsung than below it. I had to buy a rickety shelf to position the center above the TV. It looks stupid, but it sounds good.

Actually, in my experiments with center-channel placement and listening tests, the center sounded best of all on its own dedicated stand out from the TV and free of any boundary effects. But that's not practical in my room, or in most rooms.

So you accommodate to what is practical and what sounds reasonably good.

Regards,

I'm thinking I'll try the centre over top of the TV as this will give me shelf space for my AVR/BD/Cable box on the stand underneath. The VP150 will fit on the lower shelf but would have to share it with the AVR so it would end up off centre(not good). I might have to consider a taller stand as an alternative as the 2nd shelf on my present one is seriously lacking in height.