Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions M80 Rasied Above Floor Level?

I'm looking at using M80s with an 83" screen, with the bottom of the screen about 36" above the floor to fit the needed PJ geometry. The M80 tweeters look to be around 36" above the floor, which is quite a bit below the center of the screen, which is about 60". Will I get significant benefit from raising the M80s about 12-18" off the floor, say with concrete blocks (covered to look good)? They might look pretty tall, but the sonic image should be more in synch with the image. Any thoughts?

Personally, I don't think you need to raise the m80's that high off the ground, unless your ears are off the ground that far. My m80's sit on a stage which I believe is about 8" tall, so that is a good location for the people in the front or back row seating. The goal is to have your tweeters as close as possible to ear level when seated, that goes for the center channel as well. However, the center channel can be slightly angled to acomplish the sound direction.

Hi Don, I can’t say if you will get any significant benefit in your situation but I have noticed a big difference in my previous room but not as much in this one.

Previously, in my apartment (16 x 12 x 8), I placed my left and right M80s on either side of my HDTV on cinderblocks raising them about 8. This made a big difference in the amount of ambience in 2.0 music and a little better integration with the surround speakers in multi-channel. I sat only about 6’-8’ away from them on a futon.

Now in my house (21 x 13 x 8-11 vaulted) my M80s are below my 134” diagonal 1.78:1 screen which I am sitting 14‘-15’ away from on recliners. I have no issues with the sound not seeming to come from the screen. I have tried the left and right M80s on milk crates and found it improved the ambience a little for 2.0 but not much. I didn’t notice any improvement for integration with the surrounds.

Best I can figure out it made a bigger difference in the apartment because I was sitting closer and that raising the tweeters got them above the level of the futon which was a sonic black hole. My suggestion is if you can experiment do so since there are just so many variables it’s hard to know what will happen in your situation.

I was looking to raise my M80s 6" higher for 2 reasons. First (less important) was to bring them to the same height as my EP800s. The second reason was to raise the tweeters a bit since I have an elevated back row in my theater.

Does anyone know of any 6" stands that would accomodate the M80s?

A saw a picture of some stands someone bought (or made?) a while back... but I forget who and what thread.

Some help I am.

Exactly the same situation as me! Please let me know what you find if you don't mind. I will do the same should I discover a solution.

Personally I would just make some boxes, fill them with sand to cut down on resonance and finish them to match the M80s as closely as possible or just a nice gloss black

Sure why not!

Killer looking Theater!!!

That gives me something to think about!

Very nice!

I love the look in there.

Great looking setup. Dual centers? How do they sound? Are the dark panels acoustic treatment, or just meant to cut down on any glare from the projector?

Nice looking room! Are you running stereo subs?

Thanks everyone.

grunt - Not stereo subs (my setup only has one LFE channel). Just dual EP500s using a splitter on the LFE channel. I noticed you have the Panny 4000 projector. I have the Panny 1000. Nice projector. I would sure like to compare it to the 4000.

BigHonu - Dual centers work great for a projection setup. It makes the sound seem like it's coming from the center of the screen. Thus the raising of the M80s (to be more centered with the centers and for the back row seats). I run each center on it's own amplifier to avoid any impedance issues that may happen if wired in parallel. The dark panels on the ceiling are just regular painted ceiling panels for two reasons. To reduce the glare from the screen and to make the ceiling look like a dark sky for the ceiling "stars". Not a very clear picture but here it is.

What are you using for dual centers?

Here is an older pick of my front stage.

You say "older pic" so what does it have now?

Basically the same, no change. I have the grills on now.

His screen is a bit more wrinkled, his woofers are sagging and he can't get a rise out of his tweeter.

Nicely done! Have you noticed an improvement in overall sound quality with the M80s higher up or was it purely to achieve better SQ for the rear seating?

Looks great all around guys!

htnut - dual VP150s for centers.

jakewash - I raised the M80s mostly for the rear seating. I usually sit in the raised back seating area. It's hard to tell if there's any better all around SQ improvements. I do think it helps for the back seats.

You have a great looking setup ND, nicely done!

And a few from back in the day when I was a newbie around these parts. One with treatments, and one before treatments...I kinda miss my mansfields....