Need advice on front channel placement

Hello all,
I've been doing searches of the archives and have found some info on this but nothing where advice was given on a system with larger speakers. I'm looking at options for mounting my front channel Paradigm Studio 100s (circa 1999 model) around my 100" screen. My current plan has a Servo (15") sub on the far right of the 117" wide space. Due to this decision, having the 100s standing on the floor (which puts the tweeters about 40" up) is not possible. My two remaining choices are to put them on shelves starting 22" or more high, which will push the tweeters up to a questionable 62"+, or mount the 100s horizontally directly under the screen, sandwiching the cc between them with about an inch to spare between each of them. Anticipated use is 95%+ movie viewing, and there are two rows of 4 seats 8 and 11 feet from the screen, the second row on a 5" riser (limited by ceiling height here).

My questions are:
- Which option is preferable for the intended use?
- Would the vertical disparity between the cc to the L/R using the shelf-mounting option be mitigated by mounting the speakers themselves 'upside down' bringing the tweeters within a foot or so vertically?
- Various threads advise against horizontal placement, but almost all say "depends on the speakers being used". Anyone with this knowledge have an opinion on horizontal mounting of the tall Paradigms?
- For HT use, if the horizontal option is preferred, would they best be oriented with the tweeters outboard (where they'd be ~80" apart) or inboard (less than 30" apart)?
- Right now, the design has a storage area in the space under the CC. I could conceivably eliminate this from the design and move the Servo inward, between the L/R speakers, which would allow the 100s to be stood upon the floor at the design-intended height, however I'm not sure what the effect of having the sub in the center of the rig would be (and whether whatever the effect, if it would not be outweighed by the advantage of more standard placement of the L/R speakers).

Thanks in advance for the help!

[salvasol]

First of all ... Welcome

Can you move the sub somewhere else??? ... Or is this the place where you get the best response???

If you can't move the sub... I go with the vertical placement on the shelf/stand; and tilt the speaker a little to point the tweeter to the listening area instead of firing into the room

[thxgoon]

I agree with salvasol. In a home theater environment you want the best possible horizontal coverage from your speakers and most are designed with this in mind. Frequency response can get pretty harry above and below the tweeter so if you can, mount them vertically and tilt the speakers so that the tweets are aimed at the primary listening area.

Moving the sub further inward could potentially cost you some extension and low end output, but in this case I think the sacrifice is worth it. Often the front corners are not the best places for a sub. REW is offered on this site for free and is a great tool for measuring the response of various places in the room to help you find the best spot for the sub. Good luck! Post some pics if you have a chance.

Thanks for the replies and the welcome!

I can certainly move the sub inward, I haven't done any testing at all - the corner was just the 'natural' place it was stuck when originally set up and I left it there as a starting point for the design here. Since I have the speakers set up in the target area while I hash this out I can move it and see what it sounds like more centered. I'm also going to check out the tool you mentioned as soon as I can.

Thanks again!

[salvasol]

stanwalters wrote:

Since I have the speakers set up in the target area while I hash this out I can move it and see what it sounds like more centered. I'm also going to check out the tool you mentioned as soon as I can.

Do you have a SPL meter like this Radio Shack meter ??? ... if you don't, get one, it will help you to calibrate your system to get the best out of it

To place the sub do the crawling test ... place the sub at your listening position, then crawl around the room until with the SPL on your hand and find the spot with the best response; and that the place where you need to put your sub (it can be anywhere in the room, a corner or in a middle of the wall)

To use REW, you just need a computer or laptop, SPL meter (mentioned above), RCA cables and download the program ... then have fun calibrating the system

[tonyvdb]

If moving the sub inwards cause to much of a drastic level loss try placing it in a rear corner of the room as bass is non directional and you may find that works just as well as where you have it now.