Can I lay a bookshelf speaker horizontally?

[coolnick]

I have some odd openings to work with in my bookshelfs on either side of my plasma and due to wife contraints everything needs to stay on the shelf. I have 16"Wx10.5"Hx13"D to work with and there are absolutely no pre-made bookshelf cabinets to work with those dimensions. I am going to do a DIY project, but I was trying to stick with some PE cabinets.

What happens when you turn a speaker on its side? Would I be better off building my own cabinets to keep the tweeter above the mid/woofer? I am keeping things in generic terms because the answer to the above questions will influence my choice in DIY projects.

TIA :T

[Kal Rubinson]

Do a search for this because it has been discussed many times on many forums. Basically, there are problems with interference/cancellation when speaker drivers are arrayed horizontally unless some particular care is taken in the configuration and crossovers. The rarity of horizontal designs for anything other than center channel speakers is evidence of this. Even for center channel use, the problems exist in many designs.

Kal

[coolnick]

Do a search for this because it has been discussed many times on many forums. Basically, there are problems with interference/cancellation when speaker drivers are arrayed horizontally unless some particular care is taken in the configuration and crossovers. The rarity of horizontal designs for anything other than center channel speakers is evidence of this. Even for center channel use, the problems exist in many designs.

Kal

Yeah I tried a search and you would be amazed how many things come up for "horizontal". I assumed there would be problems and thought I should search/ask first. Looks like I am going to have to break out the woodworking tools. Thanks Kal.

[ThomasW]

If the design is a MT those are usually ok, if the design is a MTM there are issues...

[Kal Rubinson]

If the design is a MT those are usually ok, if the design is a MTM there are issues...

That's not entirely true. The situation is simpler to analyze with an MT. All you need to know is the crossover frequency, crossover slope and the center-to-center distances between the drivers. Accurately measured spatial responses would also serve.

Kal

[coolnick]

I plan to do MT and most of the kits I was looking at already had crossovers so I figured it wouldn't work. Say a SR71 kit for example. But you guys are saying if I build my own crossovers I could get it to work okay?

Unfortunately I do not see this topic discussed very much. I figured it would be a whole lot easier to buy a pre-made enclosure and build my own crossovers than it would be to build an enclosure due to my limited tool selection.

So with my odd shape to work with I sketched up the following ideas. One is a MT on the same axis (this will be difficult since I only have 10 3/4" total height to work with. The next design will be the same MT but with the mid (or tweeter) offset. And finally a MTM setup with the tweeter above the mids, but it sounds like you guys are saying this will be the most difficult.

[ThomasW]

If you want to make your own crossovers you'll need to have a measurement system to make in baffle plots of the drivers.

[coolnick]

If you want to make your own crossovers you'll need to have a measurement system to make in baffle plots of the drivers.

I just meant I would use a design already posted here and assemble them myself. I have plenty of volume (just over .8 cu ft internal) to work with here, just a goofy size.

I ordered speakerbuilding 201 or whatever it is called and plan to go through that to get a better grasp on the basics. Hopefully that will get me going in the right direction.

[Amphiprion]

It can work fine if you use steep crossover slopes (4th order or greater acoustically) and a crossover point well above 1kHz.

[alebonau]

In my experience with various centres the ones with a vertically aligned tweeter mid range generally far superior to the MTM arrangements. this is with horizontal centres ofcourse.

the worse thing you could do with the LCR type centre's is lay them horizontally in my experience. try it next time your in a shop have them demo a lcr arrangement vertically aligned and then get them turn to turn horizontally and hear the effect it has on the sound. not ideal in my opinion. the other aspect impacted is off axis performance wiht LCRs if laid horizontal.

same with bookshelves turn them horizontal while your listening and experience the effect it has ! coolnick the off axis MT arrangement would be a compromise. but certainly better than laying completely horizontal

[looneybomber]

It is possible to go with a 3way design T/MW with the tweeter above a mid and a woofer next to it.



However, you'd be making this design from scratch since there are now designs like it on this board in the accomplished section.