Whats the industry standard height for driver/ear level?

[Bill poster]

Curious but maybe there isn't?

[Salas]

Should be the designer's reference axis, which is arbitrary, and should be mentioned in product's literature. There is a tendency to be the HF unit's center or just bellow its chassis rim in many home speakers. English monitor speakers were mostly referencing half distance between mid-woofer and tweeter when 2 way, the same or sometimes just midrange unit axis when 3 way. In FR speakers is naturally the single driver's center. So you must arrange your seating height for reference axis. They tend to have this at 90cm to 1m given the low sofas and average home speakers, most people differ mainly in thighbone and shinbone length, so seated ear height is near between short and tall individuals. But no standard is written as a rule as far as I have come across.

[theAnonymous1]

I think 31.2757202 attoparsecs is a reasonable hight.

[mor2bz]

if you have rising response you may want to sit off axis. i don't like speakers
firing at my knees but i like a too-hot top end even less. putting the speaker low makes it more stable. loook at thehornshoppe speakers. i don't like speakers that are aimed upwards. this puts more sound to the reflective walls and windows. hope this helps.

[Bill poster]

So about 95cm-1m (max) wd be about right for a FR unit- some of the expensive B&W floorstanders are v tall putting the tweeter at 115cm height from floor

[DaveCan]

I think it would always be more beneficial using a single FR driver as an example, to have the driver be a tad to high rather than to low.. Just my opinion.. I don't understand say the JE Labs type open baffle and other such ideas that have the drivers basically on the floor pointed up, obvious just for that extra low end, but meh!!

If your on stage playing guitar then a monitor firing up at your face is the ticket, for home audiophile sq use though, anywhere from a driver centered at 35-40inches or so off the floor, should take care of most folks Personally I'd go for the higher #... Most everywhere you would see a live act from the best seat in the house, the sound is created above your ear plane etc... Too high over too low anyday

[chrisb]

Originally Posted by DaveCan

I think it would always be more beneficial using a single FR driver as an example, to have the driver be a tad to high rather than to low.. Just my opinion.. I don't understand say the JE Labs type open baffle and other such ideas that have the drivers basically on the floor pointed up, obvious just for that extra low end, but meh!!

If your on stage playing guitar then a monitor firing up at your face is the ticket, for home audiophile sq use though, anywhere from a driver centered at 35-40inches or so off the floor, should take care of most folks Personally I'd go for the higher #... Most everywhere you would see a live act from the best seat in the house, the sound is created above your ear plane etc... Too high over too low anyday

Dave, sitting down in a listening chair, some folks are taller than others , so when mother nature settles on a standard for ear level, things would be easier

all kidding aside, I rather like the aesthetics of shorter cabinets/lower driver position (28- 30") with slight or adjustable tilt-back (5-7deg seems to work well)

[ScottG]

Originally Posted by Bill poster

Curious but maybe there isn't?

about 33 inches.

John Atkinson (aka Stereo Editor here), has mentioned that this is just about the average for most listeners (..found somewhere in Stereophile).

[planet10]

I generally use 33-36" as average listener ear height (DaveCan is outside that metric on the high side).

We had really good results with Tysen. Driver at about 30" with a 5 degree tilt-back. But Fonken (in my room) are known to work well high up on their push-push woofers, which puts them at about ear-level.

Maple Shade gets quite radical in their thinking (this stand sits on the floor)



In the end, room, speakers, listener, listener chair all play a roll as to what works best

dave

[DaveCan]

Originally Posted by planet10

In the end, room, speakers, listener, listener chair all play a roll as to what works best
dave

That is so true and so variable for each of our listening spaces, it's a wonder anything really ever works that isn't totally custom, hence the diy approach many of us take I guess..

I just changed my living room around, so now my speakers are on the opposite side of the room.. Holy cow did that ever change from the sound I was used too... Took awhile to dial in the position of the cabs and get it all focused again, or at least as focused as my diy effort can get lol

Anyhow I just think for my particular tastes that it's always better to be ear height or higher if need be, and that if your well over ear height it's better than being well under ear height etc.. But yes tilt back can get er done too