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Speaker height for architectural speakers

  • 5 September 2023
  • 2 replies
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I’m looking to install 4 sonos ceiling speakers into a living/dining room, powered by one amp. 

The ceiling is sloped (single slope, shed roof style). The room is 25’ L x 17’ W. The slope runs along the long wall.

My question is around placement and options for balancing the sound. 

Two options:

  1. Have all 4 speakers at the same height about 1/3 of the way up the slope. With the slope pitch, this would have the speakers face into the middle of the room. The speakers would not be so much left/right of the listener, more coming from one direction but at least all at the same height.
  2. Have 2 speakers at 1/3 way up the slope and another two directly in line with those at 2/3 up the slope. A more standard quadrant setup. However, they would not be at the same height. The issue here is how I’d control the balance of the higher vs closer speaker on the pitched ceiling. Would Trueplay be able to balance the height differences? I realize that without adding a second amp there is no way to control the volume of each, even then that will be completely crazy to manage on a daily usage of constantly adjusting volumes. Is best practice to have speakers at the same height regardless of whether the speakers balance the listener left/right?

Thanks

Mark

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Best answer by Stanley_4 6 September 2023, 00:18

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2 replies

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I’d put the Amp in Mono mode to start with. 

Positioning the speakers, I’d lean to evenly spaced, trying to get as balanced a sound field as possible to start with. Draw an X on your plan from corner to corner and place the speakers along the lines, roughly half way between the corner and center.

To deal with the height issue I’d put one channel high and the other low, hopefully the Balance control could even out the heard volume differences based on height.

TruePlay should help as long as you are using TruePlay compatible speakers.

You might look into angled speaker mounting rings if you think the sound versus appearance issues warrant them.

Thank you Stanley_4. Very helpful.