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Gavin Mooney
Contributor I
January 12, 2022

Arc above TV - how bad will it be?

Hi everyone, 

I have read that the Arc is designed to go below the TV, that there are upward firing speakers for the Atmos support, that home cinema speakers should be positioned around ear height..

But in my set up I have a TV on the wall above a gas log fireplace. There isn’t room to fit the Arc under the TV because it will be too close to the fireplace and will get too hot. 

My question is how bad will it be having the Arc above the TV? I’m an 80/20 kind of guy and probably don’t have an audiophile’s ear, so will I notice much difference? 

Thanks in advance!

Gavin

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    Stanley_4
    Stanley_4
    Grand Maestro
    January 14, 2022

    I love my Gen 1 Beams in smaller rooms but the one in my media room struggled to fill the space (three open plan rooms) while the Arc does so with no issues. No way I’d go back.

     

      GuitarSuperstar
      Lead Maestro
      January 14, 2022

      @GuitarSuperstar I read with interest “Ideal seating distance to hear the height channels is 1.5 to 3 meters.”

      Is that right!? The average TV seems to be 65” these days, which is what we just bought, and if I was closer than 3m I don’t think it would be very comfortable!

      I have an 8-foot (2.5 m) ceiling in my living room. My Arc is about 6 feet from the ceiling. My “sweet spot” to hear the height channels the best is sitting 5-8 feet from the Arc. If I sit any further, I cannot hear the height channels anymore.

      Yes, I agree that 5-8 feet is a little close for a 65” TV, but with the clarity and tiny pixel size of 4K TVs, that distance is not unusual. But at the same time, this shows the limitation of using upward firing drivers as opposed to actual ceiling speakers for a Dolby Atmos setup.

      "Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
        Gavin MooneyAuthor
        Contributor I
        March 18, 2022

        Hi all - just to round this off I thought I’d share a photo of the kit all mounted. 

        The soundbar looks high, especially when sitting on the sofa, and aesthetically I’d prefer it to be below the TV, but from a sound point of view it’s pretty OK. The Arc fills the room and it doesn’t feel like the sound’s coming from the ceiling at all. 

         

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