Speaker placement (and elevation)

[voice of the theater]

I own three pair of vintage Altecs and have them set up in three rooms in the house. I feel I've got them EQ'd and placed where they sound best and work best for the functionality of the rooms as well. I'm finally really happy with how all three setups sound but I'm always wondering if with a little more knowledge I could make things even better. I have two main questions to pose to the experts out there.

Anyways, FIRST QUESTION--SPEAKER ELEVATION: My model 19's are taller than my Valencias and my Heathkit AS-101's which came stock from Heathkit with Valencia drivers, Heathkit crossovers (superior to the Valencia crossovers) in Heathkit cabinets (which are identical in dimension to Altec Flamenco cabinets--slightly different dimensions than the Valencias). The model 19's seem to be the perfect height for me--when I sit on my couch--the horns are right at ear level and these things sound amazing. You can see where this thread is going--the Valencias and AS 101's are considerably shorter/lower and the horns are more chest/abdomen level. I have "propped up" the fronts of both of these pairs of speakers--and now the highs sound great--with the "right" EQ both pair now sound VERY close to as good as the Model 19's. My first question is: would I be better off (for the low frequency response of the Valencias and AS 101's) building some type of risers instead of "propping up" the fronts of them? Here are some photos to give you an idea of what I mean--some of these pics are more relevant to my second question (coming up next).
LIVING ROOM SET UP (AS-101's):





REC. ROOM SETUP (FINISHED BASEMENT):




THIS THREAD/POST IS CONTINUED (BELOW) IN MY REPLY TO MY OWN POST DUE TO EXCEEDING THE NUMBER OF IMAGES ALLOWED IN A SINGLE POST......

[voice of the theater]

PART TWO OF THE ABOVE THREAD/POST

RECORDING STUDIO/REHEARSAL STUDIO FOR MY (ROCK) BAND:





Notice the Zenith Allegro 3000 speakers on top of the Valencias. I don't play both pair at the same time. The Allegros are only for playbacks of mixes of band recordings--sometimes it's useful to hear what the music sounds like on smaller speakers as well for comparative purposes. BTW, these Zenith Allegro Speakers are the best free speakers I've ever stumbled upon. I got them from the Craigslist "free" section after reading about them on an audio forum. They have Foster (Fostex) horns (!)and 10" Alnico (!) woofers in ported/tuned/inexpensive cabinets and actually sound really nice--crisp highs and unbelievable deep and tight bass.... But I digress.... Anyways, my FIRST QUESTION was: would I be better off (for the low frequency response of the Valencias and AS 101's) building some type of risers instead of "propping up" the fronts of them as shown in the photos? BTW, I REALLY had to prop up the fronts of the Valencias wayyy up because we are standing up during band practice (listening to the Vals while standing up). I can tell you the Valencias and AS 101's sound great the way they are, but would they sound even better on risers? They didn't sound nearly as good before I propped up the fronts--both pair were playing to my navel!

QUESTION TWO--SPEAKER PLACEMENT:
I've read somewhere (not here) that it is often times best to place speakers in the corners of a room--is this true? I'm sure having them in a corner affects the sound as far as reflectivity, but not sure if it's viewed as optimum placement acoustically or if it's just "different". As you can see in my photos, in each of my three setups, one speaker is in a corner of the room and one is not. This is probably not a good idea theoretically, but believe it or not, in all three setups, the imaging is tight--and when I play them in mono the sound (bass, treble, and mids) seems to come from the "dead center" point between the two speakers. In stereo, things like lead vocal usually sound like they're from the center (if the vinyl or CD was mixed that way). I use Sennheiser headphones for comparison--anyone out there a fan of Sennheisers?......

Thanks in advance for any info and opinions on these two questions--hopefully this will be useful to others here as well.....

[Panomaniac]

Well this is very interesting.

Is the only thing that makes the model 19 "better" the fact that the horn is at ear height?
These 3 speakers are more alike than different, anyway.

[voice of the theater]

I've noticed that there are some significant differences besides speaker height. Besides speaker height "adjustment", both the Valencias and the AS 101's need a little more high EQ added (particularly 15k and up) with an equalizer and then sound very close to as good as the Model 19's. A little extra low EQ helps them to compete with the 19's as well. All three pair have an indescribably crystal clear "precise" sound and unbelievably "tight" stereo imaging.... Any thoughts on my two questions about height and placement?

[Altec Best]

Well this is very interesting.

Is the only thing that makes the model 19 "better" the fact that the horn is at ear height?
These 3 speakers are more alike than different, anyway.

Absolutely !!! you really need to get them off the ground with a table,stands,anything at least a foot I think you would you like the sound much,much better

[mah]

Sennheiser headphones. I have had a pair of HD 420s for over 30years. Very pleased with them. Unfortunately the foam ear pads have disintegrated and Sennheiser do not have spares for this model.

[voice of the theater]

Absolutely !!! you really need to get them off the ground with a table,stands,anything at least a foot I think you would you like the sound much,much better

Not sure if I understand--What is the sonic advantage to putting the speakers on stands compared to leaving them on the floor and boosting up the fronts? I've got the fronts of the speakers propped up now so the angle of the horns and woofers are pointing upward right to ear level.

Also, anyone out there have any thoughts on what difference/advantage there is in having a speaker in the corner of a room compared to not having it placed in a corner?

[rontec]

--What is the sonic advantage to putting the speakers on stands compared to leaving them on the floor and boosting up the fronts?

When tilting the speakers up the point source is still only 3 feet off the floor. Putting Vals on 2 foot stands gives me a more realistic sound stage. Voices seem to come from a natural height. This probably depends on how large your listening room is and how far away from the speakers you are.

[gearfreak]

"My first question is: would I be better off (for the low frequency response of the Valencias and AS 101's) building some type of risers instead of "propping up" the fronts of them?"
(and)
Also, anyone out there have any thoughts on what difference/advantage there is in having a speaker in the corner of a room compared to not having it placed in a corner?

In my non-technical estimation, when you raise them off the floor, you'd loose (alter) whatever ground coupling benefit you get for the LF, right? i.e. This is why we have free space, 1/2 space, 1/4 space etc. FR specs in some graphs. They being more specifically related to whether it's 'up against' the boundary(s) in question. If you like them where and at the angle they are, I think the obvious experiment would be more of a 3 sided 'sealed ramp', to ensure that the front baffle/sides present a continuous 'air tight' boundary to the other boundary that they are coupling with.

(with the ultimate (?) expressions of the tactic, eventually leading to 'wings' (e.g. for 828/825 cabs) or e.g. soffit mounting of studio monitors)

In kind though, consider the 'room modes', for which there should be some share/freeware calculators whereby you input the room dims. It will suggest what frequencies are boosted or nulled, and you can then tinker by ear with an e.q. to see if you agree with the results. (I don't think they take placement into account, but you'd know what LF frequencies to pay attention to, as you move them around).

[rontec]

Is the only thing that makes the model 19 "better" the fact that the horn is at ear height?

I've aquired Valencias recently and have owned mod 19s for 25 yrs. I have found that the attenuator on the valencias need to be turned way down and both treble and bass on the amp need to be boosted. Then IMO the Vals can sound like the 19s but not as good. The 19s with the L-pads in the optimum positions IMO play cleaner have more detail and play louder w/o distortion. The Vals sound very good elevated at this time about 1.5 feet above the floors. For my personal taste I think the 19s should be elevated about a foot above the floor. I plan to try it this weekend.