Ideal speaker height

Questions for the speaker experts: What is the ideal height for soffit mounted speakers? In other threads I have seen mention of "38% of room height", but does that mean 38% up from the floor, or 38% down from the ceiling? Or can it be either way? In my case, the ceiling is gong to be low, around 225 cm, so mounting them 38% up from the floor is going to put them BELOW my head height, around chest height, actually. That doesn't sound right. But 38% down from the ceiling puts them a little above head height. In that case, I guess I should angle the soffit slightly, so they speakers are pointing exactly at my head? Also, I assume that this 38% rule refers to the center of the front face of the speaker? Or to the bottom of the speaker? Please excuse the silly newbie questions! Suggestions and comments appreciated!

uneducated guess from a fellow newbie 38% down and angled so the tweeters intersect just behind your head and pass at ear hight? Iain

While we wait for an expert.... The 38 percent rule has several purposes, one that I can state pretty good:). It is to give you a starting point to work from. You could use a center of room dimension but this has been proven to be an area of much acoustically negative activity. I cannot recall who it was that had made this study and determined these values but for monitor speaker placement, 38 percent is the start...not the end. It will work the same way for ear height placement but you may find that ear height is good for you and is close to NOT being at 50 percent between floor and ceiling.

It is specified in numerous technical documents as 1.2 m. Depending on the document up to 7° above that height at the listening position. Andre

I am also interested in this question. I just bought a pair of Mackies (HR824's) which i will be soffit mounting. Is the 1.2m the tweeter or woofer height? Is it better to have the woofer or tweeter at ear level? I would assume the tweeter due to the directional nature of higher f's but have heard some say woofer at ear level... Matt

Earshot wrote:

Is the 1.2m the tweeter or woofer height?

The acoustic centre of the speaker. Some companies like Genelec show this on their drawings of the speakers. If not, then tweeter/midrange hieght. Andre

The 38% Rule from Wes Lachot Ta-Da!!!

and from the hat there appeared a rabbit ... thank you Iain

Not just any old rabbit either. Eric Desart is THE rabbit ;)

Wes' 38% has never been presented as being for speaker height. Read the linked thread for more on how it has been miss-applied. Andre