Center Channel Placement

[Feltran]

I'm trying to plan my home theater system, and because of the shape of the room, I'm finding it very difficult to come up with an arrangement that works and still leaves a place for the center channel speaker. A friend suggested mounting it on the ceiling just in front of the pull down projection screen (so it would be just a little above the projected picture) and angle it downwards towards the sofa. Can I do this, or would it be horrible for acoustics and/or cause voices to seem disconnected from the video?

 

[JonFo]

Feltran, close to the ceiling would not be a good thing. Lot's of acoustical issues with the ceiling boundary that would require some unsightly treatments to compensate.

I'd recommend placing it just below the screen, or better yet, going to an acoustically transparent screen and putting it behind it. That's the ideal, and front projection is the only video playback system that support that.
So you are already ahead of the game there. I do understand that an AT screen is more $'s, but well worth it for better audio.

If the position below the screen is to low, then you do have a quandary.

 

[kcl]

Due to similar constraints, we chose to place our center speaker in front of the TV on the floor (see my system link for photos). I was originally concerned that placing it there would be distraction, but it took all of about 10 minutes before we realized that wasn't any discernible having it there instead of on top of the TV. Even more surprising, when we lowered the projection screen and watched movies we found no difference there, either. (Again, see the picture on my system link with the screen lowered.)

I think the bottom is that as long as the center speaker is actually centered and 'near' the picture, you won't have any problems (excluding acoustic issues, of course).

 

[zaphod]

i have my logos on the floor below the screen, like KCL, i can't determine it's location, it just blends in. i do have it raised 3 inches on small MDF stands that i built and the sound is improved by that tweek.

the Logos manual talks about mounting it on the ceiling, or on the wall at the ceiling.