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odd question about stand-mount speakers

Is there any reason you shouldn't turn stand-mount speakers upside down and listen to them that way, as long as you use some kind of vibration control/decoupler between the speakers and the surface they're placed on? The reason I ask is because, at least in a near-field setup, I would think having the mid/woofer ABOVE the tweeter would enhance image height/size -- assuming the tweeter is kept at ear level. (A couple of asides: I don't currently have bookshelf speakers, otherwise I would experiment. Will likely be buying some in the near future though. Also, I know that there are some stand-mount speakers that place the mid/woofer above the tweeter, but the vast majority do not -- most of the ones I'm interested in do not.)
128x128hiphiphan
russ69's avatar
russ69
3,554 posts
 

No harm in trying it out.

dynamiclinearity
284 posts
 

It depends on how the crossover was designed and it's affect on vertical dispersion and interaction between the 2 drivers. The dispersion won't be the same upside down and a good speaker was designed to be used the way the designer tells you.

paradisecom
348 posts
 

Dynamic is correct. You can end up with a giant suckout or a boosted area in the frequency response where the 2 drivers interact due to their design and the crossover design. 

hiphiphan's avatar
hiphiphan OP
72 posts
 

Oh, ok. Bummer. But that makes sense. I guess as I get closer to making an actual purchase, I could alway contact the manufacturer and see if their specific speaker would be a poor candidate for my experiment. Thanks for the replies.

vthokie83
981 posts
 

I have a pair of Buchardt Audio S400 MK II speakers, that are designed with the woofer top/tweeter below. With my speaker stands the tweeter is at ear level. I did try the upside down with the tweeters at ear level, and the soundstage was off…..didn’t try messing around much more, moved them back pretty quickly.

I do use “drum dampener silicone pads” that Mads Buchardt suggested in an email, that do make a very noticeable improvement

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