Monitor 7 placement

[Easy Runnin]

Is it a bad thing to keep my monitor 7s on their sides? I was planning on building some shelves 5.5 feet up, at least 6 feet apart in a 16 x 18 finished basements with a dropped ceiling at 7 foot. Pub tables and a pool table pretty much precludes ideal placement. I just can't get the vision of a pool que going through a driver or PR out of my head.

Also, any suggestions on shelf construction?

[mhardy6647]

No but you won't get their best from them that way.
Way back when, in the 1950s, when full-range "bookshelf" speakers were developed (basically Villchur's/Acoustic Research's baby- the high compliance woofer and acoustic suspension enclosure alignment enabled decent LF from a small box albeit at a significant price in terms of loudspeaker system sensitivity), the idea was - that they'd fit on a bookshelf! In most cases, in the suburban homes of the '50s and '60s, that meant horizontally. The Monitor 7 is fundamentally a "bookshelf" type loudspeaker, even though by the time it came along (ca. 1976) the clear intent was for it to be used as a standalone/floor-standing loudspeaker.



I suspect the sound may be somewhat "heavy" due to the boundary reinforcment (back wall of the bookshelves); three-dimensionality of the image will also definitely suffer. In the perfect world, you might want to consider a speaker designed for such placement (the KEF C20 comes immediately to mind; a very nice little speaker; not in high demand and consequently inexpensive if you can find a pair). The smaller ads loudspeakers of the late-1970s and into the 1980s would also be excellent choices (I'll add a shout out for the small two-way L-420, but only because I have a pair and they never fail to amaze me with their top to bottom smooth, relaxed, yet very articulate presentation and amazingly good sensitivity given their small size and sealed box alignment).

[Easy Runnin]

I realize it is not an ideal situation but considering that listeners will be standing or siting high up in a pub chair versus a sofa or easy chair, it might not be so bad. I also figure since I need to keep them up out of the way of the butt end of a pool que the tweeters would be too high in the vertical position. I'm thinking I'll go with a 12 inch wide shelf. This will give me about 3 inches from the wall. I was also thinking I might even give them a slight downward tilt.

[mhardy6647]

awww, just put a hardware cloth in front of them to protect the tweeters ;-)

[StantonZ]

Sounds like you're (literally) in a tight spot, but putting them on their side, high off the floor and/or adding a slight downward tilt will NOT help them sound better. If you're worried about damage, put them (flat) in a corner, on the floor; hopefully that will be far enough from the pool table.