SurroundBAR Placement

[rlsills]

I've just bought a SurroundBAR to go with my yet to be delivered 42" Samsung DLP. Because of placement/cabnet constraints the SurroundBAR will have to go on top of the cabnet that houses the TV, at a hight of 80" from the floor and about 20" from the top of the set. Is this going to create a problem? Should I use the TV speakers (located below the unit) to enhance or replace the center channel of the SurroundBAR? Am I worring about something I shouldn't be concerned about? Thanks.

[Dennis Gardner]

Sounds like the bar is too long for your cabinet? 80" is the height of the standard door in my house, and even angling down, will be a compromise and you may lose surround effects to the floor.

Definately not ideal.

[reeltrouble1]

Well, I can tell you that Polk did not have it mounted that high when we got a demo at the factory. I would call CS and see but putting it that high does not make a lot sense to me.

I liked it well enough, but I still think a traditional set up is better for HT.

You could use a very tall chair!!!!

RT1

[mldennison]

sounds like you have a tough placement issue. i agree with dennis that it is not at all going to be ideal. first thing is that you definately want to angle the unit down towards your listening position. you will probably want to play around with exactly how much before you set anything in place. i would not recommend using your tv speakers to augument the surroundbar, unless it really is unlistenable, it will definately muddy things up and i think in the end make things worse. best thing to do is try it out and see how it sounds when hooked up normally, then you can start tweaking things to see if you can get it better...

[dorokusai]

I recently installed a bedroom HT for a friend using the Surround Bar. They bought a 42" Samsung LCD which has an angled cabinet bottom. The SB mounted below the television would have looked odd, so I chose to mount it above the TV very close to 80"; although, only a couple inches above the top of the television. They are both wall mounted BTW.

The wall mount bracket allows you to get about 15 degrees of rotation up or down. I angled it down, towards the listening area and it works just fine. No loss of imaging or surround effects at all.

[rlsills]

Thanks, that's what I was hoping to hear. I'll be using the stand, which I believe also gives me some latitude in angling the SB, so hopefully I'll be OK.

[808Tech]

I've had a similar situation as Dorokusai. One of my recent installations of a SB was preffered by the owner to be mounted above the TV strictly for, what he felt, was a better appearence. I didn't feel it'd lose quality because of the 15 degree angle it allows. It turned out fine.

As for the looks, I'd personally preffer it below the TV... but that's just me!

James