Monitor position

[Johann Burkard]

Hey,

what is the recommended monitor angle/setup? I've heard this 30° thing,
the x * 1.33 thing (x being the distance between the speakers) and the
equilateral triangle...

Johann
--
Und wenn du dem Astralleib Kohlenstoffliches gibst in der Idealmenge,
lösen beide sich auf und verschmelzen im Schmerz allumfassender
Rammdösigkeit und im Zustand gnädiger Erleuchtung erschließt sich dir
endlich das (?) Koan "Dies ist kein Stock". ("Erich Milka")

[dt king]

I have one next to the cable interface on the left side of my desk and the
other on a spindle stack of CDRs on the right.

dtk

----- Original Message -----
From: "Johann Burkard" >
Newsgroups: rec.audio.pro
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2004 4:09 PM
Subject: Monitor position


> Hey,
>
> what is the recommended monitor angle/setup? I've heard this 30° thing,
> the x * 1.33 thing (x being the distance between the speakers) and the
> equilateral triangle...
>
> Johann
> --
> Und wenn du dem Astralleib Kohlenstoffliches gibst in der Idealmenge,
> lösen beide sich auf und verschmelzen im Schmerz allumfassender
> Rammdösigkeit und im Zustand gnädiger Erleuchtung erschließt sich dir
> endlich das (?) Koan "Dies ist kein Stock". ("Erich Milka")

[Ethan Winer]

Johann,

> what is the recommended monitor angle/setup? <

The goal is an equilateral triangle, but there are a lot more factors than
just the angle!

The speaker height should be set so the tweeters are at ear level. You
should be seated centered in the room left to right, and both side walls
should be treated identically. The speakers and listening position should be
arranged to minimize the effects of room modes and low frequency acoustic
interference that skew the LF response.

That's the short list. Then you get into the importance of reducing comb
filtering off nearby surfaces, treating the first reflection points, adding
bass traps to further flatten the response and reduce modal ringing, and so
forth.

--Ethan

[Ethan Winer]

Johann,

> what is the recommended monitor angle/setup? <

The goal is an equilateral triangle, but there are a lot more factors than
just the angle!

The speaker height should be set so the tweeters are at ear level. You
should be seated centered in the room left to right, and both side walls
should be treated identically. The speakers and listening position should be
arranged to minimize the effects of room modes and low frequency acoustic
interference that skew the LF response.

That's the short list. Then you get into the importance of reducing comb
filtering off nearby surfaces, treating the first reflection points, adding
bass traps to further flatten the response and reduce modal ringing, and so
forth.

--Ethan

[Johann Burkard]

Ethan Winer wrote:
> Johann,
>>what is the recommended monitor angle/setup? <
>
> The goal is an equilateral triangle, but there are a lot more factors than
> just the angle!

I thought there was a maximum distance between speakers at which the
stereo image would fall apart or so.

This equilateral triangle is a 30° angle to each speaker, right?

Johann
--
Du Netzfanatiker fantasierst Konzepte in die Welt, die es nicht gibt um
Deinen Fetischismus zu befriedigen (was der NQ widerspricht) und
fabulierst ueber andere?
(*Tönnes in >)

[Johann Burkard]

Ethan Winer wrote:
> Johann,
>>what is the recommended monitor angle/setup? <
>
> The goal is an equilateral triangle, but there are a lot more factors than
> just the angle!

I thought there was a maximum distance between speakers at which the
stereo image would fall apart or so.

This equilateral triangle is a 30° angle to each speaker, right?

Johann
--
Du Netzfanatiker fantasierst Konzepte in die Welt, die es nicht gibt um
Deinen Fetischismus zu befriedigen (was der NQ widerspricht) und
fabulierst ueber andere?
(*Tönnes in >)

[agent86]

Johann Burkard wrote:

> This equilateral triangle is a 30° angle to each speaker, right?

An equilateral triangle is a triangle with all three angles being 60
degrees. The sides can be of any length, but (since the three angles are
all equal) the lengths of the three sides must also be equal.

It could also be describes as a tringle with the lengths of all three sides
being equal, which would dictate that all three angles be 60 degrees.

Note that this only refers to the relative locations of the corners of the
triangle. Any toeing in of the speakers (which seems to be what you're
really getting at) would be a separate issue (although possibly
interdependent with speaker placement.

Bottom line... Read & follow the instructions that came with your monitors.
Deal with any problematic modes & early reflections in your room. THEN
you can probably fine tune the placement & angle of your monitors by ear.

[agent86]

Johann Burkard wrote:

> This equilateral triangle is a 30° angle to each speaker, right?

An equilateral triangle is a triangle with all three angles being 60
degrees. The sides can be of any length, but (since the three angles are
all equal) the lengths of the three sides must also be equal.

It could also be describes as a tringle with the lengths of all three sides
being equal, which would dictate that all three angles be 60 degrees.

Note that this only refers to the relative locations of the corners of the
triangle. Any toeing in of the speakers (which seems to be what you're
really getting at) would be a separate issue (although possibly
interdependent with speaker placement.

Bottom line... Read & follow the instructions that came with your monitors.
Deal with any problematic modes & early reflections in your room. THEN
you can probably fine tune the placement & angle of your monitors by ear.

[Ethan Winer]

Johann,

> I thought there was a maximum distance between speakers at which the
stereo image would fall apart <

To my way of thinking, imaging is more a function of early reflections. The
only hard limit on how far apart you can put the speakers is the width of
the room. And as I said earlier, there are other factors.

If the speakers are so far apart they're close to the walls, you have to
consider Speaker Boundary Interference Response, or SBIR, which is a skewing
of the low frequency response due to reflections off those walls. And if the
speakers are too close to the corners, the low end is increased and room
modes (natural resonances) are excited more.

There are many other such interactions between the placement of the
loudspeakers, the listener, and the room boundaries.

--Ethan

[Ethan Winer]

Johann,

> I thought there was a maximum distance between speakers at which the
stereo image would fall apart <

To my way of thinking, imaging is more a function of early reflections. The
only hard limit on how far apart you can put the speakers is the width of
the room. And as I said earlier, there are other factors.

If the speakers are so far apart they're close to the walls, you have to
consider Speaker Boundary Interference Response, or SBIR, which is a skewing
of the low frequency response due to reflections off those walls. And if the
speakers are too close to the corners, the low end is increased and room
modes (natural resonances) are excited more.

There are many other such interactions between the placement of the
loudspeakers, the listener, and the room boundaries.

--Ethan