Nearfield Monitor Placement

[Kaze]

Ok so i purchased a pair of KRK RP8 minitors but money is an issue here so im trying to get around buying monitor stands. i can place them on my desk it has a lot of room. But the problem is the right channel is going to be sitting 27 1/2 inches high and the left is going to be 32 1/2 inches high (i have to put it on the computer monitor level.) Is this something i should worry about or should i be okay? Thanks for the help.

[Blue Bear Sound]

The ideal is that they're equidistant from your ears (in an equilateral triangle), as well as being at the same height, but you do what you have to do.........!

[Garry Sharp]

Can you raise the right one to match? Sitting it on something heavy like housebricks is often recommended, and you should be able to get a few of those for no money!

In an ideal world the tweeters should be level with your ears, in addition to what Blue Bear said.

[JKestle]

I managed to match my difference in height with textbooks.
Get creative!

[Kaze]

Alright guys thanks.

[foxcorner]

Originally Posted by JKestle

I managed to match my difference in height with textbooks.
Get creative!

Haven't needed to do this with monitors, but National Geographic magazines are perfect. I've installed several wall-hanging cupboards using NGMs to position them just right.

Dan

[foxcorner]

I do have a question, though... My current monitors (and the KRK RP8s I just ordered) will be solidly mounted but a little high. The tweeters will be, say, 6" above the plane of my ears. Is it acceptable to put something under the rear of the monitors to tilt them downwards a little?

Thanks,
Dan

[JeffLancaster]

Originally Posted by foxcorner

I do have a question, though... My current monitors (and the KRK RP8s I just ordered) will be solidly mounted but a little high. The tweeters will be, say, 6" above the plane of my ears. Is it acceptable to put something under the rear of the monitors to tilt them downwards a little?

Thanks,
Dan

Will they be on a desktop or shelf? If so you could get a set of Auralex Mopads. Not only will they tilt the monitors downwards like you need, they'll also give you isolation.

By the way, just thought I'd point out that this thread had been dead since 2004

[sushi-mon]

Just tilt your head to the side

Get some auralex pads, you can use them to aim your monitors up/down 4 or 8 degrees.

I would go with suggestions to get them to the same height. A phone book could work well.

[foxcorner]

Originally Posted by JeffLancaster

Will they be on a desktop or shelf? If so you could get a set of Auralex Mopads. Not only will they tilt the monitors downwards like you need, they'll also give you isolation.

They'll be on a chipboard platform that stands on my desk above the rear part of my mixer. I'll look into the pads.

Originally Posted by JeffLancaster

By the way, just thought I'd point out that this thread had been dead since 2004

...didn't stop me getting two replies within an hour...

[foxcorner]

Originally Posted by sushi-mon

Just tilt your head to the side

Get some auralex pads, you can use them to aim your monitors up/down 4 or 8 degrees.

I would go with suggestions to get them to the same height. A phone book could work well.

It would have to be a negative-thickness phonebook under each speaker... or are you suggesting that I *sit* on a phonebook?

[JeffLancaster]

Originally Posted by foxcorner

...didn't stop me getting two replies within an hour...

Good Point!

[sushi-mon]

Originally Posted by foxcorner

It would have to be a negative-thickness phonebook under each speaker... or are you suggesting that I *sit* on a phonebook?

Your right channel speaker is 5 inches lower than the left, so a real thick phone book under the right speaker would bring it up to the level of your left speaker that has to be at your computer's monitor level ? Maybe I misunderstood your explaination

Well actually, if you put your left butt cheek on the phone book that would tilt your body accordingly...

Oh, I was replying to the 1.5 year old post. Geez, I had no idea...

[sushi-mon]

Assuming you are going for the equidistant triangle (the distance between the tweeters and their distance to the middle of your head should all be equal).

Instead of worrying about aiming the tweeters right at your ears, you may want to have the area between the centers of the drivers aimed at your ears. You need to hear the woofers too.

The auralex pads are great. But before you buy, do the math to see if 4 degrees or 8 degrees aiming downwards will work. So if the tweeters are 6inches above your ears and the monitors are 36inches apart and from your head, you would need 9.5 degrees, so 8 degrees of downward aiming should work fine for aiming the tweeters at your ears (assuming 36 inche triangle).

But, if you split the difference between the woofers and tweeters, say aiming 3 inches below the tweeter at your ears, then you need 4.8 degrees of downward aiming at 36 inches, so 4 degrees will work fine.

Sorry to get too technical, but I went through all these calculations before purchasing my desk, my monitors, and the auralex pads.