How do you set up your monitors??

[detuned6]

I really mean what does your monitors "sit" on top of ? And how far away are their backside to the wall. Unfortantlly my monitor room is my living room (isnt sharring fun!). So the back of my monitors are 4" inches away from the wall. They sit on top of a thick bath towels on top of milkcrates.
I was reading the new issue of tape op (this issue is great)and i forget what interview it was but the dude says "and its really important what your monitors sit on." So that got me thinking, what is bad and good mounting options?
My buddy was over the other day checking out my setup and he made a comment as "you got to get those(monitors) off those milk crates". I didnt ask why at the time he felt that way, in his set up hes got is speakers on a wood self(maybe 1" thick) and his monitors about a couple of inches away from the wall also.

[chigbl]

My monitors are on DIY stands made of 4" PVC pipe, matching PVC flanges and pieces of 1" thick particle boards. This has been covered in previous threads. It was suggested to fill the pipes with sand to deaden vibrations but I still need to do that.

They are close to the wall but oriented towards me so I would say an average of 4" from the wall. They are Yorkville YSM1p and come with a user selectable filtering to accomodate room placement: a +2 dB boost for center of the room, no cut or boost when placed against a flat wall and a -2 dB cut when placed in corners. Cuts and boosts are on the 20Hz to 80Hz range.

I assume from this that it is typical to place monitors close to the wall but I am no expert.