Monitor placement relative to ear level..

D

dru

New member
Hi there-

I have what may be a stupid question, but I was thinking that someone might be able to quickly fill me in. Last night I bought a desk that was designed for a homestudio midi set-up sort o' thing and I also bought some PS8s. After assembling the desk- it was a helluva-lot taller than the picture made it seem. So, when I sit down in my chair- my ears are just about level with the woofers on the monitors. What I'm wondering is- is it preferable to have the tweets more level with my ears? or is the stereo field sufficient enough that it isn't so much a big deal? I'm kinda confused because I wonder why a desk would be designed in this way. If I try to get much more height with the chair- then my knees interfere with the keyboard shelf that slides under the desk. To me I guess it sounds ok as is, but I'm just wondering if this would be less than optimal. any ideas?

Thanks!
 
Can't believe I didn't think of that..
Would this compromise the sound dynamics in any way?
...i thought i read somewhere that that can happen..

Thanks!

dru
 
You may end up with a comb filtering effect with the monitors on their sides, and the stereo image may suffer. You could try just turning them upside down so the tweet is at the bottom.

Or raise your chair. ;)
 
I've read expert opinions both for and against. The important thing is that both monitors and your ears form an equilateral triangle - If the monitors are 5 feet apart, your mixing position should be 5 feet from each speaker. Also, get some damping material under the speakers - foam, beanbags, half-marbles- anything that separates the enclosures from the desk.

Bob
 
Yeah, upside down may look a bit strange, but it if that puts the tweets and woofs closer to ear level, then it will work fine. Like BB mentioned, put something under them to isolate them from the desk, and make sure you place them at least flush with the edge of the desk to minimize reflections. IMHO, better than placing them on their sides.
 
Sorry that I'm not too informed about some of this- so I think i need a bit of clarification. So, I should actually put something in-between the speakers and the actual desk surface that they're sitting on??? By saying to place them flush with the edge- do you simply mean to pull them forward to the edge so that there will not be any additional surface in front to reflect the sound?

Also, on a different note. I read awhile back that I should max the volume on my G3 system volume adjustment as this will improve the signal to noise ratio, but these speakers are totally acting like this is too much. Should I decrease the sensitivity of the speakers to get the optimum sound or should I decrease the actual volume of the computer?

Thanks for yer thoughts..

dru
 
"So, I should actually put something in-between the speakers and the actual desk surface that they're sitting on??? "
Yes.
"Should I decrease the sensitivity of the speakers to get the optimum sound or should I decrease the actual volume of the computer?"
Try setting the G3 volume at about 75%. If you're still overdriving the Ps8's, decrease the G3 volume more. Let the speakers do the work.


Bob
 
By saying to place them flush with the edge- do you simply mean to pull them forward to the edge so that there will not be any additional surface in front to reflect the sound?
Click to expand...

Yep. You don't want the sound bouncing off a surface in front of the speaker.
 
I read recently that "tweeters should be at ear level". I can't tell you where I read it, because I have been reading everything I can get my hands on, regarding mixing - but I can tell you that it was written by someone who writes for an audio recording magazine.
Perhaps another subscriber to this forum can confirm this.
 
I have been seeing recently these foam blocks that are designed for isolating the speaker from whatever it is sitting on. They are also angled so if your speaker is too high it will angle it slightly down. Might be a great thing if your speakers are sitting too high.

scodu
 
"You may end up with a comb filtering effect with the monitors on their sides, and the stereo image may suffer."

There are different schools of thought on this but I did want to add some clarity.

Comb filtering effect could only be increased with side orientation IF they are sitting on a hard surface such as the desk you speak of. This would be due to an increase in surface contact area which would lead to more of the low end frequencies being radiated through the hard surface. If the monitors are placed on some neoprene foam (1/4 to 1.2"thick) there should be no increase in the comb filter effect.

Many users (myself included) PREFER a side orientation w/ tweeters to the outside to WIDEN the stereo image. There is no right answer as to side vs vertical position. Professionals in the industry do it both ways. Experiment and see what works best for you.

My understanding is tweeters should be to the top if vertical and to the outside if horizontal. The "ear" placement should be at the midpoint of the woofer/tweeter if vertical and bisect the woofer/tweeter if horizontal. Of course the "equidistant triangle" rule BB suggests is correct.

Happy monitoring...

zip >>
 
I resolved this same issue just last week by taking a saw to my nice new desk!! Sounds crazy I know, but I dropped it down about 6 inches, and now my monitors sit upright at the perfect level.....go figure....
 
should the speaker be facing TOWARDS you/your ears? or is it ok to have them pointing straight out frmo the desk? or what?
 
You want to point them towards you if they are that far out. It's usually pretty obvious when you are in the "sweet spot" for near fields. Move your head a few inches and you can usually hear a difference.
 
True....

Imagine an equalateral triangle between your head and the monitors. If the center of your monitors are say 3.5 feet apart, the center of your head should be 3.5 feet from each monitor.

The monitors should be positioned so the imaginary "line" coming from the triangle is perpendicular to the monitor face and leading directly to your head.

zip >>
 
gotcha...and if they aren't faced towards you(not enough room, we just bought a huge all in one printer)? Not SUCH a big deal correct?
 
Hey Zip, with all due respect, I think your idea of comb filtering is off. What you seem to be referring to is mechanical vibration transfer to a surface the speaker may be sitting on. You bring up an interesting point there though! When placed sideways, a speaker does have more contact area and may transfer more vibration to the surface beneath them.

I covered the topic of comb filtering in a post a couple weeks ago, so I'll quote myself...

OK, placing most speakers on their side DOES change the way they sound to some degree. There are many factors at work here, the most glaring of which is the distance of the drivers from your ears and from the reflecting surfaces such as walls and the soundboard.

Distance equates to time of arrival. So let's say you are sitting at a mixing console with your monitors sitting sideways on top of the console. You have tweeters on the outside and the woofers on the inside. Draw a line from your ear to the woofer, and a line to the tweeter, and you can see that the tweeter is slightly farther away than the woofer! This causes problems in the region around the crossover point where the woofer and tweeter are both playing. Depending on frequency, this time difference effect can cause either a reinforcement of sound or a phase cancellation! What you get is called a "comb filter" effect, which when graphed on a frequency response chart looks something like this...

----/\/\/\/\-------

20Hz--------20K

Some freqencies boosted, some cancelled...

OK, that's just what's happening with the direct sound to your ear. Now consider the reflections you hear! The walls to the side of the speakers see the opposite time difference that your ears hear with the direct sound! Since the tweeter is closer to the wall than the woofer, there is a comb filter effect that is bouncing off the wall and diffusing into the room as reflected sound. This all combines into the total sound you hear and may have adverse effects.

There are some other reasons too, but they are a bit more esoteric.

Now, standing your speakers upright won't cure all this, as you still have ceiling reflections and whatnot, but vertical is usually the best arrangement, as it avoids the most glaring issues.

Placing them on their sides may actually sound good in some cases, so if that's true in your case, go with it!
Click to expand...

Additionally, there is no problem with turning your monitors upside down. The sound will be largely unchanged as they are still polarized vertically. The only thing you might notice is that the bass and most midrange now comes from the top, and the treble comes from the bottom. This is not much of an issue, as humans are very bad at determining where a sound comes from in the vertical plane. If you had an ear on your chin and another on your forehead, you'd be able to tell right away!

As for where to place the tweeters, it is a GENERAL rule that they should be ear-level. That all depends on the speaker. Some brighter sounding speakers may tear your ear off when pointed right at you! Other, softer sounding speakers should be pointed at you to prevent them sounding dull. It all depends. Point them the way they sound best.

So move them up, move them down, point them at you, point them away from you, but just be sure they sound right!
 
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