Monitor placement relative to ear level..

Shack it actually is a concern. Nearfields are designed to give you accurate response at the right distance and direct angle. Once you start drifting away the frequency response changes.

I just unhooked my printer for that very reason.
 
Interesting Phloodpants...

Here's the reference I found in "The Mixing Engineers Handbook"...

"Monitors that are mounted directly on top of a console meter bridge without any de-coupling (foam) are subject to comb filter effects, especially in the low end. That is, the sound travels through the console, through the floor and reaches your ears first (because it is denser material and travels faster) before the direct sound from the monitors, through the air, causing phase cancellation.

Set the near-fields on a half inch or three quarter inch piece of open cell neoprene (soft rubber) and de-coupling will no longer be an issue."

In either case - phase cancellation is a bad thing and should be avoided.

You are right on about placement...what works...works.

peace!

zip >>

ps - unless you have little kids or wild farm animals which pierce woofer cones...EVERYTHING else gets placed AROUND optimum monitor placement. ;) That being said...mine are slightly above me on shelves to keep them away from rug rats! I have to sit on a booster of sorts while mixing... :D
 
Oh, well now I see what they mean... the resonances coming through the furniture can cause comb filtering, that is true...

But I think that effect is going to be very very slight. I think the vibrations of walls and furniture (including the console) that are excited by the sound itself is going to dwarf any such effects.

Still, it's a good idea to isolate them a bit.

Funny how in "audiophile" circles, the thing to do is use spikes to decouple vibrations from the floor. It's pretty obvious that something compliant like rubber or foam is actually better. The "audiophiles" will then counter that the spikes keep the speakers from shaking forward and back. Horse puckey of course! The spikes are a fetish object. Machined brass is much prettier than rubber feet or foam....
 
thick foam and spiked heels...

I would imagine the thought behind spikes is to minimize surface contact with the floor. Not sure which would be more effective - a foam which would disperse resonances or a spike which would minimize contact to the lowest level possible. Hmmmmm.
 
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