Got a monitor question.. I am trying to decide what desk to purchase to hold my equipment. I am mainly using the Boss BR-1180CD and I have some Behringer 2031A monitors. I am not sure how the monitors are supposed to be positioned though. How far away from me should they be and how high up? I also want to know if I should put the monitors on stands or a desk that has a shelf. What would you all recommend? If any of you have pictures of your monitor setup that you can post, I would appreciate it.
Position of monitors?
- Thread starter elove
- Start date
famous beagle
Well-known member
elove said:
Generally speaking, you want the montiors at head height (when you're sitting in your mixing chair, and they should form an equilateral triangle with your head. In other words, you should be sitting in the middle, and they should be the same distance from your head in both directions. If it's 4 ft from your head to a speaker, then it should be 4 ft from speaker to speaker as well.
If you can find a desk with a shelf that will put them head height, that will work. But stands are an option if you can't find a desk like that.
barefoot
barefootsound.com
Exactly, you want to form an equilateral triangle between the monitors and your listening position. Putting the monitors on stands behind the desk will help reduce response anomalies caused by reflections from the desk surface. On the other hand, you would also like to pull the monitors away from the front and side walls as much as possible.famous beagle said:
You can experiment with different arrangements using my Wall Bounce Calculator.
Thomas
CoolCat
Well-known member
monitors and stands
i read another trick is if you have a friend place a mirror on the tweeters, while your sitting in your "mixing" position..you adjust the monitors until you can see yourself. it comes out to the triangle.
stands are best. i don't know about metal or wood...but adjustable would be handy.
2nd may be rubber pads under the speakers on the desk.
once you get setup, checkout the room acoustic stuff...
i read another trick is if you have a friend place a mirror on the tweeters, while your sitting in your "mixing" position..you adjust the monitors until you can see yourself. it comes out to the triangle.
stands are best. i don't know about metal or wood...but adjustable would be handy.
2nd may be rubber pads under the speakers on the desk.
once you get setup, checkout the room acoustic stuff...
SonicAlbert
Super-Sonic "Herb" Albert
The idea behind stands is that you don't have the speakers interacting with the material on a bookshelf. In other words, the bookshelf can be a resonator, and that's what you don't want.
If you get a good pair of heavy speaker stands there shouldn't be any risk of tipping, even on a carpeted floor. I have a pair of metal speaker stands that can be filled with sand if desired. This is to dampen as much unwanted resonance as possible. The stands also have three cleats, I guess you'd call them, which serve a couple purposes: one, to hold the stands in place in carpeting well, and also to minimize the surface contact with the floor.
The advice you've been given about speaker placement is good. The reason for placing them away from the wall is again to minimize the interaction of the sound from the speakers with the wall. Bass can build up if they are too close.
I have two pairs of monitors, one large and one small. To get the sound stereo sound balanced properly I've taken a great deal of care to make sure that the speaker positions are well matched on the right and left. To the point that I carefully measured their placement with a tape measure, both from side to side and from front to back. The angle of each speaker is also carefully matched. I even put a little indicator on my computer monitor showing me where the exact of the stereo image is, so when I want to be sure of panning I put my nose in line with the indicator. Sounds silly, but the detailed measurements have really made a difference. Especially with two sets of monitors, as you don't want the stereo image moving around when you switch monitors.
If you get a good pair of heavy speaker stands there shouldn't be any risk of tipping, even on a carpeted floor. I have a pair of metal speaker stands that can be filled with sand if desired. This is to dampen as much unwanted resonance as possible. The stands also have three cleats, I guess you'd call them, which serve a couple purposes: one, to hold the stands in place in carpeting well, and also to minimize the surface contact with the floor.
The advice you've been given about speaker placement is good. The reason for placing them away from the wall is again to minimize the interaction of the sound from the speakers with the wall. Bass can build up if they are too close.
I have two pairs of monitors, one large and one small. To get the sound stereo sound balanced properly I've taken a great deal of care to make sure that the speaker positions are well matched on the right and left. To the point that I carefully measured their placement with a tape measure, both from side to side and from front to back. The angle of each speaker is also carefully matched. I even put a little indicator on my computer monitor showing me where the exact of the stereo image is, so when I want to be sure of panning I put my nose in line with the indicator. Sounds silly, but the detailed measurements have really made a difference. Especially with two sets of monitors, as you don't want the stereo image moving around when you switch monitors.