4
The speakers and
listener should be at
the three corners of a
triangle having equal
length sides.
LEFT SPEAKER
RIGHT SPEAKER
LISTENER
WOOFER/TWEETER MIDPOINT
SPEAKER PLACEMENT
The placement of your speakers has a huge impact on how well they will perform in your
studio.
Although nearfield studio monitors are designed to be more forgiving when it comes to
placement, you should do your best to make sure they form an equilateral triangle relative
to your head. In other words, make sure that each speaker is equally distant from both
your head as well as the other speaker. Once each speaker has been placed, rotate the
speakers slightly so that the drivers are pointing toward the engineer.
Take a look at the diagram on
the right. Notice that the
distance from the engineer’s
head to each speaker is the
same as the distance between
the left and right speakers. Also
note that the speakers are
turned slightly so that the drivers
are facing the engineer.
This is an ideal setup but if it is
not practical (or possible) to do
this, try to match this setup as
closely as possible.
SPEAKER HEIGHT
The ideal height for M1Active 320
USB speakers is so that the
speaker is parallel to the ground
and that the midpoint of the woofer
and tweeter is at ear-height.
The diagram below demonstrates
the ideal placement height of the
speakers relative to the engineer.
Notice that the engineer’s ears are
directly between the woofer and
tweeter.
If possible, use speaker stands and move the monitors off of your desk (or meter bridge, if
you are using a mixer). This usually results in better imaging since the monitor is
decoupled from your desk and there is less chance reflected sound from the desk (or
mixer) reaching your ears and smearing the imaging of your studio monitors.
