by Malcolm Boyce » Sun Jul 07, 2013 2:17 pm
The equilateral triangle is a simple guideline to start with. It is by no means something that will trump all other considerations, but if it's easy to do, you should definitely start there. Be sure to point the speakers at the listening position to put average "head" level as the focus for on axis response. If your speakers are far above or below that level, it may require you to raise, lower, or tip the boxes accordingly to get the desired shot. This isn't a game of centimeters, so we aren't talking about wasting too much effort on tiny adjustments with positioning. I've just seen many setups where the enclosures were mounted in such a way that no one was anywhere near hearing both speakers in a way you would want to. In spite of the many examples otherwise, try to have the drivers aligned vertically in the speakers as opposed to horizontally, but if you do have to go horizontal, place the high frequency drivers on the outside end. I've seen products designed to "isolate" the enclosures from the surface they sit on, that also allow for tilting, but the effect these kind of treatments sometimes have is the opposite and distort, as opposed to improve, the quality of the sound reproduced. IME, all you can do is try, and remember that any variable you change can affect another element in the space in a huge way.
As far as distance to the wall behind them, or configuration of the room in general, the truth is the object of any setup is to minimize negative effects that the room will have on your monitoring. Every room and situation will be different and IMO it would be hard to say without a proper acoustic analysis what you should and shouldn't do with any certainty. Many times, practical and financial limitations of the modest spaces most of us are working in will dictate how close you can move toward theoretical perfection in monitoring environments. There is nothing wrong with getting a decent starting point, and then trying some fixes once you diagnose where your biggest challenges are. You can't get back the money you spent on a bunch of acoustic treatment that you didn't really need, to fix a problem you didn't hear coming...
Hope this helps a little, and I hope you come back with more specific questions and observations. This could be a good little thread in the making!
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It just fills Forum pages..." --compasspnt
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