Mini monitor users: how far apart and how far away?

[Mullardman]

We don't listen at particularly high volume as far as I can tell, though I've never actually measured it to know an exact db level.

Sign of a good set up for me, is that you can be listening at surprisingly high levels, alone, without distortion or discomfort. It's only when someone comes into the room and you can't hear each other speak.. that you realise how loud it is.

 

[Frizzy]

I find smaller means closer, in bedroom got some tiny pro acs at foot of bed so I’m at end of small 6ft triangle, free site for speakers but wall behind head, I find it immersive and love detail and image size from free siting.
Holy shit! Sorry sudden huge solo blast of thunder, there’s a storm a comin. October!!!!!!

 

[Frizzy]

I find smaller means closer, in bedroom got some tiny pro acs at foot of bed so I’m at end of small 6ft triangle, free site for speakers but wall behind head, I find it immersive and love detail and image size from free siting.
Holy shit! Sorry sudden huge solo blast of thunder, there’s a storm a comin. October!!!!!!

 

[ryder]

Just curious about how those who use 'mini monitor' speakers from the likes of Harbeth, Rogers, Graham, Spendor, etc., have them located in the listening room and how big is the room you use them in? How far apart are the speakers from one another, and how far away do you sit from them?

For me, it's the same with mini-monitors (Harbeth P3ESR etc.) and fairly large speakers (Harbeth SHL5 etc.) in small and large rooms. In small rooms, the distance between speakers is limited by the wall boundaries and in very large rooms the speakers can be pushed as far apart as you wish.

Personally I dislike a near-field arrangement and find the ideal distance between speakers in mid-field placement to be in the range of 1.7m to 2.1m apart. Although the speakers could be placed 3.0m apart in a large room (I've tried 2.2 to 2.8m apart), I find the presentation particularly intimate vocal music to sound unnaturally blown up when the speakers are placed too far apart. Listening distance from speakers for me is slightly out of the triangle. If speakers are 1.8m apart, I listen at 2.0m to 2.2m away measured to the ears.

 

[RoA]

Looks isn’t what this room is about, basically it’s the pfm office/TV room, storage for record shop customer’s ‘piles’ etc plus where my guitars and amp etc. Regardless you can see the speakers are pretty neat. If you look carefully you’ll notice there is a record-mailer stiffener between the speaker and the stand, this is again a cat deterrent and is just there to stop her rubbing against the speakers. She’s actually very well behaved, but these are really lovely speakers in mint condition and I want to keep them that way! She basically can’t reach them at all in this setup.

Brilliant little stands. I lost parts of mine after a move so I mad some up with a little tubing and foam. I then got a mint pair in black of ebay which will stay. I don't use them currently but they are ingenious in their simplicity ... if you don't loose parts.

 

[Hazelberry]

Cheap chime-in!

Currently in the system I have JPW Minims (the ones with the tiny 4" square-framed drivers), 1.3m apart and about 100mm from the wall, with a just few degrees of toe-in. Usual listening distance is 1.9m with my head 300mm from the rear wall. Listening much closer brings minimal rewards and feel oppressive. My normal listening volume is around 68-79dB - the latter figure being as loud as they'll go without protest.

I also have a pair of JPW Gold Monitors. They have a better tweeter than the Minims, produce lower bass, and can play louder with composure. They might be more transparent. Like the Minims, they throw out a much bigger sound than they have any right to. I'm awaiting the arrival of a replacement driver for one speaker as its driver is noticeably quieter than the other's.

Don't laugh: with a little more stuffing in the boxes, both these speakers are much better performers than you'd expect for their crazy low prices.

 

[starbuck]

Thanks again for all the replies.

I'm using the SA1s in a system upstairs at the moment and just think that they aren't being used to their full potential in the cramped room they are presently in, nor do they get used as often as I think they deserve. Bringing them downstairs into the lounge would see them used a few hours daily rather maybe an hour once a week or so. Plus they look nice.

 

[sam_cat]

(old pic, they are now wall mounted)

Mark Audio SOTA tozzi 1's, Audiolab MDac and pair of Hypex NC400 amps - I form part of an equilateral triangle a touch over 2 foot on each side.

Works really well, and images amazingly.

 

[Bairnstorm]

KEF LS50's either side of 65" TV and about 60cm from the back wall. I sit about 3m away.

Tried them in my main system in a room 5m x4m plus 2m bay. Used on the long wall in front of bay so about 1.8 m from bay almost in middle of room, 1.6-7m apart and about 2.5 m away. Great imaging right in to the bay window and strong bass but still not as good as my main speakers.

 

[Jezzer]

Speakers - ProAc Tablette 10 Signatures - are 60cm from the front wall, 1.65m apart, I sit 2.6m away. Subwoofer in the corner. Lovely.

(tried the Kef LS50 Metas in this room and just couldn’t get the bass under control)

(had Harbeth P3ESR and had them really far into the room - about 1m from the front wall - as they were better suited to nearfiepd listening)

(I’m thinking of getting the Solidsteel SS-5 stands but they do have a fairly substantial footprint on them)

(and £530 for speaker stands seems a bit expensive)

 

[Goat]

Spendor classic 4/5 in a room of about 4x4.5m, pulled out about 50cm from walls around them, about 2m apart and 2m from the listening position. Quite towed in, firing over shoulders.

Because it's a bedroom, it's not an ideal setup, sitting against the headboard of bed, and speakers are a bit low too (60cm stands) compared to ear height.

 

[Hayche]

I found the equilateral triangle always worked best.

 

[Mullardman]

Although the speakers could be placed 3.0m apart in a large room (I've tried 2.2 to 2.8m apart), I find the presentation particularly intimate vocal music to sound unnaturally blown up when the speakers are placed too far apart. Listening distance from speakers for me is slightly out of the triangle. If speakers are 1.8m apart, I listen at 2.0m to 2.2m away measured to the ears.

Although we are talking speakers here.. I'm not sure we can leave amps out of the equation. I have detailed more than once on here, how a Sonneteer amp, in my system, threw a massive soundstage the height and width of the room, but with 'everything everywhere' and no accurate imaging or positioning of components in the mix. Just swapping the Sonneteer out for my LFD, without moving speakers, or altering anything else at all, resulted in better everything..but especially imaging and soundstaging, which immediately became intelligible, stable and believeable.

 

[ryder]

Although we are talking speakers here.. I'm not sure we can leave amps out of the equation. I have detailed more than once on here, how a Sonneteer amp, in my system, threw a massive soundstage the height and width of the room, but with 'everything everywhere' and no accurate imaging or positioning of components in the mix. Just swapping the Sonneteer out for my LFD, without moving speakers, or altering anything else at all, resulted in better everything..but especially imaging and soundstaging, which immediately became intelligible, stable and believeable.

Yes, the amp play a part as well. I used Naim amps when I had the space to place the speakers up to 2.8 apart. I own the Sonneteer Orton and find it a delicate sounding amp. It certainly does not possess the razor shape imaging and more accurate placement of instruments of say the Luxman, or the punch and macrodynamics of the Naim. Nevertheless, I cannot recall it reproducing sound "everywhere" and will perhaps listen to it again sometime. Based on my memory the LFD Zero LEIII does sound much more precise and dynamic.

The Sonneteer is currently my backup amp. It was meant to be used with the Harbeth but it didn't live up to the hype, unfortunately. I find the Harbeth to sound better with the Naim than Sonneteer (for my listening taste and preferences).

 

[Darren L]

I found the equilateral triangle always worked best.

Me too with both the speakers and my seating position in 'free space' ala Sonus Faber/Franco Serblin preferred method.
I'm not sure what any of the exact dimensions of the rooms I have had or exactly how far apart the speakers are but they'd generally be toed in quite a lot so that the 'point' of the imaginary triangle is just in front of my face. This has worked for me extremely well giving pin point imaging and good depth and projection of the soundstage.

 

[James Evans]

Although we are talking speakers here.. I'm not sure we can leave amps out of the equation. I have detailed more than once on here, how a Sonneteer amp, in my system, threw a massive soundstage the height and width of the room, but with 'everything everywhere' and no accurate imaging or positioning of components in the mix. Just swapping the Sonneteer out for my LFD, without moving speakers, or altering anything else at all, resulted in better everything..but especially imaging and soundstaging, which immediately became intelligible, stable and believeable.

That's exactly the experience I had with the relatively humble Campion and LFD PA0 - while the Campion was nice, it was really diffuse sounding, and everything snapped into focus with the LFD.

 

[James]

My mini-monitor E-IXs are about 2m apart and about 2.5m from my listening position.

 

[ryder]

Apologies to the OP for the thread diversion. I'll attempt to make it as simple and short as possible, straight to the point. Inspired by Mullardman's experience, I just fired up the Sonneteer Orton in the main system hoping it would sound noticeably if not considerably worse. Unfortunately it didn't happen. To my dismay the Sonneteer actually sounded rather close to my reference Luxman L-590AXII although the setting up was compromised (it went into a cheap power strip and was connected with a cheap power cord). The Luxman was connected directly to an upgraded unswitched wall socket with a good power cord.

A caveat is a pair of Isoacoustics Gaia II was added to the speakers just recently which may have reduced the gap between the amplifiers. On top of that, the speakers in this system are Marten and not Harbeth. Historically, the Sonneteer Orton is a better match to the Marten than Harbeth in my experience. After the inclusion of the Gaias to the system, I may need to re-evaluate the Naim with the Marten. I previously found the Marten to sound the worst with Naim in comparison to Sonneteer and Luxman.

In very brief summary, the Sonneteer Orton did not show a smeared sound or reduction in dynamics I was expecting to hear. The imaging and placement of instruments were rather pin-point. Although there was a slight change in the sound presentation ie. slightly less defined bass and less illuminating treble, it wasn't a massive difference.

From this exercise, I can suggest that the discrepancy in perceived differences or experiences with any hifi gear in various systems can be attributed to the following;
1. Type of speakers
2. Set up or optimisation of the system in the room (accessories or ancillary equipment)
3. Placement of speakers in the room ie. distance between speakers

I currently have 2 systems ; the Martens are about 1.8m apart. With the Harbeth, it's about 2.0m apart.

 

[ryder]

Sonneteer Orton reinstated and compared to Luxman. The Naim is currently in another room connected to the Harbeth.