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?
Mini monitor users: how far apart and how far away?
- Thread starter starbuck
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Tony L
Administrator
JR149s or LS3/5As 1.8m apart and pretty much a triangle with the listening seat (a bean bag, so easy to move wherever I want. I end up sitting somewhere in the middle of the room which isn’t ideal as whilst it is wonderfully clear and three dimensional I do lose bass compared with sitting closer to the back wall.
Spendor S3/5R downstairs. Just plonked either side of a 50” TV on the little Ikea tip-back stands that are usually seen with the Shahinian Elf and listened to off axis as I tend to lie on the couch about 3.5m away. Sounds better than it has any right too. Good enough to question the convention for spiked stands and placement. Obviously not for image freaks, but if you just want to get music into a room unobtrusively it works surprisingly well and without booms, honks here. I do actually have a pair of Target R4 stands doing nothing, I went with the Ikea stands as the cat can’t jump on them as no flat landing place!
Spendor S3/5R downstairs. Just plonked either side of a 50” TV on the little Ikea tip-back stands that are usually seen with the Shahinian Elf and listened to off axis as I tend to lie on the couch about 3.5m away. Sounds better than it has any right too. Good enough to question the convention for spiked stands and placement. Obviously not for image freaks, but if you just want to get music into a room unobtrusively it works surprisingly well and without booms, honks here. I do actually have a pair of Target R4 stands doing nothing, I went with the Ikea stands as the cat can’t jump on them as no flat landing place!
mandryka
pfm Member
I have 149s about 2m apart and two listening seats - one in a equilateral triangle between the speakers and one off axis about 4m away. Both are satisfying in different ways - sometimes the room reflections can bring an sense of air and space which the closer position lacks - even if it as at the expense of some frequencies (which I tend not to notice.)
I really encourage everyone to experiment with off axis listening, especially in rooms which are irregular (e.g. with bays.)
I really encourage everyone to experiment with off axis listening, especially in rooms which are irregular (e.g. with bays.)
I don't suppose you have a photo of these do you? I've considered this exact pairing for a 2nd system where the room layout dictates a small omni style solution so it would be good to see how well it looks.
the caretaker
pfm Member
My leema xeros about six foot apart in my workshop, on brackets above my head height as I stand a lot in the workshop..I'm about 15 foot from speakers..and they pretty good close up too!
Tony L
Administrator
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.
Looks great to me, nice room! Have a similar lack of wall space for the speakers and looks like it works and fits in well.
A good idea, one of my dad's Rogers have been used for years a cat launch / landing pad and it certainly shows. I should get him to swap them around to even up the wear!
A good idea, one of my dad's Rogers have been used for years a cat launch / landing pad and it certainly shows. I should get him to swap them around to even up the wear!
tuga
Legal Alien
The tiny woofer starts distorting at relatively low SPLs so distance to listener will determine how loud they can play. I’d say 2m at most but it depends on the listener’s tolerance threshold and also the music programme (a solo guitar can be reproduced at louder levels than a rock quartet).
Thanks for all the replies, they are all helpful. Our lounge is almost exactly 12.5' square but room layout determines a restricted/limited speaker placement, sitting approx. 9' from the speakers and with the speakers 8' apart from one another (centre to centre). From reading the various replies above, I guess I will have to suck it and see if a pair of Spendor SA1 will work.
Tony L
Administrator
I suspect you’ll be fine as long as you aren’t expecting high volume, as stated above little speakers aren’t designed for that (even though some modern ones have surprising capability albeit at the expense of extreme cone excursion). My own view as someone who really loves mini-monitors is if you need louder than say 80db average/just over 90db peaks measured at 1m from the speaker then you need a bigger speaker. For the vast majority of my listening I don’t, and I spent many years living in flats so cranking stuff up was never an option. I am used to fairly low level listening and find most loud hi-fi uncomfortable. FWIW I’m listening to the 149s now, probably about 1.2m triangle, maybe a little more and I’m measuring 66db min, 85db max at the listening seat. That’s really all I want a little speaker to do. Their attraction is simply astonishing clarity and information, not volume or impact. It is one reason I don’t care about efficiency as even with a low 84db or so like the 149s you are only going to want a few Watts. The little Leaks drive them far louder that I’d ever want to take a 5” bass mid.
I’m a lot further away in the TV system pictured above, but my level requirements are far lower again, they are just there because they are so much more articulate and easy to follow than the typical crap TV speakers or soundbars. I never have even the slightest issue hearing dialogue over background music at low levels, and that is what they are for. They have a quite surprising bass punch in that location too, I end up looking at them in disbelief at times!
eevo1969
pfm Member
I’ve a pair of Proac Tab 10 arriving this week with a pair of stands.
I need to get them to work in a room 2.4 metre wide and a usable space of 2.5metre in length in a 6 metre long room, I’ve never had so much room behind the listening location or need speakers as close to the front wall
(200-300mm) or less so setting it all up will be interesting.
I need to get them to work in a room 2.4 metre wide and a usable space of 2.5metre in length in a 6 metre long room, I’ve never had so much room behind the listening location or need speakers as close to the front wall
(200-300mm) or less so setting it all up will be interesting.
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. Like your Spendors, the SA1 would be used for TV as well as music (though mainly music) in our room if I end up putting them in there. At present, with an 11 month old and extremely blunderbuss-like dog in the house, I am reluctant to take the time to set the Spendors up only to find them upsidedown on the floor when the dog bundles through the open doorway which one speaker would have to be sited next to. They seem to be designed to just rest on the rubber pads on their matching floorstands, not the best for withstanding being bumped at high speed.
TimF
pfm Member
Maybe a pair of Larsen Model 4’s would work? Small foot print, floor stander, placed right up against the wall behind them? Just a thought. Had a pair for almost six years, loved them.
I know not mini monitor, but takes up similar room when stands etc. are taken in consideration. FWIW.
I know not mini monitor, but takes up similar room when stands etc. are taken in consideration. FWIW.
Gervais Cote
Predator
35 years ago.........gosh I'm old !
LP12/Naim Nait/Kan 1, against the back wall, 1.5 meter apart, 2 meters listening distance. Dispersion was maybe not at its best but good enough for me and punchy/lively sound, more than sufficient.
If ever I go back to small monitors, that would be either the Proac Tablette Anniversary or Stirling LS3/5A V3. Those small monitors are just so good !
LP12/Naim Nait/Kan 1, against the back wall, 1.5 meter apart, 2 meters listening distance. Dispersion was maybe not at its best but good enough for me and punchy/lively sound, more than sufficient.
If ever I go back to small monitors, that would be either the Proac Tablette Anniversary or Stirling LS3/5A V3. Those small monitors are just so good !
Mullardman
Moderately extreme...
Rogers Studio 3 here. Good enough to have stayed since 1996. Same box as LS3-5A, but different drivers and Xover and augmented by AB3 bass extenders. Designed to be more domestically friendly than the LS3.
Approx 1/2 metre in from corners/back wall (actually a window, or curtain.depending on time of day). Approx 2.5 m apart and 3.5 m from listening position. Angled in to cross just in front thereof. Works for me with decent imaging and soundstaging, but also decent sound off axis and so on.
Approx 1/2 metre in from corners/back wall (actually a window, or curtain.depending on time of day). Approx 2.5 m apart and 3.5 m from listening position. Angled in to cross just in front thereof. Works for me with decent imaging and soundstaging, but also decent sound off axis and so on.