A New Approach To Setting Up Your Monitors

[homestudioguy]

Interesting!

[joeq]

With the monitors in a rough position and important spots on the floor and ceiling marked with blue masking tape (mix position and rough position of tweeters), I began to adjust my monitors.

I adjusted each monitor in turn by small amounts. After each tweak, I would sit down at the mix position again and listen. What I was attempting to do with each tweak of the speakers was improve the clarity of the bass.

without changing anything but the position of the monitors. The more bass you can attain, the more in phase your speakers will be.

Could you be more specific about what these adjustments and tweaks consist of? left-right? forward and back? angle? Do you move the speakers one at a time or try to move them symmetrically together? Is there a systematic way you are approaching the adjustments? Or are you just winging it?

Did you find yourself going "past" the optimal position? How do you 'get back' if you do?

[kosmokrator]

Originally Posted by JamieOxford

The theory here is to create as much bass as possible without changing anything but the position of the monitors. The more bass you can attain, the more in phase your speakers will be.

...or you might have found a position where the modes in your room are emphasized the most. Which in itself wouldn't be helpful at all.

As much bass as possible with changing monitor position is dead easy. Put them into the corner..

So, I'm not sure your theory works.
But if the result in the real world works in your room, all power to you!

[explorer]

The only way to be sure you have the best monitor position is to use a measurement microphone (doesn't have to be expensive) and test the different options for monitoring and speaker position using something like Fuzzmeasure.
FuzzMeasure Pro 3

Anything else is just guesswork.

[JamieOxford]

Could you be more specific about what these adjustments and tweaks consist of?

It completely depends upon where your monitors are set up in the first place. I set mine up using a tape measure to get them in a rough position. From there I adjusted the angle of each speaker to try and get the bass to 'pop out' of the speakers. You'll hear when the angle is correct because the bass will become much clearer due to the speakers being more in phase.

Note: I try and keep the angle of the speakers the same when moving them because I noticed that changing the angle of the speakers destroys the image much quicker than moving them forward/backward/left/right. Because everything is in mono, you're trying to create a perfect balance between the speakers so that the information appears directly between the two speakers. You can use your eyes to try and match them better at first, but rely on your ears to get them into the final position.

One side will feel more natural than the other. For example, if the left speaker is closer than the right, it will sound louder (because of the haas effect). I adjust the speaker that doesn't sound right while constantly keeping the other speaker in place for reference.

If the left speaker is the one that sounds more natural (and is louder), move the right one closer towards you to balance them. If the right speaker sounds more natural (and is quieter), move the left one back. I think forward and back will make more of a difference here than left and right because you can always move your head a little to the left and right while tweaking the speaker positions. Obviously adjust them left and right as well, but try and get the forward/backward position as best as you can first.

Once you have the speakers in what seems to be the optimal position, put on some other music, try listening with the high pass filter off - does the bass sound much larger than before? Does something seem off in the balance? Try putting the filter back in and see if your suspicions are correct - if not, it could just be a problem in the room acoustics.

TAKE A BREAK. Make yourself a cup of tea, let your ears readjust and go back and try it again.

Don't worry if you get it perfect and then screw the whole image up again - it's something to learn from. Don't be afraid to move them and experiment. At the end of the day, if you got them into that position in the first place, you can do it again.

Because this technique is based on the sum of the two speakers, once you pass the optimal position, you'll hear it because the bass will appear to disappear. The harmonics will fade into the background.

Sit down, listen again and try and get the speakers back into position. Base everything on what sounds right, not what looks right.

[JamieOxford]

As much bass as possible with changing monitor position is dead easy. Put them into the corner..

Whenever I'm moving the speakers, I'm doing so with a high pass/low cut filter in place. No actual bass energy in being produced by the speakers, but that doesn't mean you can't hear the bass psychoacoustically. What I'm trying to do here is increase the apparent amount of bass, not create standing waves!

The only way to be sure you have the best monitor position is to use a measurement microphone

I agree completely. I'm not saying you shouldn't test your room. I simply haven't done mine yet due to time and budget restrictions…

Again, this method is intended for getting your speakers into the best position using the best microphone available (your ears).

YMMV but I've had good experiences using this technique and hope others will too. This is a confusing thing to try and explain (especially when you have trouble explaining things anyway) but I'm happy to answer any questions.

[Karloff70]

Sounds like basically positioning your speakers to be as phase coherent in the listening position as possible. I think not unusual. But to do it with a hipass....might try to see whether I am missing something, but not expecting any hidden gains to be honest......another thing is the directionality of the speakers, which will command the angle.

Sent from my GT-I5800 using Gearslutz App

[kongwee]

As I used to setup a lot of speaker, I applied it on my own monitors. My monitors is along the wider length of the room. They are position at 1/3 - 2/5 away from the walls. I don't apply the filters until I have no way to work around position of the monitors.

[Syncamorea]

My approach is more organic than the one described here. I start with some tape marks on the floor, one that shows the room right-to-left center line and a couple that are a symmetrical starting points for the monitors. I know how various gurus set up and I typically listen to a new room using those guidelines, but I am not constrained by them. One thing I shoot for is improving detail at low playback levels. Another is the ability to hear dynamic contrasts across the entire volume range. And then there is soundstaging... A well-recorded orchestral piece - minimally mic'ed - is really valuable here. The violins can be so revealing of what's happening in the midrange. Say what you want about the bass, but first and foremost, I want the midrange right.