Speaker Placement
While near and mid-field monitors are more forgiving of the surrounding room
acoustics, it is always prudent to optimize the listening environment whenever
possible. First, the user should be aware of the effect that the size of the listening
room can have on low frequency response. In general, the smaller the room, the
stronger the bottom end will be, although placement within a larger room can
also make a difference. This has to do with the way low frequency waves travel
in closed spaces. If you find your monitor system to be either light or heavy on
the bottom, try moving them around within your listening room. Also, because
the Monitor Two’s SuperPort™ tube is located at the rear, position the monitors
at least six inches away from anything that would block it.
You should avoid locating your Monitor Twos near reflective surfaces such as
glass, tile, large open walls or table tops. Still, many rooms used for recording
have these surfaces, so the best way to deal with them is to place the monitors
out in the room away from reflective walls, windows and sizable objects.
Even with these reflective surfaces separated from the monitoring position,
typical mixing situations usually still have the top surface of the mixing board to
deal with. Unfortunately, the board itself can be a major source of reflections
and the additional acoustic conduction into the board can effect your monitor’s
amplitude and phase response. Speaker placement on the console’s meter bridge
provides for two clear acoustic paths between the speakers and the recording
engineer. The first path is the direct one and the second is via a reflection off the
mixer main control panel as shown in Figure 1 below. This kind of speaker
placement more readily couples acoustic energy from the speaker’s cabinet into
the console’s chassis. Both conditions can be reduced by placing the speakers on
their own stands acoustically detached from, and slightly behind, the console as
shown in Figure 2. In this location, the reflective path off the console’s control
panel is now blocked by the meter bridge.
Figure 1
