[uzziah]

so, my living room is a freaking deathtrap of acute angles, holes, open spaces, desks, and other sound-killing features.

so, my speakers are on my desk, on a couple of cinderblocks. anyway, when i really want the hi-end audio position, it's with me sitting at my desk and the bookshelves about three feet away, tweeters at ear-level. here's the big question: is this really a reasonable application with speakers? even with my ears so close to the drivers am i incurring irreperable damages from the room dynamics? clearly this is a difficult question, but what i'm trying to ask is: how important are room dynamics in a monitor-like positioning like this?

second: is it a bad idea to turn my speakers upside down in order to get those tweeters at ear level?

 

[ooheadsoo]

Very important, they're inescapable. They will be slightly less important because the direct sound is going to be relatively more powerful at your distance, but when you're talking about room modes of +/-15db, it's going to affect your sound no matter how you cut it.

Try to minimize near by surfaces as much as possible. High frequency diffraction is killer. Also, try to make sure first reflection points are on paths significantly longer than the direct path, unless you can kill those points entirely.

 

[uzziah]

i'm not sure what you mean by first reflection points? could you explain please?

 

[ooheadsoo]

Try this: http://realtraps.com/art_vibes.htm

 

[uzziah]

dang those are pricey. tooo pricey by far

 

[ooheadsoo]

Not suggesting you buy anything, read the articles.

 

[classicalguy]

Uzziah: Try turning the speakers upside down (tweeters down) and see how it sounds. If it sounds worse, flip them back.

I have the same concern about defraction on the desktop. I wonder if putting some cheap foam in front of the speaker would help? I suspect it would.

 

[familyman]

hope this helps.

 

[ooheadsoo]

Read about felt here: http://www.speakerdesign.net/home.html

It won't do a darn thing about diffraction off your desk.

Figure 4 is ridiculous. The same reflection point pattern is still there.