[gbeard]

Howdy Head-o-philes!

My spousal unit has been on the warpath and I am trying out new arrangements for my speaker system. Tonight I had everything in an extreme nearfield with my speaks in about a 6 foot equilateral triangle to my listening position (ears). The sound was excellent, and after the second album (yes LP's!) I began zoning out to the wonderful Linda Ronstat record "Prisoner in Disguise" with the lights out. Suddenly I realized that at times it reminded me more than just a little of headphones, but with the staging in front of the head instead of behind. The nearfield has a much more immersive feel to it than the more detached 10th row seat my system usually has. It was really kinda neat...

Just thought you'd like to know.

Cheers, gb

 

[Sovkiller]

I'm in more or less the same situation, (and position), I have a pair of near-field monitors and my room just allowed me to place them in about 7 feet triangle more or less....this is the best sound I have ever get from an speaker system, in terms of soundstage and spatial distribution of the instruments, I don't know but this triangled configuration is just amazing, and if you place the monitors facing you instead of in a horizontal line in the front, all sounds so perfect, in the right position.......if your room is small, this is the way to go to get a good sound

 

[Wodgy]

Is 6 feet away considered "extreme nearfield"? I always thought nearfield meant a foot or two away, like the kind of setup you find with a studio mixing console. A lot of home theatre rigs for TVs smaller than 30 inches have the front speakers about 6 feet away.

 

[3Double]

yeah, I thought nearfield was like 1 meter or so away. Oh well, I guess I listen in nearfield too, if my interpretation was mistaken. The soundstaging is rather nice!

 

[D-EJ915]

My "Nearfield" system (stereo), the speakers are about 30" away from me.

 

[ph0rk]

at least when speaking of studio monitors, nearfield ain't 6 feet. If anything, that would be the "mid" position.

 

[gbeard]

Well Headfolks,

I certainly didn't get the responses to my thread I anticipated. I had hoped people would comment on their experiences with respect to the traits of speakers and headphones.

As far as nearfield goes, perhaps using the word "extreme" was misconstrued to mean a specific type of listening. To me it was extreme because it is very close for me.

Nearfield has many, many variables, however, the one constant is that the direct sound from the speakers gets to your ears before any wall reflections. Therefore 6 feet is every bit as "nearfield" for my speakers as is 1 foot for other speakers. There are as many opinions on what constitutes nearfield as there are opinions on the HD600's.

One of better (and more complicated) speaker set up methods is the Audio Physic's method. You can find it at Audio Asylum under the FAQ's.

 

[Sovkiller]

Well according to www.goodsound.com glossary "near-filed" is not measured by distance, it does not indicate any length or distance to the speakers, it could be 6" or 10' or 20', as it has to do more with geometric configuration of the room, in which the listener is positioned in a triangle, eliminating this way the reflexions from the walls...etc....according to them (textually) and this was what I understood by near-field also:

Near-field listening: In speaker/listener positioning, an equilateral triangle arrangement that equals listener-to-speaker distance with speaker-to-speaker distance and optimally subtracts room interaction from the playback event. The near-field position is often the only workable solution if a long-wall arrangement in a rectangular room is mandatory due to practical considerations.

For more info click here...hope this helps


Edit: I found some another definitions:

Near Field Sound.
Typically, any point where the direct sound emission is measurably louder than the reflections of that sound. From a more accurate technical perspective, this is the point where the velocity of molecules emitted by the radiator is out of phase with the sound pressure wave. This is especially obvious when the listener is in close proximity to high frequency emissions.

near-field : The sound field very close to a sound source is called the near-field. By "very close" is meant less than one wavelength at the frequency of interest. A near-field speaker is a compact studio monitor designed for listening at close distances, so, in theory, the effects of poor room acoustics are greatly reduced.


I agree that usually this term is used to indicate anything around the length of a console, usually less than 6' or so, as this is a term used mainly in recording studios, and these monitors are usually placed on top of the console, or in stands close to it, but IMO is has more to do, with the configuration and triangular placement to avoid the interference as a result of reflexions from the walls, than the distance itself to the speakers....

 

[gbeard]

Exactamundo Sovkiller!

And very good use of internet audio reference materials too!

Thanks.

gb