[dosprompt]

I have a small office in my basement and really no room to properly setup my speakers.  I normally listen only through headphones.  However, after being told my a few folks in my local hi-fi store that I probably never "really heard" music, I decided to take out my cheap Boston Acoustic speakers.  I have to listen quite quietly as I have three kids, and I positioned the speakers as seen in the picture.  I have heard these speakers many time before and always been disappointed, but in this placement the effect is incredible.  Not sure if there is some kind of echo happening, but the soundstage can only be described as holographic.  The vocals feel like they're floating about a foot over the computer monitor and the separation is insane.  I tried another pair of speakers (even cheaper) and the effect was the same. Has anyone had experience with this? e.g. placing speakers in a similar position.  I basically have the tweeters pointing directly into my ear and my arms fully outstretched touch the center of the top of the speakers.   I stumbled upon some "near field" speaker placement articles but  my head exploded
 
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[yage]

Wow. That looks like it shouldn't work, but hey if it sounds good to you then who am I to argue? Maybe it's because you're in a corner rather than along a flat wall.
 
I've experienced holographic imaging before with conventionally placed largish floorstanding speakers, though it's usually been when the listening chair is much farther than the distance between the speakers. I've found that I can sit closer with small two-way monitors, again conventionally placed, like your speakers and hear the same effect too.

 

[Tablix]

Ideally you would set them up to form a triangle with your head being the 3rd point.  The ideal distance is something like 1-3 meters for each length of that triangle.  You are correct in pointing the tweeters directly at your ears at hopefully the same height, or at worst slightly higher and pointing downwards by a few degrees.  
 
Thats the beginning however, as you then need to consider room acoustics but this is where added expense comes in with bass traps in corners and sound damping on the walls/floor/ceiling for sound reflections.  Personally I have a couple of bass traps at the back of my room and a thick carpet floor and a simple sheet suspended from the corners of the roof and some panels mounted on the side walls and a similar larger panel behind me. This is massive overkill for 90% of people, so unless you have a dedicated recording/listening room it really isnt worth the work/investment.  Just by listening at sensible levels you will avoid almost 90% of the issues of room acoustics.  Some simple things like putting a rug on a hard floor can make a difference and not change the look of your room at all, or even having some nice silk paintings on reflection points to dampen the sound a little.
 
Like every part of audio you can get to 95% perfection with some simple gear and reading, the last 5% costs the earth and is frankly wasted unless you are a true perfectionist or professional sound engineer.