How far apart do you like your near fields?

[losthighway]

I've been noticing in a lot of studio photos posted by friends, colleagues and heroes that folks keep their near field monitors a lot closer together than the 6 feet or so I'm doing. Lots of people have them up on the meter bridge, or similar space above their board looking like 3-4 feet.

I get the equilateral triangle theory, and I'm close, but part of the problem is working around my desk setup. For a smallish control room I'm starting to think I'm a little wider than I should be.

Anyhow, what do you find is best and why?

[Nick Sevilla]

I put mine right next to the giant 55" monitor, so that is their distance between each other. The angle toward my head is just so that the Stereo field is larger than my head, but it does not yet get "unfocused", or where when you pan an instrument it seems to stay in the center a bit, instead
of moving properly from left to right with no lag in the center.

The mid fields are outside of that, next to the nears.

Also, I have wood under and in front of the monitors, and the console is NOT directly below them. Instead, there is enough
space in front and below the speakers so that there are no initial reflections from any surface. It REALLY helps when listening and mixing!

[vvv]

22.5 inches, toed in.

I listen from about 36" out.

[roscoenyc]

Most common mistake I see when looking at people's pics on socio-media is that they
aren't paying attention to the equilateral triangle.
It's the easiest rule to follow.

Next most common mistake is paying no attention to symmetry but that's for another post.

[I'm Painting Again]

try putting on a record you know really well where a distinct part (vocal perhaps) comes from dead center of the mix

space your speakers to where that happens at your 3rd point (listening position) on the = triangle

rotating the speakers' trajectory toward and away from your head (toe in) can fine tune this

won't work as well or at all even if there's anything causing an acoustic shadow in the path of the speakers -or- possibly if you don't have a symmetric room/furniture happening

[vvv]

I've long felt symmetry ain't rock-n-roll.

[I'm Painting Again]

I've long felt symmetry ain't rock-n-roll.

The rock-n-roll lifestyle has caused the mixer to be slightly hearing impaired in the left ear as well as the excess of sex n' drugs having their posture naturally leaning toward the right. Ironically, these factors perfectly cancel out the volume discrepancy in their monitors and the asymmetry of their control room.

[vvv]

Howja know?

I was always sure to play stage right, so it's the left ear what is kinda bad from cymbal bashers.

Not sure about leanin' right, though - certainly not politically ... but to compensate for the room, I just might.