hey man welcome to RO. keep in mind that these are just guidelines, and it'll take some trial and error. you can test your setup both by ear, and using the free REW test software.

at first. id set the speakers up along the wall with the window on it, so they point towards the closet. id cover the window with a blanket or curtain, especially for critical mixing and tracking. your closet in the rear can function as a bass trap, and the window will let some bass out, functioning as a bass trap as well. this puts them to good use, and in the proper orientation. next mark a spot about 38% back from the window [front] wall, centered left to right. this is your initial listening position. you have two options now, either start with the speakers about 2-3 feet away from the window wall, or right up against the wall. those are the two most common starting points. you then measure the distance from the listening position, to the center of where the speakers land, and that number is how far apart your speakers should be. ie you make an equilateral triangle with the speakers, and your listening position.

ill round the numbers to try and be more clear and keep the calculations simple. if your speakers are firing down the 12' dimension, thats leaves the listening position 4'6" from the front wall. if you set the speakers up right on the wall and the speakers are 1' deep, that leaves you 3'6" from the front of the speakers [phantom] center, and the speakers would be 3'6" apart. you want the speakers tweeters to be at ear height or slightly above, when your seated.

an option, which i usually employ, is to mark a spot about 16" behind the listening position, known in [build it like the pros] as the producers position. then setup the equilateral triangle based of that spot, making the speakers 16" further apart [so 5 feet apart in the example]. this makes a lot of sense if you have the speakers spaced off the front wall [in a relatively small room] because the listening spot would end up [close to you] only a couple feet away, and the speakers a couple feet apart. most nearfields call for at least 3' of space between themselves and the listener. beyond that, setting the triangle up off the producers position creates a wider sweet spot, and aims the tweeters past the engineer's ears, rather than directly at them which can be less fatiguing.

if you try both ways, [speakers close to wall, and spaced off a few feet] you'll get a feel for how the bass differs with speaker location, and you can position them where bass response is most even. this is where the REW software helps. you can play around with the listening position as well, once the speakers are in a place where they are physically exciting the bass response as evenly as possible in the general listening area. you can move around a bit and find where its hitting your ears the most even. chances are [at least mathematically] somewhere with those ranges of speaker location and engineer/producers location, will demonstrate the most ideal spot for everything.

that said there's no hard and fast rules, and there's no guarantees. so it may be worth trying the speakers on the wall where the you'd be facing them, with the closet behind you, on the right side, of the drawing. as its generally better to have any obstacles behind you.

beyond that, you really need to deaden the ceiling with acoustical treatment, and the 'mirror' points on either side and behind you. as much bass trapping as possible is needed in the room, and the closet is a good start. you'll want to treat all the corners in the room, or as many as you can. leaving the window open will let bass out [bass trapping] and you can even leave the closet door partially open to 'tune' it to a certain frequency. clothing on hangers would be fine as trapping material, although its easy enough to make a "real" bass trap out of the closet using rigid and fluffy insulation, place in the proper places.

keep in mind that the ideal speaker position may be augmented as you include treatments, so its always good practice to have your basic treatments up, get the listening position as good as possible using speaker placement, then asses and treat from there.

hope this gives you a good basic starting point.

kmetal, post: 458311, member: 37533 wrote: hey man welcome to RO. keep in mind that these are just guidelines, and it'll take some trial and error. you can test your setup both by ear, and using the free REW test software.

at first. id set the speakers up along the wall with the window on it, so they point towards the closet. id cover the window with a blanket or curtain, especially for critical mixing and tracking. your closet in the rear can function as a bass trap, and the window will let some bass out, functioning as a bass trap as well. this puts them to good use, and in the proper orientation. next mark a spot about 38% back from the window [front] wall, centered left to right. this is your initial listening position. you have two options now, either start with the speakers about 2-3 feet away from the window wall, or right up against the wall. those are the two most common starting points. you then measure the distance from the listening position, to the center of where the speakers land, and that number is how far apart your speakers should be. ie you make an equilateral triangle with the speakers, and your listening position.

ill round the numbers to try and be more clear and keep the calculations simple. if your speakers are firing down the 12' dimension, thats leaves the listening position 4'6" from the front wall. if you set the speakers up right on the wall and the speakers are 1' deep, that leaves you 3'6" from the front of the speakers [phantom] center, and the speakers would be 3'6" apart. you want the speakers tweeters to be at ear height or slightly above, when your seated.

an option, which i usually employ, is to mark a spot about 16" behind the listening position, known in [build it like the pros] as the producers position. then setup the equilateral triangle based of that spot, making the speakers 16" further apart [so 5 feet apart in the example]. this makes a lot of sense if you have the speakers spaced off the front wall [in a relatively small room] because the listening spot would end up [close to you] only a couple feet away, and the speakers a couple feet apart. most nearfields call for at least 3' of space between themselves and the listener. beyond that, setting the triangle up off the producers position creates a wider sweet spot, and aims the tweeters past the engineer's ears, rather than directly at them which can be less fatiguing.

if you try both ways, [speakers close to wall, and spaced off a few feet] you'll get a feel for how the bass differs with speaker location, and you can position them where bass response is most even. this is where the REW software helps. you can play around with the listening position as well, once the speakers are in a place where they are physically exciting the bass response as evenly as possible in the general listening area. you can move around a bit and find where its hitting your ears the most even. chances are [at least mathematically] somewhere with those ranges of speaker location and engineer/producers location, will demonstrate the most ideal spot for everything.

that said there's no hard and fast rules, and there's no guarantees. so it may be worth trying the speakers on the wall where the you'd be facing them, with the closet behind you, on the right side, of the drawing. as its generally better to have any obstacles behind you.

beyond that, you really need to deaden the ceiling with acoustical treatment, and the 'mirror' points on either side and behind you. as much bass trapping as possible is needed in the room, and the closet is a good start. you'll want to treat all the corners in the room, or as many as you can. leaving the window open will let bass out [bass trapping] and you can even leave the closet door partially open to 'tune' it to a certain frequency. clothing on hangers would be fine as trapping material, although its easy enough to make a "real" bass trap out of the closet using rigid and fluffy insulation, place in the proper places.

keep in mind that the ideal speaker position may be augmented as you include treatments, so its always good practice to have your basic treatments up, get the listening position as good as possible using speaker placement, then asses and treat from there.

hope this gives you a good basic starting point.

Thank you so much! Your answer was extremely helpful.