Main speaker placement- fundamentally wrong?

Evolution designed our head and ears for good source localization. I have my speakers up front to best mimic observing a musical performance.

God designed your head for multichannel audio, not stereo.

If you noticed almost all animal's ears are on the side of their head. evolution made them that way for a reason, most likely for location sensing of predators and pray. I do not think evolution was worried about your stereo separation etc. Reason cupping your hands around your ears seems to sound better to you is due to the fact you're getting more sound information and at a higher volume, similar to a horn strapped to the side of your head. Louder is not better just louder.

When i first noticed some tinnitus in my right ear I messed around with cupping my ears with my hands and other things.  Just wanted to try and get a handle on what was going on.  For me, cupping just makes things louder and more irritating - YMMV.  But, I suggest that if you think cupping makes your system sound better then you need to rethink your system, including room acoustics.

Or, maybe something like this? 

I thank God for putting our ears on the sides of our head.  It helps so we can hear all around us and can tell where sounds are coming from.   Lets us appreciate the spatial qualities of live and recorded music.  

+1 @emergingsoul 

They have these things called headphones... or in some cases, ear speakers.

@emergingsoul 

I thought you might find it interesting (I did) and I think it might be better than wearing dixie cups on your ears ;-)

@jperry 

This is a hell of an article referenced. And a few really nice pictures which makes it nice for me.

https://pt.audio/2025/01/05/modified-room-coupling-method-for-speaker-positioning/

I tried this 20 years ago at a dave Mathew’s concert in the rose garden. We had a concrete wall behind us and when I cupped my ears, the sound cleaned up drastically because I wasn’t hearing the sound bounce off the concrete wall.

When in high school we had a Sears "portable stereo" on a metal stand. The speakers were detachable. My friend and I would put the speakers on the floor and take turns putting our head in between. It greatly improved the bass and dynamic range. Not so great for setting up a soundstage... more like headphones.

@noromance

And they are so flattering. They may become a look.

@immatthewj

I’m gonna order the Dixie cups from Amazon for about 10 bucks can I send you a pair?

I'd say, "Sure you can!" but A'gon won't let me tell you where to ship them to.  So if you order them and review them, if they are any good, I'll order a pair myself.  

@immatthewj

I’m gonna order the Dixie cups from Amazon for about 10 bucks can I send you a pair?

Seems like an easy enough thing to try. $20 says you'll move the speakers back to where you originally had them.

P.S. Try some headphones.  Amazing, huh?

Try it (reconfiguring your speaker placement) and let us know what happens.  

Here you go.

Dixie Hear Cups