Nearfield listening

6 feet is not near-field and not quite far-field. The main reason to use big speakers is to get accurate bass reproduction and to achieve realistic higher SPL levels and a more natural presentation (think headphones most unnatural as no reverberant field and small near-fields as in between and large speakers in far-field as most natural sounding balance between primary and reverberant sound).

The main reason to sit near-field is to hear more primary signal and less room reflected response. Studios will often mix on near-fields (for precise mix decisions) and then use main monitors in far field for bass checks and to impress clients.

Listener57,

What vintage are your Clements RT-7s? I bought a pair in about 1985-86 and kept them until about 2000. Mine were the old version that had a complete foam grille wrap from top to bottom. They looked very much like a vandy 2C, only turned sidways (narrow profile toward the front).

Funny, I can't remember why I sold them.......

Enjoy,

TIC

I sit 6.5 to 7 feet away in my listening position. My chair is against the wall behind me and my speakers are roughly 3 feet from the wall in back of them. These are big Mirage bi polars. i like these speakers but feel they are too big for my small room. I'm looking for smaller speakers (not bi polar design like my currents) more suited to a room only 10 feet wide.

I listen near filed with both a set of floor standers and monitors on stands. Sound stage is always better in the near field. A sony engineer who is heavily involved in doing mixing tells me all that is done on monitors in near field. So, apparently that is the sound being produced for the cd. Crazy.

I was using magnepan and put them aside for a new pair of usher 6371's. I like the 6371's much better especially up close. With the magnepans I could never just sit still and listen. I always wanted to keep moving them around but couldn't find the right positioning. This happened in every place I lived in all different types of rooms. Also, with medium to high powered amps. I felt like I was always observing the music from far away vs. being immersed like with the ushers. I guess I just like box speakers better. I did try numerous monitors for close listening but they always seemed too bright with no heft to the sound.