NEAR FIELD LISTENING
In speaker/listener positioning, an equilateral triangle arrangement that equals listener-to-speaker distance with speaker-to-speaker distance and optimally subtracts room interaction from the playback event. The near-field position is often the only workable solution if a long-wall arrangement in a rectangular room is mandatory due to practical considerations. In other words, you are pretty much right on top of the loudspeaker because there is not enough room. Some of the speakers designed for this(and there are a lot of exceptions)have a hump, especially in the mids, so that one might more easily hear any recording mistakes. So if you have a small room, you might like a near
field monitor.
FAR FIELD LISTENING: In speaker/listener positioning, an arrangement whereby the listener-speaker distance is significantly larger than the speaker-to-speaker distance. Far-field listening often occurs when speakers are placed on the short wall of a rectangular room.
The opposite is near-field listening which often is the only workable solution when a system is placed on the long wall of a rectangular room. Certain multi-driver full-range speakers work better in far-field positions where the increased distance allows the physically widespread drivers on the speaker baffle to converge at the listeners ears for proper integration.
And I bet some of you thought I wasn't that smart. Definitions are borrowed from the good folks at Goodsound, but most of your good recording engineers could have told you the same thing, only with a little dramatic interpretation.
