Nearfield listening - once more

Eagledriver, yeah it takes careful positioning through trial and error.  I've had best results with nearfield listening by positioning the speakers a few feet away from any walls (to minimize reflections), about 6 feet apart, sitting only about 1 or 2 feet away from them, tweeters at ear height and nearly pointing directly at my ears -- pointing just a little behind them.  The detail and clarity are almost like good headphones, but you also get the 3D soundfield of good speakers.  The instruments and vocals seem to be hanging in space out in front of you.  Optimal positioning and results I'm sure will vary depending on speakers and listener.  

@hiphiphan

Yes, sitting closer to the speakers, my face/head blocks more of the sound from the other speaker. Do you find that the best result is related to the toe-in of the speakers?

@steve59

> 2 to 1. 2 ft apart for 1 foot back.

Interesting rule - will try.

@o_holter Every speaker whether it is small or or large has a critical listening distance independent of the electronics or room. For an example, speakers with first order crossovers require one to sit at least 8 ft from the center of the two speakers. Why? because the output from three drivers (tweeter, mid-range, and woofer) needs that distance to merge. Now Horn speakers and monitors may not need 8 ft for the sound from different drivers to merge.

So near-filed and far-field are basically relative to the speaker design, but they all have a minimum critical distance to the sweet spot. Impact of "early-reflections" and "reverberations" from the room can be minimal for so called near-field listening. This is one advantage and may be the reason why it is appealing to certain listeners. For those who sits 8 ft or more form the speakers need room treatment to control "early reflections" and "reverberations." Essentially near-field listening gives you a listening experience similar to that of headphones, but with imaging and perhaps sound-stage.

One thing to keep in mind is that smaller speakers are limited to frequencies 45-55 Hz and above. Big floor standers will give you the bottom octave, but you need to sit away from the speakers. For an example double bass can go low as 30 Hz, and the piano down to 27 Hz. You will miss this kind of information with smaller speakers with near-field listening. Laws of physics dictate what you can get from small speakers versus large speakers and critical listening distance, etc.

@hiphiphan 

Height - is it always the case that ears are best served by height = the centre of the tweeter? I sometimes feel, somewhere between the tweeter and woofer (or bass port, in case of single driver speakers) is better.

Optimal height will likely vary a little from speaker to speaker - some tweeters are going to be too harsh in the set-up I've described, so may require slight adjustment in positioning - either with regard to height or toe-in.