Nearfield listening - once more

@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.

So near-filed and far-field are basically relative to the speaker design,

For sure beside of the acoustic ratio and timing and direction of reflected versus directed waves importance, the design and the type of speakers play a great role ... Thanks for reminding us of this important fact ...

But if one listen nearfield and dont control acoustically the timing and direction of reflected versus directed waves with acoustic treatment in the room near the listening position , the result will be a no existing soundstage or one located only between the speakers ...

As you pointed to yourself:

Essentially near-field listening gives you a listening experience similar to that of headphones, but with imaging and perhaps sound-stage.

Nearfield listening with speakers is better well done than most headphone listening save perhaps with the best headphone in the world , in my experience, because of the soundstage which is out of our head, unlike almost all  headphone ( save my K340 ) ...

My near listening field encompass my listening position , is holographic and way out of the speakers plane in width and depth ... My speakers cost , so good they are , is very low then it is not the result of a superlative design ( i modify the porthole and the tweeter for sure) but the result of room acoustic and vibrations resonance controls, crosstalk control to some extent also ...

Room acoustic cannot be replaced or being disposed of because we listen nearfield ...