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Monitor Placement

Where should my monitors go?

Enter your room’s size. See where to sit and where each monitor goes.

Front wall to back wall

Side wall to side wall

Front wallYou1234

Enter your room’s size to see where you and your monitors go.

  • Centered between the side walls
  • Tweeters at ear height
  • Pointed at your ears
  • Out of the corners

Placement helps.

Remove the boom that’s left. Don’t fight physics.

Find the boom that’s left
Why these numbers

You sit about 38% of the way from the front wall to the back. The middle of the room is where bass is most uneven, and this spot stays clear of it. In a short room, you sit a little further back so the monitors fit.

Your head and the two monitors make a triangle with equal sides, so both monitors reach you at the same moment and the sound stays centered.

Desk monitors sound best between 0.80 m and 1.20 m apart. Their fronts stay at least 0.40 m from the front wall, which leaves room for the cabinet and a gap behind it.

It’s a starting point. Move a little at a time and listen.

Questions

Why not sit in the middle of the room?
The middle is where bass is most uneven: some notes nearly vanish and others pile up. A spot a little in front of it usually sounds smoother.
Which wall should I face?
Usually a short wall, with your desk centered between the side walls, so both monitors hear the room the same way.
How far from the wall should monitors be?
Leave a gap behind them and keep them out of corners, which make bass boom. If their bass ports are on the back, give them a little more room.
Should monitors be at ear height?
Yes. Point the tweeters, the small drivers, at your ears. Tilt the monitors if they sit higher or lower than your head.
What angle should monitors point?
Turn each one in until its tweeter points at your ears. With the monitors and your head at the corners of a triangle with equal sides, that’s about 30 degrees each.
Desk or stands?
Stands, if you have the floor space: they put the tweeters at ear height and keep the desk from buzzing along. On a desk, use pads or a small shelf that lifts the tweeters to ear height.
Does it work in a small room?
Yes, down to 2.4 m (8 ft) long and 1.8 m (6 ft) wide. In a short room it moves your chair back a little, so the monitors still clear the wall behind them.
Will good placement fix the boom?
It helps, but every room still has a note it exaggerates. Unboom, the app for Mac and Windows, finds that note and turns just it down in everything your computer plays on your speakers.

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