Speaker placement?

[iGPR3]

Hi there. I've got a pair of JBL LSR305s that I got a week or so ago, but I don't have much room space and they sit behind my monitor. Will it affect the sound quality at all?

 

[Hinjima]

11 minutes ago, iGPR3 said:

Hi there. I've got a pair of JBL LSR305s that I got a week or so ago, but I don't have much room space and they sit behind my monitor. Will it affect the sound quality at all?

 

 

Not enough to be noticeable in my opinion.  You sit so close anyways.

[saintlouisbagels]

- Will it affect sound quality?

Technically yes.

It's not optimally placed away from the wall. Not decoupled from the desk. Not perfectly aligned with your ears. etc. etc.

 

- Does it matter?

Not really. Up to you.

I currently have my bookshelf speakers on the floor and the drivers are aimed right at my shins. It doesn't bother me. I wear earbuds if I'm trying to deeply immerse myself into a movie or msuic.

[LloydLynx]

Yes it's going to change the sound a lot. But your brain will compensate if you're not an audiophile.

[BuzzingBee]

I would experiment flipping the speakers upside down so that the tweeters are maybe visible, as higher sound frequency reflects more from your monitor it would sound more muffled. For my PC's bookshelf speakers my woofers are blocked and it still sound great.

[GuiltySpark_]

This bothers me. If I stick a solid object in front of my speakers the sound changes drastically but if you don't really care about audio, you might not care. Then again, if you didn't care about audio you wouldn't have bought the those fantastic JBL's. 

 

Conundrum, for sure. 

[Sandbass]

20 hours ago, Hinjima said:

Not enough to be noticeable in my opinion.  You sit so close anyways.

I have to disagree. Covering (especially) the tweeters with a solid object will definitely be noticeable. Those short wavelengths neither penetrate nor deflect around the monitor in a way you wouldn't notice. It will significantly impact stereo imaging as well as frequency response. 

 

It's not great to have the mid-/bass-drivers covered up by the monitor either, but due to the longer wavelengths it is less bad. 

There are a couple of things that could be done here: 

A) put the PC on the floor, use the gained space for proper speaker placement (I don't get why people are keen to have their PC with all those fans etc. right next to their head anyway )

B) Put the speakers on stands, so that they are high enough for the tweeters not to be covered by the monitor anymore. 

C) Turn the speakers upside down, so that the tweeters are underneath the monitor. Ideally you would tilt them a bit upwards (the tweeters should be aiming at your ear). 

[cmndr]

This is easy enough to test. Play something you're familiar with and temporarily move the monitor out of the way. 

I'd expect the higher frequency signals from the tweeters to be mucked up and the lower frequencies from the woofers to be less affected. 

Test if the speakers sound better upside down (potentially with a bit of an angle)

[Motifator]

Looking at the picture, you can get stands aren't a choice as there is basically no space for the left speaker (see the heater), to be put upright on a floor stand.

However, he could try mounting them to the walls... if he wants to...

[Sandbass]

2 hours ago, Motifator said:

Looking at the picture, you can get stands aren't a choice as there is basically no space for the left speaker (see the heater), to be put upright on a floor stand.

However, he could try mounting them to the walls... if he wants to...

Floor stands aren't the only kind of stands. Desk stands are a thing and I don't see any reason why they wouldn't work in this scenario.

I just can't give any specific recommendation, since I don't know what specific models are available in the UK. A budget-friendly example over here in Germany would be the Millennium DM3 (in-house brand of Thomann).

 

Wall mounting speakers is something I'd only recommend if it's a solid brick wall. Drywall might resonate.

[Brian McKee]

It will make a noticeable difference, especially depending on the volume. Not to mention your right speaker being so close to the wall and your computer will certainly lower the perceived sound quality.

 

I know you probably like staring at your computer components, but desk space for real equipment makes more sense. Put that thing on the floor and move the monitor and speakers.