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Near-field speaker placement

I have a small room (13.6 by 9 by 7 feet high) with carpeting on the floor and acoustic tiles on the ceiling. In a near-field setup, where should the speakers be placed in this room? I've read a number of different takes on placement, including these two that seem to contradict one another:

http://www.cardas.com/room_setup_near_field.phphttp://arqen.com/acoustics-101/room-setup-speaker-placement/#equilateral-triangle
I have a very modest system (NHT Classic Twos, NAD amp and preamp, Cary disc player and a small Velodyne sub). NHT recommends that the Classic Twos be placed at a 1.5 ratio (60 inches between the speakers would mean 90 inches from the listener). How big of a problem is this if the typical near-field setup is an equilateral triangle? And in a room like this, how far should the speakers be placed apart?

I wasted years on trying to make a square room work, and if this doesn't pan out, I'm thinking I might just go the headphone route. Thanks for the time and advice if you can provide it.
128x128jeddythree

Showing 2 responses by jeddythree

jeddythree's avatar
jeddythree OP
4 posts
 
Thanks for the responses and the advice, folks. I'll keep reading and keep adjusting. Onward through the fog ...
jeddythree's avatar
jeddythree OP
4 posts
 
Thanks again, everyone, for your thoughts and advice. Right now, the best alignment I've found is placing the speakers along one of the long walls, 15 inches out, and 60 inches from the shorter side walls. I have bass traps in all four corners and 4-inch-thick acoustic panels on most of the rear wall. The speakers are 42 inches apart, with my listening chair equidistant.

My next rabbit hole involves my speakers (NHT Classic Twos). According to the manufacturer, the listener should sit 1.5 times the distance between the two speakers (50 inches between speakers = 75 inches from the tweeters to the listener's ears). In my current setup, an equilateral triangle is about the best I can do given the space constraints. I asked NHT about this and they said the Classic Twos "would hold up well in an equilateral triangle arrangement. The key is to have them pointed to the listening position. The drawback would be that off-axis dispersion would not be the best (i.e. there'll be a sweet spot) given the Classic Two's are two-way speakers."
My question(s): Is it worth chasing down a pair of speakers more suited to my room (13.6 by 9 by 7 feet high), i.e., a pair with a larger sweet spot, or a pair that might be engineered differently to perform better in a small room like this one? In this alignment the Classic Twos sound good at times, but not so much at others – specifically regarding piano, it seems. Maybe it's just me, but it just doesn't sound true. Anyway, I'd appreciate any advice on whether three-way speakers will improve (widen) the dispersion, and maybe any recommendations on more preferable speakers (in the ballpark of $1,500 a pair), bookshelf of maybe small towers. Gracias.
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