Studio monitors vertical or horizontal?

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Billy+
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29 Jul 2020

Portrait or Landscape how do you have your monitors?

I'm in the middle of studio reconfiguration and have just changes from portrait to landscape and the low end seams to poke out just a little more than it use to. I have installed isolation pads and have angled my speakers in an upward angle toward my centre position and am yet to balance & correct any issues but the volume is set the same only I can hear more..

What's the views from the forum.

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Audio monitors (Speakers)
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mcatalao
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29 Jul 2020

2 landscape, 1 portrait for racks. I've never got used to have racks side by side.

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guitfnky
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29 Jul 2020

back when I used two monitors, I had one set up for landscape for the mixer and sequencer, and the other was portrait for the rack. it worked really well. I’ve since replaced them with a much larger 4k display, but even though I technically have much more screen real estate now, I still miss having dedicated monitors for specific tasks.
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Billy+
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29 Jul 2020

I don't mean vdu I mean monitoring "speakers"

There is another vdu monitor for dual display but it's on the floor, I'm getting setup for some OBS fun.....

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joeyluck
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29 Jul 2020

I think for speakers you can say vertical or horizontal. Portrait and landscape should just be used for things image-based.

I have mine vertical :)

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guitfnky
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29 Jul 2020

ah, thanks for the clarification. I used mine horizontally for a year or so, until I got a copy or Mike Senior’s home recording bible—he explains why it’s better to have them vertically-oriented, if you have speakers with two drivers (woofer and tweeter; so, the vast majority of us). as I recall, it’s due to how the sound from the woofer and tweeter are more likely to arrive at your ear at different times if they’re horizontal, which can cause imaging issues. going off of memory here, so my reasoning may be off, but I definitely remember the important part—they should usually be oriented vertically (assuming sound quality is a more important consideration than aesthetics).
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rgdaniel
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29 Jul 2020

Bass should be on the bottom, or the universe just doesn't make sense for me. ;)

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bxbrkrz
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29 Jul 2020

Billy wrote:
29 Jul 2020
Portrait or Landscape how do you have your monitors?

I'm in the middle of studio reconfiguration and have just changes from portrait to landscape and the low end seams to poke out just a little more than it use to. I have installed isolation pads and have angled my speakers in an upward angle toward my centre position and am yet to balance & correct any issues but the volume is set the same only I can hear more..

What's the views from the forum.

---Edit---

Audio monitors (Speakers)
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DaveyG
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30 Jul 2020

You should put them the way up that they are designed to be. Anything else is a compromise.

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Billy+
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30 Jul 2020

They are designed for both way.

HORIZONTAL PLACEMENT RECOMMENDATION
Traditionally, proper horizontal placement of speaker systems slightly behind (not on) a meter bridge accomplished two purposes: it allowed both woofer and tweeter to be at ear level, and many times, it permitted the recording engineer to see over the speakers and into the studio.
Horizontal placement is a recommended arrangement with the M1 Active Mk2 because the left and right mirror-imaged pair permits a symmetrical alignment of drivers and ports. This will be conducive to a balanced mix. See Figure 2 below.
Proper tweeter orientation is toward the stereo image center (the middle) as shown. Ports are always faced toward the bottom side of the cabinet. This set- up will promote a strongly focused center image such as for the vocalist. And because the (vocal) image width will be narrower than if the speakers are placed vertically, it will be possible to place the vocalist with great precision at stage center. In this orientation there will be much less chance of first reflections from either sidewalls or the console coloring your mix.

Vertical placement of the M1 Active Mk2 as shown in Figure 3 is highly recommended. This position will simulate the soundfield that will be heard in most consumers’ homes and (to a great extent) their cars. For this reason, even if the M1 Active Mk2s are positioned horizontally for all of the mixing, the vertical position should always be used in the final "playback check" mode. (See next section)
There are a couple of possible drawbacks to vertical placement of a nearfield monitor relating mostly to room interaction effects. Vertical placement allows the M1 Active Mk2s to portray your mix with the widest and deepest soundstage possible, so many people in the control room have an image of the “sweet spot”. However, this wide a dispersion pattern in a control room with walls in too-close proximity to the speakers can add strong reflections to the sound you hear, muddying your mix. Page 29 shows the control room placement/ distance recommendations, which should help you determine if your available recording space would work well with the M1 Active Mk2s set up vertically.

I've never tried horizontal before so though I would and the low end just pops a bit better
Last edited by Billy+ on 30 Jul 2020, edited 1 time in total.

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drk73
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30 Jul 2020

I think for speakers you can say vertical or horizontal. Portrait and landscape should just be used for things image-based.
Agree.
Put your monitors as designed.
Mine designt to stay vertical. So, I put them vertical.

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selig
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30 Jul 2020

As designed, with exception for NS10s (which were later "designed" to be horizontal, or at least the logo was…). And IF horizontal, then "tweeters out" till death!!! This really only works well for NS10s when on an SSL console - don't know why, but NS10s just never sound 100% "right" to me any other way…
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Billy+
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30 Jul 2020

selig wrote:
30 Jul 2020
IF horizontal, then "tweeters out" till death!!!
Why tweeters out? The manual says in for mine.

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selig
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30 Jul 2020

Billy wrote:
30 Jul 2020
selig wrote:
30 Jul 2020
IF horizontal, then "tweeters out" till death!!!
Why tweeters out? The manual says in for mine.
That was just what many preferred specifically with NS10s. It allows you to place them a little closer together but still sound "wide" enough. The reason for putting them a certain distance from each other is part how far the meter bridge is from the listening position, and part as a way to fine tune the low end on the NS10s. Too close and there would be a little build up in the 3rd oct or so, too far apart and you get issues with the phantom center and the bass (what bass there IS) can get weaker.

As with anything, read the manual and try other stuff - choose what works and sounds best (workflow is a part of any configuration decision IMO). Meaning, I'm willing to take a slight sonic hit if the workflow is ideal.
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miscend
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30 Jul 2020

The tweeters should level with your ears and pointing directly at you in your normal seating position. Bass frequencies are not directional so the bass driver can be in any orientation.
Last edited by miscend on 31 Jul 2020, edited 1 time in total.

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Boombastix
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30 Jul 2020

Billy wrote:
30 Jul 2020
selig wrote:
30 Jul 2020
IF horizontal, then "tweeters out" till death!!!
Why tweeters out? The manual says in for mine.
It is the most common, due to stereo imaging.

Actually the sub also travels a little slower, so it makes sence the sub is closer but doubt you can hear that.

Anyhow, you will probably have a far bigger issue with wall reflections than any speaker placement will fix or matter...
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Rising Night Wave
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31 Jul 2020

tweeters should be at the level of your ears
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selig
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31 Jul 2020

Rising Night Wave wrote:
31 Jul 2020
tweeters should be at the level of your ears
There are those that disagree, though their argument falls apart with three way speakers. The idea is that the BEST height for vertically mounted speakers is exactly half way between the woofer and tweeter. The theory is that the speakers are the most "time aligned" in this position. Which is why I ask "what about three way speakers".
This guy actually calls it "dead wrong" to put tweeters at ear level:


Also, it could be many speakers are designed to time align when at tweeter level to our ears, so as always read the manual! When I checked my JBL LSR 6329Ps, they did indeed directly specify tweeters at ear level. So, as always do your own research, don't just trust a guy on youtube…
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Ras Keita
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18 Aug 2020

I have a the Focal Shape Twin the're designed as vertical with the passive radiators on each side.

https://www.focal.com/en/pro-audio/moni ... umentation

I also have Adam S3V again designed for vertical use I could have gotten the S3H which are the horizontal model
but there's at least a $500 price difference, gotta say I'm pleased with S3V.

https://www.adam-audio.com/en/s-series/s3v/

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