My world has been turned upside down.

I never really thought about it when I unpacked my NS10Ms some 20 years ago.  I put them up at ear level with the Text graphic oriented in the horizontal position like it seemed logical to do.  The biggest question was whether to have the tweeters on the outside or the inside and most of the studio pics I saw had them on the outside.  So that's the way it's been since then.
 
But this week I was looking at some candidates for mid field speakers so that folks wanting to hear a mix in the small couch behind me might have a bigger sweet spot.  So I ran into articles and discussions about how speakers should be oriented.
 
Part of the discussion involved the NS10 and NS10m and how they came to be oriented horizontally and the reason that position came about.  I even found a post from a guy who had his vertically with the tweeters on the bottom.  Lately, I've been questioning everything that I do and made a habit of so, what the heck, I had a free afternoon and I started moving speakers around.
 
First thing I immediately noticed that the vertical orientation was more focused and "lined up."  The sweet spot was definitely bigger in the sitting position.  I kept spinning them 90 degrees and listening and every time, the vertical orientation sounded better.  And like the one odd ball guy, I ended up with the tweeters down because that aligned with my ears better.  Even the bass response was tighter in that position.  So for now, I'm leaving them upside down.  

The reason to have the tweeters on the out side is for time alignment.  Since the woofer is deeper in the box the tweeter naturally has an advantage by being closer to the listener by an inch or two.  To compensate it is traditional to place the tweeter further away.  Unfortunately this means a chance of missing the sweet spot entirely when sitting too close.  
 
It definitely sounds better to have the tweeter pointing directly at your ears, though that may give you a false sense of what the sound truly is.  The lower frequencies could be delayed and slightly out of phase with the highs.  Just something to be careful of when situating them. 
 
I definitely think it is better to have the tweeter vertical at any rate.  The stereo image can become out of focus with a two-way horizontal alignment, especially in the near field.  

The thing that I noticed was that I could hear the tweeter separately from the woofer and just moving my head forward and back brought this out.  Didn't take much movement at all. 
 
Most folks tend to agree that the horizontal positioning was not intended at first.  In fact, the logo was 90 degrees from it's current orientation on the original release because they were intended as bookshelf speakers.  The horizontal position came from a need to not block the main studio speakers which is something that I am having to deal with now.  I've got a pair of soffit mounted JBL 4312s behind them.  That's not a major problem for me because I was looking for a replacement for them when I started reading up on tweeter/woofer orientation.

Also...Hey Mod... I'd be interested in your take someday, if you ever listened to the current crop of Yamahas... like the HS8.   The inexpensive JBL ($250 8" version- LSR 308) are pretty much in the same catagory too.  You might be as surprised as I was with these *newer* speakers...even with their low cost.
 
On an aside...I listened to some Focal twinB fairly recently... infact the guy I got my HS80m upgraded to them...  And although they were very nice, I didn't see them as $2500+ nicer.  I thought the HS80m hung right in there, as a surprise.
 

spacealf...what are actually saying?  Are you saying the newer breed of inexpensive speakers are just disposable pieces of garbage...or??  That JBL's newer cheapies sets are just that...and don't compare to their older, but upper end stuff....not that the 43XX series was *upper end*.  Just popular like the NS10 became to be.

Yeah...I understand.  My theory is if I get 5 years out of the Yamahas, I got my money's worth.  Then I'll get something again at that time...hopefully even better.  But I do hope they last longer.  The fact that they are active makes me more concerned about their power amps, than the speakers themselves.
 
I will say my JBL 4311 have lasted since the mid 70's.  That's been a good value!  ;-)

and yeah...not sure I understand why the M2 speakers are 20 grand.  Especially with the newer LSR series coming in at under $500.

I got my 4312s from a friend.  Fact is, he needed money for groceries after losing his job and he was much too proud to ask for (or accept) gift money or a loan so when he announced that I needed a set of 4312s for my studio (and he had them), I knew exactly what the "real deal" was.  So I became a proud owner of a set of speakers that I never really liked the sound of.  I agree that the honky sound is what I don't like about them, as well.  They were good for blasting out a client with a mix, though until I blew one of the midrange drivers tracking guitar or bass too loud.  (It could have been something else - I've practically used them for PA purposes .)
 
I do like three way speakers for evaluation purposes but I always mix on the NS10Ms.  I recently got a set of the passive Avantones too when my old Radioshack Optimus speakers died as well.  I'd love to audition a pair of the JBL 3 way powered speakers but, IIRC, they're like $1500 each.  (Not going to happen.)  The KRK Rokit RP10-3 might throw some sound back behind me another 8 - 10 ft at a much cheaper price. 

Yeah, Danny.  I'm still fighting the urge to put them back on their sides like the "big time" guys.  That " big-time image" desire is a struggle. 

Isn't it amazing that we all sweat and cuss trying to get that perfect monitoring situation. Cabs, positioning, sound treatment, etc. and when we're done our audience crushes the crap out of our pride and joy and downloads as an mp3 in to their phone to listen thru ear buds or a ghetto blaster! God, help us! LOL!