Hello,
 
I was hoping to see what others are doing out there.  I want to have at least 2, maybe 3 monitors (LCD's) to work in Sonar.   I was thinking, is about 60 inches too far apart for studio monitors and then face them in?  Or should they be in alignment with our ears?
 
Any thoughts?
 
Thank You,
Adam

They say a good starting point is the speakers and you should form an equilateral triangle. The distance between your monitors should be roughly the same distance as from you to either one of your monitors. So if you want your speakers 5 feet apart you really also need to be five feet from either one of them.
 
Having too much distance between your speakers creates a weak centre image and as a result you will tend to increase the level of things that are panned centre to make up for it. While it may sound OK to you, when you get your mixes out there and onto other systems you may find that centre panned things will end up too loud.
 
Are you mixing professionally and getting paid for it or is more a hobby? For professional applications I would definitely not go too wide. I have seen many pictures of people's setups here on this forum and most often they are too wide. I only mention this because for more hobby applications it may not be too critical and you may be able to learn to compensate for it.
 
You do not really need two or even three screens. One screen with a well designed program can actually do it fine. Too many computer screens are not good for precise mastering applications either. In fact in many mastering studios there are no screen at all between the speakers. I actually push my monitor well back behind the speaker line when mastering.
 

Why not have your main screen in between your monitors, and put the second screen either to the left or right of one of the monitors, maybe angled toward you? It'll mean turning your head to look at it, but then again the whole point of a 2nd monitor is to display the stuff that you don't need to view as often as on your main monitor. 

Interesting idea Sharke. I would think you just need to be careful that the monitors are not reflecting of this face of the screen and changing the way you hear them.

I use small (20") display monitors because larger ones would intrude into the line-of-sight for the speakers. I've got them pushed back as far as they'll go before falling off the back of the desk. Someday I'd like to build a custom desk with a low shelf below where the screens could be set, angled upward and glass-covered like you'd see on a television news desk.
 
But even with the small displays and far positioning, I still have to set the speakers further apart than the usual recommendation of 3 feet. Mine are a little under 4 feet apart. This results in a practical problem, which is that I can only achieve the equilateral triangle by pushing my chair back about 1' from the desk. I deal with this by making a point of periodically listening (with eyes closed!) to the mix in that pushed-back position.
 
One problem with setting your speakers wide and toeing them in is that they don't blend acoustically in the manner you'd want them to. The further apart they get, the more like headphones they become. But without the benefits of headphones, e.g. eliminating room acoustics. As the speakers get closer to pointing directly at each other, you'll start getting phase cancellations between them that can skew your spectral perception.
 
You'll also have a less-than-ideal angle of incidence to your ears, which are physically designed to capture high frequencies from the front rather than from the sides. (That was once important in our evolutionary past, because it's crucial to location perception - a good thing when you're hunting for food in the jungle while avoiding being something else's lunch.)

Monitors should be spaced 30 degrees off center from the listening position (equilateral).  This is the standard not because it is a convenient number, but because in the early days of stereo recording that playback angle was used to develop stereo microphone techniques like MS, ORTF, XY etc. and the recording angles were developed with the speaker angle as a reference.  Best to stick with it IMO.

+1 to Daniel re the 30 degree angle. My speakers are 1.1 meters or 43 inches apart in your speak. I am also sitting that distance from each monitor. I have also read you can temporarily gaffa a circular mirror over each tweeter. (or one at a time) From where you sit you should be able to see yourself in both speakers by just turning your head slightly. That happens to me when they are 1.1 meters apart and I just checked the angle and it is right on 30 degrees as well so satisfies both requirements perfectly.
 
I like the 30 deg angle titled in towards you. I hear the highs clearly and the stereo imaging is very good and detailed. I have tried having the speakers facing straight out and I did not like it at all. Sounded more distant and like you were out of the sweet spot rather than in the middle of it.
 
A good thing to do is to set your speakers up on a long plank for the correct orientation. You need two friends to do this but while feeding a mono signal to both speakers you close your eyes and listen for the phantom image in the centre. The two friends gently slide your monitors apart while you listen with your eyes closed. At some point the centre image will break up and fade away. That is the point when they are too far apart. The idea is to slide them back again so the phantom image re appears strongly. And maybe touch more in for extra measure. I have done this and this all happens at 1.1 meters for me and my room.
 
They can be too close together too and you get a bulging of the centre image ie it becomes too loud and you start holding centered pan things down only to find they are not loud enough on other systems.

x2

Hey Jeff, 
 
I was reading your thread about the 43 inch distance and measured my little D5's and they were about 51" apart.  So I moved them in an measured the distance from center cone to center cone to get to 43" and now I need to learn a whole new sound field.  Thanks for the thread.  I am going to live with this and see how my new mixes turn out.  
 
Jimmy
 

I'm going to incorporate these ideas into my studio when I've finished re-modelling/decorating it.
 
Mine are currently at least 60" apart, which could well be compromising my stereo imaging & pan decisions.
 
Good thread.