Near field speakers behind listening position?

[Astoneroad]

I'm considering adding a pair of Neumann KH120 as a near field option in my listening room. Currently I'm 10' from my Salon2s. I'm wondering if adding the actives 3' behind my head and level with my ears would have issues due to the back of the couch. My thinking is that at 3' from my ears, the back of the couch shouldn't matter. Is that true? Are there other reasons why having the speakers behind me is problematic? The intention is to listen to one pair or the other at a time, not together. My motivation is to hear a flat response without my room adding at that distance. (Yes, I know EQ is an option, but I'm vetting this one, before I go down that rabbit hole.) What's right and wrong about this train of thought? Thanks.

 

[Chr1]

Reckon it will seem weird having the Neumanns, and hence the source of your music behind you. Why not just pop them on stands in front of you when you want to listen to them. They are light enough to be easily moved. I have a pair of KH310s on top of big Tannoy passives, which works but they put out more volume, and can be further away, I guess...

PS Aside from saving a bit of power/energy, not sure why you would want the KH120s personally... I would give my left testicle for Salon2s!
I think.

 

[tmuikku]

Hi, try it, it's not too weird. If you put them more to sides of your head, really close to the sofa and point toward your head, the sound can localize inside your head like with headphones, effect of room missing completely from perception. Its also fun to have speakers side of you, point them away from you toward the room, really roomy sound.

It's worth playing around. Even if any of the "weird" positions were not what you are looking for it's still nice listening experiment, helps to learn to hear how your room affects sound. Do it for a while and I bet you can now hear room effect on your mains as well, try adjust their positioning and toe-in as well. Play with listening distance and base width, distance between speakers. It's all very good excersize for listening and improving what you have.

Above all, have fun!

 

[Chr1]

Reckon the Neumann engineers might have a different opinion as putting the source behind you is so left-field unless it's part of a surround system... But hey, why not try it. Even if it doesn't work, they will make an awesome near field setup in other rooms... and after all one can never have too many speakers!

PS Recommend you try the EQ rabbit hole too btw. If you use a PC as a source, RoomEQ by MathAudio with Foobar2000 is free, super easy and gives great results quickly.

 

[Cote Dazur]

I'm considering adding a pair of Neumann KH120 as a near field option in my listening room. Currently I'm 10' from my Salon2s. I'm wondering if adding the actives 3' behind my head and level with my ears would have issues due to the back of the couch.

How far will the wall behind the speaker be? if the Neuman are going to be against the back wall, I would recommend you place them in front of you, even just to try, one of the big effect of near field, is that the speakers disappear and all of the sound appear to be deep and wide behind the speaker, the more space the nicer the effect.

My thinking is that at 3' from my ears,

3 feet works, try even closer, equilateral triangle as starting rule.

the back of the couch shouldn't matter. Is that true? Are there other reasons why having the speakers behind me is problematic?

Small speakers behind you are not a problem.

The intention is to listen to one pair or the other at a time, not together. My motivation is to hear a flat response without my room adding at that distance.

You will get a lot more than that, it is only when the room loose most of its effect, as with the near field set up you are exploring, that you realize how much the room is adding and tainting everything. Toole says we adapt to the room, once you experience the sound with minimum room interaction, you might not agree with him, I know I don't.

(Yes, I know EQ is an option, but I'm vetting this one, before I go down that rabbit hole.) What's right and wrong about this train of thought?

Nothing wrong, many have adopted near field, it does not have all the answers, but like in your case, you will still have "conventional" with the Salon2 and Near Field with the Neumann, win win.

 

[tmuikku]

^^ Yeah obviously best place for stereo speakers is in front. But anyone can try how it sounds if speakers are behind quite easily: go stand/sit between your main speakers, turn around so your face is toward your main listening position. Not too weird sound isn't it? toe in some to hear highs if speakers are not toed in at all. Sound might localize behind you, front of you, inside your head depending how far the speakers are from you and boundaries, toe-in. It's fun to experiment like this.

Another, go near your one of your speakers, like arm length away. Now raise your hand between you and the speaker and hear how much sound changes, there is quite strong reflection and associated combfilter from your arm/hand. Or, if you have a small speaker like a mobile phone, make it play noise or a song, what ever, move it closer and further from wall. Keep your arm straight and kind of move with the speaker to hear how much reflection of the wall affects, slides up and down in frequency depending distance to boundary, also gets louder and quieter.

It is very quick, easy and free to device small listening tests like these to get familiar with your speaker setup and magnitude of things, what matters and what doesn't, how is your stereo image quality and so on

 

[Astoneroad]

Wow. That's a lot of very constructive, doable advice and insight. Thanks. You guys are hitting all my questions and validating the reason for considering this. So... I'll consider this... and try not to let it distract me from my "full frontal" listening time. If I pull the trigger, I'll post here. Thanks.

 

[Astoneroad]

not sure why you would want the KH120s personally... I would give my left testicle for Salon2s!

I love the Salon2s... it's my room mode that I'm looking to take out of the "floorshow" so to speak without going down the aforementioned rabbit hole. I understand both the benefits of EQ and my cannabis addled brain's ability to outlive the learning curve... so the near field concept sounds interesting, with the points made above. If I don't like it... I can sell them to you guys cheap... lol. (The Neumanns, not the Salon2s)

 

[Chr1]

Hey, definitely a case of : Above all else - enjoy the music!...
Definitely quite easy to obsess about continual improvement of the sound.
Part of the hobby for sure but it can take over.

Enjoy those Salon2s!

PS Can attest to the fact that a cannabis addled brain and EQ needn't be mutually exclusive. Kinda fun rabbit hole, I reckon.

Definitely recommend MathAudio and a $100 UMIK-1.

 

[Astoneroad]

PS Can attest to the fact that a cannabis addled brain and EQ needn't be mutually exclusive. Kinda fun rabbit hole, I reckon.
Definitely recommend MathAudio and a $100 UMIK-1.

Funny thing... I own the UMIK 1... still in the box... lol. Once I follow the rabbit... I'll reach out to that Hooka smokin' character... I guess that's you... for help... lol.