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Successful Monitoring So now you've decided where your speakers are to go there are a few other things that should be considered. Ideally you want the speakers to be as near to the level of your ears as possible or somewhere around your shoulder height. Having high speakers angling down is OK but you may find certain places where you stand may not be as good for monitoring. If the speakers are too low you may find yourself stooping to get your ear onto the same level as the speaker just to hear whats going on. I've seen pictures of set ups where the speakers are placed in the deck stand itself, below the height of the decks, pointing forward. This would be great if your ears were attached to the front of your thighs although for most of us that isn't the case. How anyone can monitor successfully from this I will never know. Add that to the fact that the bass vibrations would travel from the speakers and through the deck stand itself surely can't help stop the needled skipping either! So from this we know you want the speakers to be similar to your head height (remember if you are only young you could also add a couple of inches so you can "grow into them!") You can wall mount speakers in a number of ways or have them free-standing, whether that be on a shelf or on dedicated speaker stands.
There are two options available. You can either choose to buy proper speaker brackets so you can rotate and angle them to our required needs. If you are skint there is a slightly cheaper option that will do the whole job for about four quid. It also means you don't need to be drilling walls and the like as you do with proper brackets (great if you live in a rented property where you can't fart without written consent from the landlord/letting agency). The obviousl advantage with wall mounted is that is doesn't take up any floor space and keeps your speakers out of the way. they won't bo touched or poked by anyone so could see a prolonged life as a result.
As with everything you can pay what you like from cheap and cheerful to really quite expensive. You need to make sure any you buy will be large enough in terms of both dimensions and weight to house your speakers. Suppliers of speaker brackets can range from Argos right through to professioanl hifi centres. The advantage is that speakers can be adjusted/rotated depending on the user's preference from day to day. Small adjustments aren't a problem. If you don't like the angle of where they are, you simply move the round until you are happy. They will obviously be vertically fixed so be careful when setting the height for them. Once they are attached, that's where they are staying. One word of warning though - trying to save a few quid by cramming a speaker that's too big onto a bracket that is too small will cause several problems. 1. It simply won't fit which is most likely.
Remember this is only a recommended fix which I have used and before proceeding you should read the disclaimer if you haven't done so already! It should be noted this is for midi-hifi or sensibly sized speakers. Not huge PA ones weighing 25kg each! That would just be stupid and asking for trouble Equipment List: 4x self tapping screws (short stubby round headed ones are ideal) or 4 x picture eyelets with screw fixing. You use two for each speaker. 1 packet of Heavy Duty Picture Hanging Wire (needs to be at least three times the length of the width of each speaker) 1 x Hammer Step 1 Screw one of each eyelet (or screw) into the back of the speaker about 1/4 of the way down from the top of the speaker itself. If you are using a simple screw, leave half a centimetre or thread showing. Step 2 Don't cut an estimated length of picture wire just yet. Start by leaving about four or five inches of wire free at the end. At this point start wrapping round the first screw three or four times. Ensure it is securely and tightly attached. Step 3 Trail the wire over to the other screw/eyelet and repeat, ensuring you leave just a little slack in the middle to reduce the pressure on the screws/eyelets when you hang your speaker. Not only this but this extra slack will be used to get the speaker onto the hook. If you pull it too tight you won't be able to get your hand in behind the speaker to attach the wire to the hook. Wrap it round the second screw a few times as you did on the first one. Once you are happy leave another four or five inches and then cut the wire. Now wrap these extra lengths poking out each end bend them back and wrap them around the length of wire connecting the two screws/eyelets across the speaker. In case the wire comes loose (which it shouldn't if you've wrapped them tightly enough) this will ensure a little extra strength and spread the weight of the speaker along the wire. You should now have something looking like this:
Step 4 Holding the speaker a few inches above something soft like a bed, take the full weight of the speaker on the wire by holding it by that alone. Give it a good jiggle to make sure your creative skills haven't let you down. Ensure its sturdy, if not undo the wire re-wrap and repeat. If you've left more screw showing that you actually needed, tighten it a little to push more screw into the speaker. Step 5 Once you are happy all is tight and secure repeat for Speaker 2 making sure you have the screws on each speaker at the same height and you leave the same mount of slack on both. If you don't, when you come to hang them they won't be level. Step 6 Now you're ready to hang them you need something to hang them on. When it comes to the picture hook get the biggest picture hook you can find. The single pin ones used on most normal pictures will be too small and may well bend or even snap under the weight of the speaker. Get a heavy duty three-pin hook to ensure it is robust enough. To ensure it is OK you could weigh your speaker first to get an approximate weight, if you don't know what it is already. Even bathroom scales would be a good enough estimate. You can then ensure the hook and wire will be strong enough before you buy them as it will tell you the maximum weight they can take on their packaging. Clever hey?! Something like this is ideal for a normal hifi speaker:
Once you are ready to go, the easiest thing to do is position one speaker (with tunes playing preferably) by holding them up to the wall and trying different heights etc. Once you are happy with the speaker position, run your finger to the centre point of the hanging wire and give the speaker to someone to put on the floor for you. Keeping your finger on the wall position the above hook so that the bottom section is where your finger was and place the pin in the centre hole. Holding the pin only will now be enough to free up a hand so you can get the hammer and tap it into the wall. Not very technical I know but it works. Now the fixture is loosely held on the wall, level it up and tap in the pins either side. Once you are happy the bracket is level, knock all three pins fully in. As you have tailored both speakers to be the same in the setting up, you should be able to space the second picture hook the same distance the other side of the decks to give you an equal sound experience. Its best to check though and repeat the whole process rather than just bang all the pins in. Once happy knock the pins in with the hammer. Just remember.... As previously mentioned hanging speakers directly on a wall can add a little extra bass. Be careful not to upset neighbours or worst still parents as this will travel directly into the wall enhancing the thump you will hear outside your mixing room!
Whether this is even an option or not will of course be limited by the available space you have. Another point to consider is that speakers should not be placed less than 1 metre apart. Depending on the speakers output power, the more it is the further apart they should be placed. The speakers themselves may interfere with each other when placed very close together which can reduce the quality of sound you are hearing. Its something most people don't realise or whether it can damage the speakers I'm not sure of the specifics (or whether it is in fact the magnets but I have an incling that it is) but its something I try to avoid anyway, just to be safe.
Speaker Stands This is simply as it says a stand for your speakers. There are many differences in terms of price. The really expensive ones will make a difference to how the speaker sounds. They will transmit vibrations made from the speaker down into the floor with an almost perfect distribution. Removing these vibrations will mean the sound you get from the speakers will be pure. However most people don't have the money or inclination to spend over a hundred quid on such apparatus when the noticeable difference will be marginal. This is especially true if you are using average or below par speakers. If the speakers are rubbish no amount of expensive stands will help their performance. As mine are very much average/OK I use stands from Ikea. Cheap cheerful and they were the tallest ones I could find. I can't wall mount mine at the moment but these work well for my needs.
If you do use free standing ones, ensure the speakers are securely are attached to the stands - even by a blob of BluTack - anything that MAY help. All you need is an over-energetic niece//nephew (or a drunken friend in my case) to tap the stands and your speakers are at best, on the floor. If you are really unlucky it will fall onto your prize amp leaving a big dent in the casing. In my case the only saving grace was that the bounce on the amp lessened the total height the speaker fell..... The fact that the speakers are only average and the amp cost me in excess of £400 didn't help this making-the-most-of-a-bad-situation thinking process.
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