MusicReasonRooms, Monitoring, and Acoustic Calculations
Where should I start placing my speakers?
Enter your room width, how far the speakers sit from the front wall, their spacing, and your listening distance. This tool calculates the resulting symmetric coordinates and how close they come to an equilateral triangle, as a starting layout, not a measured or optimal placement.
Answer
Want to learn more? Room Modes and Low-Frequency Behavior
Understand
The classic equilateral-triangle rule (listening distance equal to speaker spacing) is a starting convention, not a law: some rooms and monitoring styles call for a wider or narrower angle. This tool computes the geometry only; it does not measure or predict your actual room's response at any of these positions.
Worked example
With speakers spaced 2 meters apart and a listening distance of about 1.73 meters (spacing times the square root of 3 over 2), the triangle is exactly equilateral: the listener sits the same distance from each speaker as the speakers sit from each other.
Method and limitations
Speakers are placed symmetrically around the room's lateral center at the declared front-wall distance; the listener sits on that same centerline at the declared listening distance beyond the speakers. Distances use plain Euclidean geometry. This tool never labels a result "optimal placement" or a measured response; a real next step is measuring in the room itself.
Why this is a starting point, not a final answer
The equilateral triangle convention assumes symmetric room boundaries and no early reflections worth worrying about, assumptions a real room with doors, windows, and furniture rarely satisfies perfectly. Use this layout as the geometry you test from, then adjust based on what you actually hear, since no calculation from dimensions alone can account for a specific room's real reflective surfaces.