Need help with my office system


I work out of a 13'x11' home office quite a bit during the day and have an office listening system. Its a budget tube system (Jolida 302b and Totem Arro's fed buy lossless itunes through a Presonus Firebox as a Dac).

I like speakers when I am sitting at work but since I sit at a desk I am probably wasting my systems abilities.

Below is a photo of my workspace. Does anyone have any reccomendations on speaker placement/tricks? Should I just get a small pair of powered monitors and set them up on the 3rd shelves (like genelec 8020a's or 8030a's)?

http://www.shawnparslow.com/Public/office.jpg
shawnparslow
I tried putting them on blocks which raise the speakers up about 1ft and I moved them closer to the wall and pointed them directly at my head.

(sort of like studio monitors, but they are further apart)

I get better detail but a shallow soundstage of course and some wierd bass (from bening up on a square wood block)

Maybe I should look at booshelves and just mount them on the wall at the correct level.
How about getting longer speaker cables and putting the speakers on the wall behind your chair? While it might take some getting used to, you're probably not getting much depth of soundstage now anyway, so it might be an improvement. It would certainly give you enough distance for the drivers to integrate.

Another option for this kind of severe nearfield listening would be single drivers. Those here who have used them (not I, yet) could give you some great recommendations, I'm sure.

David
Thats an interesting idea, only problem is that on the opposite wall I have a couch I want to be able to sit back on and listen to the speakers as well at times when I am not working.

Perhaps I should just add a pair of bookshelve speakers up on the bookshelves as "nead-fields" and keep the arro's for relaxed listening.

Either that or suck it up and live with a squashed soundstage while I work and enjoy it when I sit back.
My main problem is that I also want to be able to sit back on the couch not pictured on the opposite wall and sit and listen.

I tried elevating the speakers, it cleared up a bit but didnt change much.

I tried the opposite wall and it did get a nice driver integration between the two speakers and full sound with bass impact. It sounded good during instrumental but as soon as a voice came in it was too akward and I had to punt it.

I tried moving the speakers out a little wider to the corners of the room pointing in 45 degrees (im sure this is a cardinal sin but it gets bass impact going though probably not very accuratly(. This helps the soundstage more and I get an image though its like I am in the front rows.

At least this way I can move the speakers back in a foot or so and point them square from the wall to listen properly from the couch.

No great but the best I have come accross so far.
Looks like the big obstacle here is the room arrangement. That's certainly an elegant shelf system, but I wouldn't want to use it as a desk nor to be face-first against the wall like that. If there were a way to set up a work surface that allows you to look out across the room, you could use a single set of floor speakers, and tighten up the angle a bit so there's no sonic hole between them. A better room arrangement might get to the problem's root, more so than just spending on additional technology.