Many folks use (and prefer) settting up their speakers on the short wall. The only real down side to doing this is having to deal with early reflections from the side walls (unless your room is wide enough to make this irrelevant). Works best if you can set up your speakers and listening position in a near equilateral configuration.
Can you get good quality sound on the short wall axis of a room??
We know or have read that in most living room, speakers should be placed on the long axis of a room. However, I am forced to change the set-up my living room. The room is approximately 14 X12 and opens into a similar sized dining/kitchen area . My speakers are currently placed on the long axis separated by about 6 ft and my components are racked in the middle. I sit approx. 9ft from the tweeters of each speaker.
I would like to use the short axis for many reasons, mainly to provide more walking space in the room so family members don't trip on speaker cables and cable risers. On the short axis, I can move speakers out at about 30 inches from the back wall, and still have at least 8ft from the front of the speaker plane to my ears sitting straight up. I would like to move the component rack to the same wall, and prefer using a solid table or small entertainment center so as get better access to the components for cleaning. If that does not work, I will have to go back to an integrated amp and sell my separates. Bookcases can be repositioned and one is going to the trash room.
What screws up the long axis wall is a door that opens to the balcony and takes away 33-36 inches of wall space. BTW, the speakers are Golden Ear Technology 7's which I am going to eventually sell, so as to upgrade to a better speaker.
All comments and advice welcomed
Thank you,
S.J.