No, because I am not a speaker technical guy, but the clue is in the words "studio monitor." If you google that and "nearfield" you should get better information than I can half remember. Imagine a guy sitting at a mixing desk with a pair of speakers at the back of the desk or the nearby wall. That's what studio monitor is about: I guess it is about designing the sweet spot at the point where that chair would be; a kind of audio focussing.
It is also why such speakers are voiced to be neutral. they do not, for instance, have added warmth, or other flavour which might be required in the home market.
But... no hard and fast rule here. No doubt many will fill a room, and some would be highly desirable.
Hi Thad, this has been a widespread misconception in the consumer audio scene about some studio monitors being designed ONLY/MAINLY for close proximity listening, and are unable to fill the room with sound as well as floor standers or hifi speakers. The drivers / parts / components / amps / crossovers etc of almost all studio monitors cannot have or cause any limiting in dispersion as compared to floor standers as they are pretty similar generally speaking
I had been working for a few years previously as a recording engineer in AR Rahman's personal studio in the past and for a few years previously in Real Image who were the former Indian agents of DTS. We have worked on almost every brand of proper studio monitor during our music productions locally and internationally and rarely come across any studio monitor that was purpose designed for close proximity ONLY. Unless you are talking about weird brands like the Auratones that strangely call themselves studio monitors
Just to clarify, the term nearfield is a physics term to describe the uneven pressure field near the cone driver. Since the pressure fluctuates wildly in a complicated manner in the Near Field, it is forbidden to listen to any speaker in the Near Field as described below
The near field of a speaker is the region close to a speaker cone where the sound pressure and acoustic particle velocity are not in phase. In this region the sound field does not decrease by 6 dB each time the distance from the source is increased (as it does in the far field). The near field is limited to a distance from the source equal to about 4 times the radius of the piston (speaker cone). So the smaller the speaker driver, the shorter the Near Field and likewise the larger the speaker driver, the longer the Near Field. Since the pressure fluctuates wildly in a complicated manner in the Near Field, it is forbidden to listen to any speaker in the Near Field.
The far field of a source begins where the near field ends and extends to infinity. Note that the transition from near to far field is gradual in the transition region. In the far field, the direct field radiated by most speakers will decay at the rate of 6 dB each time the distance from the source is doubled. It is always important to listen to a speaker well into the Far Field.
The above is only explained to clarify that the terms Near Field & Far Field are physics terms and not marketing terms invented by salesmen to classify small, medium or large speaker monitors. Since small speakers have small drivers thus a very short Near Field, it is possible to listen to them in the far field which is actually pretty close to the speaker. Whilst a speaker with an 18 inch driver will have a Near Field of almost 3 feet. The closest you can get to it is atleast more than 4 or 5 feet away to be in the Far Field.
Small studio monitors are called nearfields because their NEARFIELD (uneven pressure field) is very short due to their small cone driver diameter, so you CAN (not compulsory should) listen to them pretty close and still be out of their uneven pressure field. But if you listen to them a few meters away too, they should sound perfectly fine as well
If you listen to large cone drivers by sitting close to them, u will end up right in their NEARFIELD (uneven pressure field) and that will be an uncomfortable experience
Imagine a guy sitting at a mixing desk with a pair of speakers at the back of the desk or the nearby wall. That's what studio monitor is about: I guess it is about designing the sweet spot at the point where that chair would be; a kind of audio focussing.
Below is a nice explanation for the purpose of small nearfield studio loudspeaker monitors. Its more for working comfort (low volume listening) during post production and a
free field reference, rather than any other purpose. Main monitors usually dont sit in a free field but out mounted against a wall or flush mounted in a wall which is a
half space. So the engineer can check his mix on both speaker systems mounted in different acoustic enviornments
A nearfield loudspeaker monitor is small enough to sit in close proximity to the recording/mix/mastering engineer, so that most of its sound travels directly to the listener, rather than reflecting off walls and ceilings (and thus picking up coloration and reverberation from the room). Since the nearfield loudspeaker monitor is located close to the listener, this direct sound plays at relatively low SPL and thus prevents a strong reverberant field from building up in the room. But in normal recording studios, nearfield loudspeaker monitors unfortunately end up very close to the mixing console, thus resulting in a lot of sound reflections emanating off the mixing console and interfering with the direct sound, causing huge compromises in the quality of the sound that reaches the listener. Since the sound of a nearfield loudspeaker monitor is largely independent of the room, it does provide a respectable easy monitoring solution in studio control rooms that may not be very well designed acoustically.
A farfield loudspeaker monitor is large enough to put out higher SPL to the recording/mix/mastering engineer, when placed further away from the mixing console to reduce reflections emanating off the mixing console. However since the higher SPL from a farfield monitor reflects more intensely off walls and ceilings (and thus picking up coloration and reverberation from the room), the room has to be acoustically designed as close to perfection as possible so that the farfield monitors are able to accurately deliver the whole truth about the audio signal, which is being processed. Farfield loudspeaker monitors provide a brilliant monitoring solution in well designed studio control rooms and can put out stunning accurate reproduction when properly calibrated to the room they are installed in.
It is also why such speakers are voiced to be neutral. they do not, for instance, have added warmth, or other flavour which might be required in the home market.
Proper studio monitors as devices are more like precision instruments that are usually designed to deliver highly accurate, predictable, mesurable and standardised reproduction. This can be achieved only with brilliant engineering capabilities, and quite impossible for them to lack any feature or performance consumer loudspeakers offer. Voicing and adding warmth and flavor is purely marketing nonsense mainly used as excuses in the consumer loudspeaker industry by companies who cant achieve the above for various reasons
