Near-field vs. far-field monitoring

[Mark_Knecht]

Hi,
OK, so this is a question I've wanted to ask for a while, but never got around to. Since I got some great pushes yesterday to finally handle my monitoring situation, it seems a good time to ask.

OK, given the normal layout of studios, it's pretty easy to see the need for near-field monitors. If they're backed up against a window or wall, and only away from the mixing engineer by the depth of the console, you need them. No question.

However, what if that wasn't the case?

Would anyone ever build a studio with a lot of space behind the console so that near-fields weren't really required?

In my situation, one very real option for me is to completely rearrange my family room where I would use a set of high quality Left/right monitors that are already part of my home theater setup for my PTLE monitors, placed about 10 feet in front of me.

This would have the extra advantage that if I ever wanted to do sound for some 5.1 video stuff, I'd be looking right at the HDTV and listening to my normal home theater system while doing the mix. Sort of cool.

The room dimensions are about 14 feet wide, where the TV and front speakers sit, by about 20 feet deep. I'd be a little more than half way back in the room.

So, the question is this: "What would the advantages of disadvantages be of mixing using high quality stereo/home theater speakers at a distance of about 10 feet from my mixing position?"

I'm thinking that the sound would be a bit more driven by the reflectivity of the rear wall than in a near field setup. I don't like this, but then I like spending almost no money to solve this problem. Later on I might end up with both near-field and far-field in the room also.

I'd love to hear from anyone with ideas about this sort of layout. If it's too confusing I could put a drawing on-line.

Thanks in advance,
Mark