[archi42]

> a lot of people monitor with them fairly close so don't need them loud either further lessening the problems.

This simple insight is gold. But is it actually true? The standing wave should still pop up. Though with less energy it's probably mostly handled by the furniture.

Whatever the case, having monitor speakers sitting close avoids/lessens the issue of the first reflection point, making the higher bands sound much less "muddy". This can be improved by picking a speaker with a strong beaming characteristic. Eg 4" broadbands will bundle the acoustic wave quite strongly in the higher frequencies. Sounds muffled for bystanders outside the beam, but amazing stage and resolution for the one or two persons inside of it.