Speaker Installation
18 M1 Active Reference Manual
Monitors placed on the console’s meter bridge can directly radiate
back onto the console control panel causing a strong delayed
reflection at the listening position
Direct Path

Reflection

This kind of speaker placement also couples acoustic energy from the
speaker's cabinet more readily into the console's chassis. Both conditions
should be reduced by placing the speakers on their own stands acoustically
detached from, and slightly behind, the console as shown below. In this
location, the reflective path off the console's control panel is now blocked by
the meter bridge.
Moving the monitors to a position behind the meter bridge causes
the bridge to block the offending reflective path

Direct Path

Direct Path Avoids Console
Random
Reflections