Chris, how big are they? You're right, normally you'd want the room to be acoustically dampened, but that can be hard to do in a non-studio environment. I've used Yamaha's 5inch near-field monitors, and actually I did place them on my desk, just about head-high when I'm seated, with each speaker turned in towards me. Distance apart was probably around 4 feet. I made slight adjustments with the angle and position, until when I listened to a mix I would swear that any audio that was set to center seemed to be coming right out of the wall in front of me in between the speakers. You can really tell when you hit the sweet spot. In a final mixdown, I listen using the monitors, then with headphones, and finally, on the car stereo.