Speaker placement?

We're in the middle of reorg'ing the living room into a two-PC area: a home office and a CoolEdit Corner.  We've not bought any furniture yet,    but I've done some hopeful sketches.  And it got me thinking about speaker placement.  So I searched the old Forum and this one, and all I can find with regard to speaker placement are the expected phrases something like, "...your speaker placement will make a difference".

Well I guess I'm looking for something just a bit more specific!  If I get some small speakers (not sure I can call them "monitors" unless I buy something proper) to mount in a small desk-type workarea, like in a corner of our room, where is it usually best to position the speakers?...

• at eye & ear level,
• above the workarea, where the wall meets the ceiling,
• just stick them wherever (if for such a small space will the results be so poor that I should not even worry about placement),
• try various spots and see what works best,
• or some other plan?[/list:u]
  Thanks,
  
  -clintfan

Clintfan,
If poss, mount 'em a little above ear height (when seated) and angle them downwards.
Remember the equilateral triangle rule, also. That is, you should be able to draw an equilateral triangle in the air between the three points (your ears, and the two speakers).
Try and keep as many obstacles as possible OUT of the way of the direct signal AND IT'S IMMEDIATE VICINITY. By that, I mean, try not have things like whopping big 19" monitors (the visual variety) too close to the signal path (by signal path, I'm referring to the path from the speaker cone to your lug holes.)
Hope this gets you started.

...and don't stick them in a corner unless you're trying to cover for a missing woofer or subwoofer!

All good advise, and..... don't back them up against a wall either.