Response from Jonathan: Scott,

Yes, it is a good idea to keep speakers away from CRT monitors if you can. Putting the speakers close to a CRT shouldn’t permanently damage the monitor but they might (keyword MIGHT) cause some magnetic fields which will play havoc with your monitor’s picture. Leaving speakers close to a CRT monitor for extended periods can cause the shadow mask of the monitor to become magnetized which will can affect your monitor’s picture even after the speakers have been removed. The good news is that this will usually go away after a certain amount of time once the tube is no longer exposed to the speakers. Of course, a degaussing coil can take care of most of this picture issue that correspond to magnets and speakers. Your monitor should also have it’s own degaussing coil built in that will help demagnetize the shadow mask and clear up the discoloration issues with your picture. Hope that helps.