And what do Maggies sound like near a wall......

You might consider the Magnepan MGMC1s. While I haven't heard them, I understand they have been specifically designed for wall-mounted use, so you should be able to stick them on the side walls and angle them in to your listening position. Alternatively, consider the link and text at the bottom for a different setup.

Of course, bass will be limited, but perhaps you might purchase a used or cheap subwoofer for corner use. $725 for the MGMC1s, and if you stretch your budget a bit, I believe the Hsu VTF-2 or Adire Rava would be excellent choices for just a bit more than $400. If you can't, you might consider the Audiosource SW-15, instead, for $155 shipped and end up with a bit of money to spare: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00001OXQE/ref%3Dnosim/gotapex/002-0385838-5286432

I have owned both the SW-15 and Rava, and I can tell you that the SW-15 is certainly hard to fault for the price, but the Rava really does kick some butt, and it's musical, to boot.

Hope this helps,

Young-Ho

From http://www.soundstage.com/backstage/backstage.htm
Word has it that a resourceful San Francisco dealer has come up with a utilization of the Magneplanar MGMC1 that even Magnepan hadn’t contemplated. Eschewing the prescribed side-of-the-room, on-wall placement, the dealer mounted the speakers on a long front wall and began selling lots of them along with subwoofers. This caught the attention of SoundStage! senior contributor John Potis, who tried this speaker arrangement and had these observations.

"There are two ways to mount the speakers in this manner -- keep them perpendicular to the front wall to experience diffuse yet superb sound, or open them up by 20 degrees, in which case interesting things begin to happen. Imaging will then become stunning. As you move off-axis and into the near speaker’s null region, which reduces its contribution, you move into the far speaker’s axis of direct radiation, which increases its contribution. Imaging thus remains solidly between the two speakers from a wide range of seating positions."

Equally important is that the combination of direct and reflected sound had no discernible adverse effect on the frequency response through most of the audible frequency spectrum. With pink noise and a handheld real-time analyzer, John measured essentially flat frequency response between 80Hz and 8kHz in his room (down approximately 2.5dB at 63Hz and 16kHz). The speakers melded seamlessly with a subwoofer to make an extremely room-friendly system that sounded, in John's words, "spectacular."

I'll second the mention of ProAc mini-monitors. I had a pair of ProAc Tablette 50's less than a foot from the back wall, and while they sounded better two feet away, they were pretty good set back near the wall. Tremendously better than planars do at such distance...

Umn -

The first sidewall reflection will have to be treated (diffused or absorbed), but that six feet of open space avaiable behind the MG-12's makes me optimistic. I have used dipoles fairly close to side walls (6" or so) with good results. Sure you'd like a bit more space, but you would with a conventional speaker as well. On the other hand, with the Maggies you'd place the tweeter sections to the inside, so they'd be relatively far from the side walls (compared to a conventional speaker's tweeter).

Remember, a dipole's figure-8 radiation pattern is going to give it less sidewall interaction than a monopole speaker would have. In a less-than-ideal situation as long as you can get plenty of space behind a dipole, it will usually be less room-sensitive than a conventional speaker.

A tall fake plant along either side wall, a couple of feet in front of the speakers, would probably adequately diffuse that first sidewall reflection. You might have to shop a bit for a plant that fits the space well.

Duke

Still think mg12s would be too tight...factor in the hassle of buying them,trying them out,and reselling for a huge loss...not the way to go IMHO...just to reiterate...Mags are nice...but if you dont have 3-4ft of open space surrounding them...fugettaboutit!...check out the Spendors...my dealer has both these and Mags...and in an a/b...the SPendors sound very good...probably a touch more 3-d and "tube like" on vocals...and although they are small...their soundstage is huge...and their is enough bass so they dont sound thin...trust me...I have heard just about every mini-monitor there is...and the spendor 3/5 is probably one the best...small Proacs are good too...

crap! one foot= 1 dead speaker
3 to 4 feet= killer sound, one of the best..

Duke:
The wall on the side of the MG12 would not be a problem?
Thanks.

Umn -

If I understand you correctly, you have a location for 14" wide speakers 6 feet in front of the wall. Hmmm. Any chance you could streeeetch that 14" out to 17", and shoehorn in a couple of MG-12's?

If not, then as you probably suspect it's hard to find a $1K box speaker that sounds anywhere near as boxless as the Maggies. Offhand I'd suggest Meadowlark - I'm not sure which models you might find in that price range.

If you had to go back to the corner location, the new Meadowlark Swift might work well. This is just speculation - I haven't heard the Swift yet.

Best of luck!

Duke

Maggies are by no means "space savers"....you defeat the purpose of a dipole design when placed close to walls...and to be honest...no speaker is going to sound their best 1ft from a rear wall...you need space to create depth...that being said...if you room is small...sealed design SPendors or NSMaudio speakers would be one of your better options...other than in wall applications...the Mags are a waste of money if you cant set them up correctly....

hi,
has anyone tried maggies with brick wall behind them?

I would explore Lowther drivers or equivalents in a folded horn cabinet like the medallion, or other horns like Klipsch. These can actually benefit from the bass reinforcement of being placed close to a wall.

Check out Lowthers here

The other problem is that your amp simply does not have enough power to get the Maggies going at even moderate levels. I had 1.5 Maggies with CJ MV-50 amps and the speakers just kind of laid there begging for more power.

As stated already I don't think it would be a good idea, mine are 5 feet 6 inches from the rear wall and with any less they do suffer in every way. It took me a couple of months to get them dialed in for my room and listening preferences but now they are "right" and it was worth the tweaking, how ever you do need some room to experiment with. You may want to look into a monitor like the Merlin TSM which works better then most when being placed against the wall- I believe they may be in your price range too- I am just unsure of what you think about monitors.

The smaller Maggie models are fairly light weight and easily moved. Is it possible for you to move them to an optimal position when you want to listen and then "store" them when they are not in use?

Duke:
My budget is $1,000. (Used is okay, of course.)
My room layout will also allow narrow (14") floor standing/monitors placed near side walls but 6 feet in from rear walls.

I've heard a pair that are placed much farther from the corners but no more than a foot from the back wall. In short, they sound terrible: dull and muffled, with highs and lows severely rolled off. Those speakers do need a lot more room to sound okay.

The out-of-phase backwave will be reinforced by the nearby back wall, and so will cancel out the front wave more effectively than normal. Bass will be weak. The midrange will be colored by the early reflections off the back wall, and imaging (particularly depth) will be compromised.

While you might be able to aggressively treat the backwave and reduce the midrange coloration and imaging problems, I don't know of any way to effectively address the bass problems short of adding a sub.

I would not recommend Maggies for this application.

In fact, there are relatively few speakers that I would recommend for corner placement. What is your ballpark price range?

Duke

They would sound muffeled - with big ill defined bass, they need 3 ft minimum and like at least 5 ft from back wall, (mine are 7ft 7inches)

Like crap! IMHO, you need several feet behind to create a solid, 3-D like image with Maggies. Definately try before you buy.