Best near wall high end speaker

Given your placement options, I think 10k is too much to spend.

The Wilson Audio Duette (version 1) is designed for near-wall or free standing application (the version 2, current model, is ONLY for wall placement).
There is a pair for sale (here) for $5,500 but without stands.
I'm sure Mr. Wilson would be happy to sell you the stands.
Hope this helps.

I am extremely happy with my Larsen speakers. I originally purchased a pair or Larsen 6s and later upgraded to the larger 8s. These speakers are designed to be placed right smack against the wall and sound great. The 8s extend down to 23Hz and list for under $7K (I think). The smallest Larsen speaker, the 4, lists for less than $2K.

So 12" wide and 12" deep, up against the wall. Hmmm. Soundstage depth will be limited, but you will have generous boundary reinforcement, which can be beneficial if the speakers are designed to take advantage of it.

Can you tell us the approximate room dimensions? How close to the corners will the speakers be? Is this room open into other rooms (open floorplan)? Tubes or solid state?

Thanks.

Duke

Larsen Audio and great sounding speaker.

No good ones that i know!!

In addition to the Duette, the Von Schweikert Vortex VR35 is also made to work within inches of the back wall. Best of luck.

I agree with the others - this is not a good idea, you'll have two dimensional sound. $10k for this application makes little sense, just get something for $2k or so.

Gradient makes speaker designed to be placed against the back wall. The Revolution may be a little to large given your stated dimensions, but the Evidence and 6.0 fall within the specs you have provided. That said, I would probably bet that the Wilson Audio Duette would give you a higher level of performance (albeit at a much higher cost)

Get in wall speakers

A little above your budget and a little too wide, but I’ll suggest Trenner and Friedl Pharoahs anyway. They also make these tiny little Sun speakers for around $2500 that are supposed to be quite good. Both are designed for near wall placement. 

Either Audio Note AN/J or AN/E, depending on room size, will work well in your situation.

If you can go 9 inches from the back wall Linn Majik 140's are good sounding for the price. Way less than you have to spend.

Aerial Acoustics LR5's are designed for near-wall boundary placement. They require a sub, but are extremely accurate. A negative is their rather boxy/utilitarian design. A positive is that they can be found used at very attractive pricing.

Larson..another vote for. Heard a pair a model from top of range in Healdsburg ( so i may have also had some wine). Pretty stunning sound for boxes right on the wall.
More engaging than the Blades they had ten feet into the room.

PMC perhaps?

Actually the VANDERSTEEN Quatros are made to be that close to the rear wall plus it has tunable bass so you wouldn't have that reinforcement problem. I'm moving up to those as soon as I sell my Treos which also sound great close to a wall. They both port out the bottom.

Stacked "The Clues" at 2K?

Janszen 1.1 electrostatics have a notch filter to allow for close wall placement. I just bought a pair. I am listening with them out further, but the manual describes wall placement.

Legacy just announced (in a YouTube video off their latest newsletter) a speaker called "The Home Theater Tower" that looks mighty interesting and designed to be put right against the wall....don't know much else right now but what I saw and heard in the video sure was interesting!

The sealed ATC SCM 19's are the speaker I chose for the exact same reason. Lots of reviews on them. They aren't floorstanders, but they do sound great in my system just inches from the wall.

North Creek Big Kats.

I have their now discontinued little brother, the Eska, in my HT, formerly in my 2ch, when I had a smaller room. Very fine.

John

Not exactly at your price or dimensions, but the Trenner & Friedl Pharoahs can go really close to a back wall and are not very deep. You can see them on my systems page. Whether they will fit your sonic tastes are another matter.

I have my Zu Definitions close to the rear wall. And I would also echo the Audio Note recommendation; they are designed for near rear wall placement. Another much less expensive option would be a used pair of Celestion SL-700s if you can find them.

I tried my Treo's up against the wall. Just 6 inches out and the bass definitely was reinforced and the sound staging didn't change all that much at all. If you live near any dealers of these speakers I hope you get a chance to listen. Please let us know what you get to hear and your thoughts.

With those constraints, I would look for a 2nd hand pair of Marten Coltrane Alto's. They are large 3-way stand mount speakers which have a 9" down-firing Accuton woofer, 5" Accuton midrange & 1" Accuton tweeter. The Alto's have a beautiful elyptical-shaped carbon sandwich construction monocoque cabinet which lends marvelous purity to the sound. The are not the most efficient speakers (87db, 6 ohm). My Alto's struggled with a Classe Cap-2100 integrated, but really sang paired with a Boulder 1060 & Ayon tube linestage. The great thing about these speakers is they were designed to be placed close to rear, and relatively close to side walls thanks to their tuned down-firing port which are innovate my ported through the insulated polished SS stands, thus not disrupting the bass output. The curved carbon sandwich construction cabinets also help minimize room issues.

The Alto's are WAY underrated due to their short production run. Owner and Chief Designer of Marten told me the Alto's were very expensive to manufacture & they weren't making money on them. Also apparently buyers didn't like their look, so Dealers had trouble selling them (I think they're gorgeous). As a result, 2nd hand prices are soft & those who own them tend to keep them and enjoy them, rather than lose money. Thus these speakers rarely appear on the 2nd hand market. None the less, if put up a 'wanted' ad, you might attract some interest as generally genuine and motivated buyers are not bottom feeders.

Here is a link to the 6 moons review.

I'll be at Audio Connection on Sat and will see what he has around that is as good as the Vandersteens against the wall.  I was at a dealer listening to some Sonus Faber and the new B&W 803D's and no way either of those are near wall placement, lol.  

What a day and eye opener yesterday.  YES Virginia there ARE some choices for against the wall speakers.  Many have been mentioned in this thread.  NOLA has some small ones that are also built to go up against the wall or even a book case.  Very impressive.  I have a Linn Kiko system in my BR that I'm listening to right now and it's up against the wall and sounding nice (Fleetwood Mac concert).  I heard the Vandy's yesterday and I can PROMISE you that you need to look at the inexpensive LVR speakers they put out.  If set up properly, they don't sound like a sub 1300 speaker (I think that's the range).  Then I go listen to the Quatro's as I'm in the market and will be getting them as soon as I sell my Treo's as I stated.  I've listened to so many speakers in the last few weeks as well as couple of years, that I'm almost worn out, lol. (not really).  That high pass filter and adjustable bass is just unreal.  You can put these things directly up against the sheetrock and adjust the bass and you are off to the races with a GREAT system using an NAD set of separates to save money or a top zero feedback amp like the Ayre integrated or the new Aesthetix gear.  I've put my Treo's up against my wall to see how they sound and I was able to get the staging and imaging that I love.  I don't have major bass problems so that worked fine, in fact we all know it's reenforced up against the wall and it still kept it's tonality and slam.  Stayed very tight and tuneful.  

You probably have more than a few speakers to look at and I hope that you keep us updated.  Thanks.

Thanks for all the replies. I'm sure everyone will throw up but I have Revel 208's on order. Cavernous room plus I have Salon 2's and they are awesome. Won't be selling them. I'll get the 208's out a foot or so after negotiations w spouse and they have some bass adjustment. I think Revel just a great product always providing more product per dollar. Very musical.

Good luck.  I hope they work out for you. Let us know.

If you don't mind stand-mounted speakers, the Audio Note AN-E are good candidates for near wall placement.  These have the advantage of being reasonably efficient and easy to drive, so they can be used with a wide variety of lower powered amps.  The Audio Note line of speakers is quite lively sounding and very musically engaging.  The sound is on the warm, full and rich side, not on the more analytical and technically flat and neutral side--if that is your taste, they will sound overblown in the mid-bass and deficient in genuine deep bass.

Another speaker that I heard placed very close to the back wall that sounded very good is the Gradient Revolution.  Is is specifically designed to be very flexible in where it is placed and how it is used.  I heard a pair in a small room, with the speakers only about two inches from the wall, it still delivered the goods.  This one looks good too, and is narrow enough to fit your requirements.

I agree....Revel F208's are great speakers.

Yes I'm loving mine. Thinking of getting F206's for a smaller system. I don't know how they provide so much product for the money. Beautiful cabinets.