Speaker placement in a room with the best performance if it is close to a wall?

You're welcome markkebrown01. I wish I could afford Magico's A5's, but still love my A3's nonetheless. 

Mike

OP: they are really great off-axis.  For this reason you may have good luck with severe toe-in.  Just something to keep in mind.

Wow !!  Thats great info and quite frankly, after comparing the A3 and the A5 in a recent demo, I love this speaker.  The A5 has a much better midrange and tons of tight bass.  Also the soundstage made the speakers disappear, and the offaxis sound was great as well.  I will reach out to Peter Mackay and also get his advise.

Thank you so much for the info.      

After reading your thread, I decided to check out a review of the Magico A5. Have you read the Absolute Sound review of the A5?" If you click on the picture you’ll see it.

Here’s a quote from that review: "Its sealed enclosure makes it well suited to near-wall placement. The under-11″ width and under-45″ height make it small enough to sit in most living rooms without calling much attention to itself, until it starts to play."

The author also positively references Magico’s VP Peter Mackay coming over to his house to help place Magico A5’s for him for his review. I couldn’t think of Peter’s name when I wrote my above post, but he’s the one I spoke to and got the advice from on how close you could place A3’s to a wall. You should give him a call at Magico. I spoke to and exchanged emails with him a few times and he was quite helpful.

Mike

My Room is 15 X 25 feet and my listening seat is about 10' from the speakers with approximately 8 feet apart.  I would love to put the speakers within a foot of the front wall.  

Thanks for all your comments everybody.  

I’ve Magico A3’s, not A5’s, but perhaps a similar situation to yours. I need to place speakers pretty close to a wall. I decided to look at non-ported speakers when shopping for speakers, due to the closeness the speakers would have to the wall behind them, and having read ported speakers did better with more room behind them. I called Magico and inquired how close to a wall you could place their A3’s (non-ported) and still anticipate good performance. Their response was to place them at least seven inches from the wall.

The back of the A3’s I eventually purchased are presently sitting about 10" from the wall. They are located about 7’ apart on the long wall of a 21’ x 13’ room. That seems to provide enough side space, as Erik mentioned, is needed for Magicos. To my ears the soundstage is decent.

How the Magico’s might compare to the other models you are considering in respect to speaker placement I can’t help you. You might consider calling the other manufacturers. Another good source of information is speaking to the person who sets their speakers up at shows and asking what you can get away with with speaker placement. The person I spoke to at Magico just happened to be the one who did do their shows for them. Good luck with your purchase.

Mike

There are bass nodes in every room based on dimensions. Some of these nodes are complete nulls. DSP can't fix that.

Not my kind of speaker but loved by many and designed to be used in corners(even though they look conventional) are the Audio Note speakers especially the J versions(there are many that all look the same and are basically the same but parts make costs vary from low 5 figures to well into 6 figures!)

There are speakers specifically designed to function best close to walls. Check out the Larsen speakers. 

OP. What constitutes not a large distance from the wall? Specifically, what are the dimensions of the room length and width wise? For absolute clarity - what is the distance from the front wall - location of your speakers to the back wall - situation of your listening chair? All high resolution speakers' performance will be impacted by placement, so it helps to be clear about the measurements we are dealing with.

I have the same problem, I also suggest “bookshelves” size speakers and a sub(s), which is the way I went. Also, either sealed cabinets or ones with the port in the front. 

Of course these issues can be tamed if you can place big thick absorbers around them.

Magico in particular need a lot of side space.  In a big room they throw a wide, stable sound stage, but cramp them at all and it all collapses.

Though you list floorstanders, I would consider a bookshelf speaker like the Vandersteen VLR. They are made to be placed near corners. Don't let the small size fool you, they can really move air. With the money you haven't spent on the Wilson's, or Magico, you can get a Sub 3 or two and really have a very respectable system.

What are you using for preamp and amp?

Bob

DSP will allow all three speakers to be placed closed to the front wall.

The volume of you room is really important to consider.