Speakers for Near Wall Placement

Speakers that are designed to be placed up against or very near the wall will typically have the woofers on the side of the cabinet near the floor with the mid-woofer / midrange up off the floor quite a bit on the front of the panel. This has to do with reinforcement / cancellation being factored into the speakers in-room response. The first speakers that i know of that were specifically designed to be placed near walls, corners, etc... was the AR 9. You can see the influences of this basic design and the research that went into it ALL over the place nowadays. Reading the owners manual for those speakers ( all 48 pages of it ) is quite enlightening. Sean
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If you can find them, the Gradient speakers are designed for this, as are NHT 3.3s.

The Aerial 6s have a bass port in the front. They can be placed close to the wall. You might contact Aerial to confirm and ask their recommendation.

NHT 3.3's. They are designed to go right up against the wall.

Tyler acoustics taylo reference are front ported. Imaging may suffer somewhat but mine sound fine against the wall on stands.

I have a pair of Wilson Cub II and they can go against the wall, or even in the wall. They are also front ported. The Cubs are an amazing sounding speaker.

Living in NYC, I had the same issue. Found that Linn designs all their speakers to be placed fairly close to the wall. I bought the 5140s, and I love them. Company docs say to place them 18 inches or closer to wall. Good luck.

...or you may want to try the Maggies 3.6!!

I feel that there is a better choice than the speakers listed in the prior posts. There is a speaker that is made by Northcreek with this exact scenario in mind.( This particular speaker was designed to sound great when placed very close to walls and boundries). Apparently, it took him almost two years of voicing this speaker to get the sound right, in this type of placement!. The NHT 3.3 also works extremely well, but they are not really next to the wall, having cabinets almost three feet deep. If this 3 feet of "closeness" to the wall is acceptable to you, i would definately recommend the NHT's first, but if you are looking for a true "next to the wall" speaker, the Northcreek is hard to beat.

Don't overlook the Kef Reference Series. They are ported in the front and the newer versions have an adjustable boundary compensation selector that will further allow you to fine tune the base. I contacted KEF and they recommended that their speakers be placed no more than 12" to 24" from back the wall for best performance. My Reference 4s are about 14" and they sound quite nice, although I have to sit at least 15 feet from them in order to get the best base performance. Other "Class A & B" speakers worth looking at that are not overly sensitive to the back wall? -- many B&W speakers are also ported, as well as the Merlins.

See if you can find dealers carring your favorite ported speakers and then audition them by having the dealer move them into a position that will somewhat simulate your room. This may not be nearly as accurate or revealing as a home audition, but at least it will eliminate any real surprises. I once had a dealer do this with a pair of ML ReQuests and the speakers just died when too close to the wall -- so be careful with some speakers, and above all, go listen!

As several other posters have attested to, front ported or side firing woofer speaker are your best choice -- but what happens if you don't want a ported speaker? Then, you'll need to still pull the speakers out about 16" or so and instal base traps against the wall to kill some of the harmonics and base reinforcement from the rear wall. Also, if you must go close to the wall, then make sure you are not also close to the sidewall.

Finally, I fixed some of the problems in my non-treated, speakers too close to back wall room by adding a good sub. Even with full range speakers, a properly dailed in, a sub (REL, Veloydyne, Vandersteen, etc.) will help considerably.

Hope this helps, I went --Lorne

I agree with Jch96, Linn speakers are designed to be used close to rear wall. Also check Mission, I believe most of their designs are for wall placement.

MY SPEAKERS ARE THE LINN KABERS,APPROX. 3INCHES FROM BACK WALL.TIGHT,CLEAN BASS. I LOVE EM!

I'm using the new Talon Peregrine X in my 15'x15' living room. The back of the speakers are only 13 inches from the wall and they still sounded great. I talked to Mike McFarland of Talon (a great guy) and he indicated that his speakers are designed to perform optimally even in a relatively small room. The same goes for the Khoruses as well.

Please investigate the Castle Isis. They are discontinued but come up from time to time. Try Eaudionet.com.. Also check out the reviews on Audioreview site. These are meant to be placed close to a wall and really sound fine.
john c