Speakers recommendations when placement is an issue

I'm not quite sure I understand all of the limitations of your setup, so this recommendation may be qualified. The Wisdom Audio M 50's like the above Bohlender's are a true line source speaker. The dispersion patterns are radically different than dynamic drivers. Although your setup will compromise imaging somewhat I think the dispersion characteristics of a line source would serve you better. I own Avalon Radian HC's and Wisdom Audio M 75s. With the Avalons I needed a full complement of ASC tube traps and wall treatments. With the Wisdoms I only need two tube traps in the rear. The electronic crossover gives you almost unlimited flexibility to fine tune the speaker to the room. The M 50 is a one piece design which uses a 50" magnetic planar driver sitting atop a 12" underhung woofer. I like this speaker line so much I became a dealer. If you've got the bucks this is a phenomenal speaker. The other good thing about this speaker is that it is so revealing and transparent that every improvement in the rest of your system will be apparent. The down side of the speaker is that it is expensive and it must be biamped. Fortunately though you don't need a ridiculously expensive amp on the bottom, just one with high current capability. Happy hunting.

Tim/Soix makes a good point about the Vandersteen's. I have
been a dipole person, Martin Logan & Magnepan..and have,
mostly used Thiel's for dynamic speakers...and all of these
are very placement critical...so the Vandersteen's seemed
simple by comparison..so, guess it is like the great Jazz
standard says..."Compared to What?"

I want to thank everyone for their helpful and insightful feedback. I was thinking of a starting budget of around $5,000 so I have some options to check out. Any thought on on Energy Veritas 2.8 in a limited placement setup? How about Martin Logan or Sonus Faber? Thanks again!

Oaklore -

One of the problems encountered when you have to position the speakers close to the "front" wall and/or side walls is that you tend to put a lot of bass energy into the room's natural resonant modes. This makes it very difficult to get accurate bass because energy is stored and slowly released by these room resonant modes. Often you end up with a chesty, overemphazised midbass and a fairly deep but somewhat lumpy bass. The result can be impressive, but is seldom natural-sounding.

There is a bass loading technique that minimizes the amount of low frequency energy put into the room's resonant modes. That technique is dipole loading, which is usually reserved for planars. A dipole has a figure-8 radiation pattern in the bass, instead of an omnidirectional pattern. The result is 5 dB less bass in the reverberant field for a given on-axis bass sound pressure level because there is very little energy put out into the room's side-to-side and up-and-down resonant modes - only the front-to-back resonant mode is strongly excited. An added benefit of a dipole is the lack of internal cabinet pressures and cabinet colorations. So the bass has much better pitch definition and is much more natural sounding.

Now a dipole is not going to work well in the midrange in your room because the wall behind the speakers is too close - the soundstaging will be poor and you won't get the openness dipoles are famous for. So a planar speaker isn't going to work well for you. Alas, I sell some nice planars.

Now, what if there was a speaker that had dipole bass but monopole midrange and highs? What if this speaker also had very well controlled radiation patterns (an important hidden factor in long-term listening enjoyment - details if you'd like)? What if this speaker soundstages very well and sounds very natural from virtually any position in the room because the midbass and bass aren't at the mercy of the room boundaries?

This speaker is called the Gradient Revolution. The active version (which is the upgrade path) was among the most natural-sounding systems at CES 2001, and was the most natural sounding in the bass of any system in a small room. Check it out at http://www.gradient.fi/En/index.htm . For the record I'm on the verge of becoming a Gradient dealer, but I'd recommend this speaker for your application even if I wasn't (which I have many times, over at the Asylum).

Since you have both rear and side boundary issues, I agree with Gregg (and other others) who have suggested you consider monitors and a separate sub. Since you mention ProAc, you could get a pair of Response 1SC, the matching center, and a musical sub such as Rel or Vandy. It'll bust your budget new, but all are pretty readily available used.