Speakers that work close to the back wall


Hi! I'm trying to help my friend, who is new to audio (so am I), to built a new system. His room is 12x20x8 ft. with hardwood floors. His taste in music is mainly jazz.
The major constraint in terms of speakers placement is the distance to the back wall( he lives in a relatively small high-rise condo). He would prefer to keep it at 2-3 ft. max.
We also decided, that for now he will stay with quality integrated for amplification ( Plinius 9200, maybe new DK amp.) The amp should be SS ( apprehensive of tubes for some reason).
The price for speakers is not a major consideration, he's fairly flexible.
A few choices considered:
Von Schweikert VR-4 JR
Green Mountain Callisto
Totem Forest
I'm not sure wich speaker will work best near the back wall.
Please share your thoughts, every opinion is welcome. Regards.
maril555
I have a friend with Meadowlark kestrals placed close to the wall and they sound good-real good. While shopping around, he was also told that one of the Spendor speakers worked well against the wall, but he could never find a place to audition them.
Audio Note speakers are designed to go all the way in the corners. All price points of the J and E speakers sound superb.
Totem Arros : 6" away-from-wall placement and an awesome speaker ( see Totem website for specs and speaker placement FAQs)
Anything that is ported in the front would be better suited to being close to the wall (as opposed to a rear ported design). This prevents the bass from becoming overbearing.
Audionote speakers work quite well placed 2-3 feet from the front wall.

I heard, at CES, the Gradient speaker working quite close to the walls of a small hotel room (about 1.5 ft) and they sounded quite good in that location. This is a compact, nice-looking speaker that is almost never seen but deserves more attention.
Maril555,
Could you elaborate further ... whenever someone says a distance from the wall, I presume they are talking about to the speakers front baffle, not the back of the speaker. Which do you mean?
I'll second the statement made by Johnnantis about Rega's. I recently bought a pair of Rega Ela's. I have them positioned about 8" from the wall now and they actually sound better than when they were out about 3 ft. The bass is fuller, and there's no material harm to the sound stage. I'm still trying to decide where I like them best, but it seems they like it best about 12-15 inches out.

By contrast, my Totems are much better about 4 ft out.
Thank you, guys. I feel that I need to emphasize- not against the rear wall, just close, 2-3 ft. and about 7-8 ft. apart. actually I read numerous posts suggesting, that Totem speakers can be placed not far from the rear wall. Regards.
northacoustics.com the spirit wAS recommended to me and it is supposedly specifically designed for close to the wall, $989.
The larger Rega speakers are engineered to be used against the back wall, and being one of the best at rhythm (paper-cone woofer, transmission-line) would be perfect for jazz as well. Try a pair of Ela's, which sound absolutely superb with Class A amps.
The audio note speakers would do well... this agrees with an above poster who recommends snell as the AN's are based on this design.
Maril555,
I don't believe any of those you mention like the back wall. Drrdiamond is correct ... my NHT 3.3's like to be placed within 6 inches of the wall.
Try the top of the NHT line. It is either the 3 or 3.3. they are designed to be against the wall.

Richard