Recommendations for Speakers that can be used close to the rear wall.


I am looking to replace my Magnepan 1.6 speakers with smaller speakers that can be placed close to the rear wall. Due to a move to a new home my listening room does not allow me to place my speakers the recommended distance from the rear wall. I am limited to just a few inches at most and I do not want to move them back and forth as I now do with my Magnepans. My room is large (17’ x 26’x 9’) with more open space next to it. The speakers are placed along the 17’ wall. I use a solid state Belles 150a Hot Rod amp with Sonic Frontier tube preamp, Dac and phono. I would like to limit the cost to $3,000/pair. I want the speaker to be no more than 48” high. I listen to various types of music ( rock, jazz, classical) and don’t play my music loud. I do not need a lot of bass for my musical enjoyment. I like the sound of the 1.6’s especially the way they play jazz vocal music, but am open to considering other types of speakers. Any recommendations would be appreciated.
sml19
+1 Larsens

Or a used pair of NHTs, also made for placement on a wall. Cheers,

Spencer
Cornwalls.

It's only in the damn name ;)

But Cornwalls are your answer, can be up against a wall, the aren't Maggies but the sound is closer than most other box speakers.
Audio Note speakers are designed to be used close to the back wall and the corners of the room; AN-E model will probably fit the bill.  The Gradient Revolution is another speaker that, because of its extremely flexible bass module, can be configured to be used close to the back wall as well as the corner of the room.  The Cornwalls mentioned above are also very good near the back wall and corners.  Speakers by Volti would work there as would several models from DeVore.
You will lose nothing with Larsen speakers in your application. I'm not speculating like is typical of most comments on this forum; I owned a pair of 8.2s for a couple of years.

It typically takes me hours to dial in the speaker/listening position in my rooms that allow it. With the Larsens, about 15 minutes. The living room/kitchen is my wife's realm, speakers must go against the wall. Best sound we've had in that room in the 40 years we've owned this home.

Like one reviewer said, almost no one has experienced their speakers with much of the room acoustic issues out of the equation. With that said, any Larsen model will be an eye (ear) opener.