Nearfield listening - once more

To echo what Mahgister said, eliminating interaural crosstalk vastly improves soundstage/imaging. This can be done in a near-field setting by situating yourself and the speakers such that your head/face blocks much of the sound from the right speaker from your left ear, and blocks sound from the left speaker from your right ear.  

Regarding speakers especially suited for near-field listening, the Graham Audio LS8/1 are excellent.  Having enjoyed them for about three weeks now, I can vouch for what is said in the following very interesting series of post from a fellow LS8/1 owner: https: //www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/graham-audio-ls8-1-signature-edition-a-new-system.37339/

Thank you all for very interesting and positive responses! I will consider a bit, and come back.

@hiphiphan, I'm with you regarding your first paragraph.

That's what I experienced for the first time (coincidentally) just 3 weeks ago when listening to my surround speakers (Monitor Audio Studio 5):

- LS are standing in line with my head, slightly toed in, crossing path about 1.5 inches front my face

I was casually listening to music coming from these speakers. Very low crosstalk this way but no stage and depth. As it happens, I move the swivel chair about 5 degrees to the right and bam, out of nowhere (sic!) the sound was hanging right there approx. 4 feet in front of me, slightly above my head. Like a musical hologram. Moving to the left for 5 degrees and the hologram is gone.

Interesting: Listening to mono recordings, everything was in front of me. Listening in stereo, just a few instruments were in front of me. The other instruments were coming directly from the speakers to my ears.

Maybe the above might be a valid answer to OP's question no 1

While this sound experience does not reflect the reality as to where the musicians were standing during the record (like when listening to front speakers with depth and stage), it was nevertheless a kind of revelation to me.

I still have to work further on the front speakers to get the same result. However, I am not sure if this will ever happen.

Maybe my definition of "nearfield" is a bit off, but I think of nearfield as my desktop powered Audioengine speakers attached to the computer.  Sounds decent at 2-3 feet but not room filling by any means.

@o_holter  You cannot get big 3 way or 4 way speakers with multiple discreet drivers to sum and provide a coherent presentation at nearfield distances.

The ideal speaker for such an application is a 2 way single concentric driver ( tweeter and mid/bass driver --> point source).

Here are the best engineered candidates. If you are budget constrained, absolutely go with the Technics.

Technics SB-C600 (1100 per pair)

https://hifiheaven.net/product/technics-sb-c600-k-premium-bookshelf-speakers-black/

Mofi Sourcepoint 10 (3700 per pair)

https://www.musicdirect.com/equipment/speakers/mobile-fidelity-source-point-10-bookshelf-speakers-pair/