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Do any speakers image/sound-stage close to walls?

I'm about to spend a huge amount of $$ on full-range speakers, but realise from all the published acoustical data and conventional wisdom, that the laws of physics are absolute. So, in a 17 X 23 X 15ft ceilinged room, when I have to place the speakers no more than 12" from the front (short) wall, 2 ft from the side walls (for WAF and furniture and structural reasons - dont ask,) am I blowing my money? The source, preamp, amps are all superb - but what do I do about finding speakers to match? Sure, I could buy a superb $19K SP Tech Revelation or Zu Definition or Coincident Total Reference, but what about the sound-staging and imaging? Surely I'm not the only person with this dilemma, yet there are so few posts on A'gon regarding this issue, that I wonder whether the problem is exaggerated in my mind or is it just that most A'goners are smarter than I and designed their wives' furniture choices better?:) Room treatments dont help much, or do they? Is there any solution, other than moving the whole sytem to a wifeless room? Please dont ask why these space restrictions apply - believe me, they do, and the interior decorating details are not relevant here.
System: EMM CDSD, DCC2, Sota Cosmos IV, Ear 324 Phono Preamp, Atma-Sphere MP-1, Atma-Sphere MA 2.2, PAD Dominus S/C, etc.
springbok10
ckoffend
684 posts
 
Wilson Duettes. Great speakers, easy placement (close to the wall), not too large and very good overall. Can perform fairly low, into the lower mid 30s as well.

Lots of flexibility with these speakers - multiple sets of cross-over to speaker cables for placement either near the wall or away from the wall and also several sets of resistors are included for tuning the tweeters to the room. I loved mine and can highly recommend them.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,198 posts
 
I've heard speakers that sound very good right up against or very close to the rear wall. But I've yet to find a way to put speakers directly up against a wall without losing something in regards to sound stage depth, if not imaging. Rear ported speakers generally lose the most against a wall I would say compared to other designs.

I have several pair of speakers in my system. The front ported Ohm Ls are the ones that shine best against the walls, but they inherently do not image or soundstage as well as the others regardless.

My Dynaudios lose much of their luster against a wall.

My small Triangles benefit in the low end but at the cost of soundstage and imaging, though not as much as the Dynaudios.

My Ohm Walsh line speakers work very well against a wall, but also still lose something significant in the imaging/soundstage department.

Of course, corner horns, like Klipschorns, are designed to go into the corners, but these are a different breed of speaker for sure!
travelstead's avatar
travelstead
53 posts
 
Cain & Cain build a speaker design by Gordon Rankin called the Wall-O-Sound. It's designed to worked close to the back wall.
beerdraft
198 posts
 
My dealer has wilsons close to the wall like you mention. They were actually placed there by the wilson guy and sound great. I hear he spent all day getting them where he wanted them. I'd vote again for the wilsons.

beerdraft
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,218 posts
 
I think you'll be able to get very high quality sound from any of the speakers you've mentioned even with the space constraints you're facing. Unfortunately, I really doubt you'll be able to hear your system at its best because of those constraints. The difference can be relatively small, but it can make a large subjective difference in bringing the magic of the music into your room. I believe that matching the speaker to the acoustic environment is the most important element in gaining great sound. You're probably not going to be able to do this with any of the speakers you propose. You'll still be able to get quite good sound quality anyway.

It really would help with your series of post if you provided a number of pictures of your room.
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