Here's my room...what are my options?

You need to find speakers that take into account the reflections and room loading characteristics of wall ( or near wall ) mounting. There are specific design criteria that can really make a big difference in such a situation. I don't know of any monitor sized speakers that are currently in production that do this though, so i can't really make any suggestions. However, the first thing that did come to mind was Allison Acoustics. Roy Allison had several different models that were specifically designed for wall mounting. Design Acoustics also had some models that would work in such a situation, but both companies are either completely gone or mere shadows of what they once were.

Some basic suggestions that i would look for:

Sealed speakers would theoretically work best here. If you must go with something that is ported, make sure that the port is front firing. I would not recommend speakers with passive radiators for such an installation.

Speakers that make use of foam or felt around the mids / tweeters would be more suited for this type of installation.

Since you did not mention the height of the mantle, you may want to look for a speaker that can be mounted tweeter on top OR tweeter on bottom. This will give you a bit of added versatility in terms being able to slightly alter on-axis frequency response to compensate for the height of the mantle and your seated listening position.

If the top of the mantle is up higher than your seated listening position ( i would assume that it is ), i would avoid any type of an MTM ( mid-tweeter-mid ) or "D'Appolito" design due to the limited vertical dispersion that such a design offers.

Hope this helps and gives you at least a bit to work with. Sean
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I used to own a Mac MA-6500 integrated amp. I like the Macintosh tube-like sound. I looked at both the Joseph and Revel monitor speakers and went with the Totem Model 1's with a Rel Strata III subwoofer. The totem's had more of a natural sound with no emphasis in any region. If you need a speaker designed to sit close to the rear wall, listen to the Totem Arro. I have a pair in my den and they sound very nice for being such a small speaker.

Hi!

Sound City has not been a Joseph Audio dealer for almost 3 years. They have never received any of the Mk2 series, and I doubt that they'd have any new inventory left by now.

Your best assurance of finding the RM7si Signature mk2 is to email or call us for a dealer.

Jeff

Sean: Thank you for your specific recommendations. You are right in assumeing that the mantle is higher than the seated listening position -- so I will have to keep tweeter placement and overall speaker adjustment into consideration. I will also focus on front ported or sealed desgins and avoid the rear ported units.

Thank you all for your feedback and I welcome other ideas....this has been very enlightening.....