Speaker placement for Joseph Audio rm25si

This has to be a joke question. All right, I'll bite. ARE YOU NUTS??? Will placing your $3500/pr. speakers in a big, glorified shoebox greatly affect the sound quality??? Oh, wait a minute. The box is made of solid cherry and it's only 5" off the floor -- gee that makes all the difference. ARE YOU NUTS??? The RM25 is capable of throwing of an impressively wide and deep 3D soundstage and disappearing in the process, and by sticking them in a cabinet and putting them flush with the fireplace it will all but completely squash some of the major strenghts of this speaker.

Quite frankly I'm shocked/disappointed that anyone who bought these speakers would even ask this question in the first place. Here's my recommendation -- sell the RM25s and buy some nice little unobtrusive Bose speakers since you seem to care much more about room aesthetics than sound anyway. With the remaining money you can buy all sorts of nice little expensive knick knacks to put on the mantlepiece, and the whole thing look just marvelous.

Sorry, but this post really offends the audiophile in me, especially since a pet peeve of mine is when people shove good audio equipment into their beloved wall units and other pretty, nice, and neat types of cabinetry so all their Martha Stewart wannabe friends will all be impressed. If this was a joke then I guess it's on me. I'm gonna go barf now.

There's no reason to be a nasty audiophile elitist. Just because you woke up on the wrong side of the bed doesn't mean you have the right to be completely insulting and denigrating. I obviously have no right to ask honest beginner type questions on this board. Sadly, your Mother never taught you that there are no bad questions except the ones that aren't asked, but even more regrettably, she obviously neglected to tell you that if you have nothing nice to say, keep your mouth shut.

Thanks for encouraging my participation in the hobby. I hope I can return the favor some day.

Bnrlaw
That would not be the best way to set up the rm25's. They are very nice speakers.
Tim

how about if i put them right in front of the cabinetry on the floor? if i did, could i put shelves in the cabinetry and place books on them directly behind the speakers or am i better off leaving the enclosre behind the speakers empty?
thanks for your help