Harbeth - Audio Research?

Out of curiosity, how close to the rear wall can the HL5 or 7ES3 go? I'd like to start another system in a very small room - 12x13.5ft and because of how it is all laid out the back of the speakers will need to be about 6-8inches from the rear wall. I know that is less than ideal, but I'm not after imaging at all in this room. However, I do want purity of tone, harmonics etc. Will this mess that up?

6-8 inches at the back would be super close. I have mine around 5 feet away from the rear wall.
A meter would be ok, but even at that distance, it might be boomy.

Pubul57 - I think the Vandersteen 3A sigs are very good for certain things, and can be tempered depending upon what's running them. I get listener's fatigue all too easily, and I think most equipment sounds too bright. I went to the RMAF and, frankly, liked very little of what I heard. My ears seem to have some kind of sensitivity in the high frequency range. Plus, I listen to a lot of orchestral music, which is often not really that well-recorded. Massed strings are awfully hard to record, and are often miked too closely, so that if what you want is a Carnegie Hall type sound, you're in trouble. That's a lot of my problem.

I hear you regarding massed strings. I heard a very expensive setup with vinyl and the highs were just shrill to my ears. Thank god it was vinyl.

It is so hard to go wrong with Harbeth with any quality amp choice; I prefer SS with mine. an ARC amp would be a great choice. Eweedhome and I seem to be cut from the same cloth. I too found the M30 a little to much after a while and I much prefered the C7 es3 (plus, they are less espensive). Later, I got a sub to go with them, and I am really enjoying what I am hearing; I listen to a lot of classical and the full range I get now with the sub is a tone of fun. Smiles and goosebumps everytime :)