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"Bookshelf" speakers designed to be placed near the wall behind them?

I'm giving up my beloved (14-year love affair) Sonus Faber Cremonas in order to reclaim valuable floor space in the living room.  Currently they are placed on the floor in front of the fireplace & hearth - our new home has pretty much everything we wanted, *except* an audio-friendly layout in the living room.

My plan is to put a pair of smaller speakers up on the hearth on either side of the fireplace.  Probably will need custom stands to get the tweeters near ear level.  The hearth is 13.5" above the floor and is about 19" deep.

My first candidate was the Wilson Audio Duettes, a speaker explicitly designed for placement in close proximity to the wall behind them, *until* I saw their price - $22k.  I'm sure they're spectacular speakers, but that's well above my retired-guy budget.  I'd like to stay at $5k or under.  So I started looking at bookshelf speakers that are either sealed-box or front-ported ...

And I came across the Aerial 5T - a $4k speaker with a 1" woven ring-dome tweeter, a 6.7" papyrus-blend woofer and a front slot-shaped port.  *And* it's specifically designed to be placed from 2" to 24" from walls.  So that's my current front-runner.

But I'd be interested to hear others' recommendations - I certainly haven't looked at all the possibilities that are out there.  So let me know your thoughts!

Thanks
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tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,987 posts
 
mbo
head to one of two of my favorite places near you: Hitching Post or Sea Chest
drink the audio budget away...

sounds like you could throw  a rock and hit RV at Vandersteen in Hanford...see my Casa Pacifica system pictures for a look at some of the wild veneers available....

glad to see you are having fun in the quest !
mountainsong's avatar
mountainsong
422 posts
 
Look Into triangle. They have very nice and good sounding monitors with front bass port. Key for success.
Regards 
kahlenz's avatar
kahlenz
276 posts
 
I have the Harbeth P3esr speakers, and they live about 1' from the wall on SoundAnchor stands.  They sound great (but they do open up a bit when I move them into the room for critical listening).  They are the only Harbeth speakers to use a "sealed box" design (the others have ports), which gives the P3esr speakers quite a bit of flexibility when it comes to placement.

I must add that I replaced the floor spikes on the SoundAnchors with plain steel carriage bolts (round head).  I have a resilient laminate floor (Karndean Loose Lay, specially chosen for its acoustic properties, among other things) over concrete.  Moving the speakers is no big deal, and does not poke holes in the floor!  Moving speakers spiked to the floor can be a hassle.  Costs practically nothing to try!
ptrck887
84 posts
 
Have you explored the Cremona Auditor M stand mounts?  I had mine about 13" off the rear wall and they were outstanding!  Still own them but not in use as I upgraded to the SF Guarneri Evolutions.  Any interest in some sort of trade?  I've been considering Cremona floor standers for a home theatre / 2 channel system in another room.  
Before my Guarneri upgrade I considered Harbeth Super HL5+'s but to my ears my little Auditors were far better...
Thanks
desktopguy
383 posts
 
I did a lot of research on this very issue--because my desktop space is limited & my monitors/speakers end up w/in ~8" of front wall of the room w/big picture window.

Found 2 designs that should work:

-- ATC SCM19 Professional monitors: this sealed/acoustic suspension design is not exactly small, but it's spectacular in resolution, listenability, and bass resolution/quality. I am getting better sound w/these (+ Wyred4Sound ST500 amp) than any other monitors in past

-- Wharfedale Diamond 225: a considerably cheaper mid-fi audiophile design that is not sealed (ported bass)--but the port is cleverly designed to fire downward at a bottom plate that's 1/4" below the speaker. The result has been described as far less susceptible to boundary effects that conventional ported designs. They're also described as rather musical, pleasant-sounding speakers.

I've now had 2 ported speakers (powered designs) and 2 sealed/acoustic suspension designs (1 powered, the other passive) in this desktop environment. IMO the ported designs, despite other good qualities, showed clear evidence of boundary effects in the bass. I'll never go back to ported unless it's something like the Wharfedale Diamond.
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