What speaker for being close to rear wall?

front-ported Rega's work well near a wall. I've had the 1's, 3's and 5's in this configuration with good results.

My Classic Audio Loudspeakers are 6 inches from the rear wall and no worries. The down-firing woofers seem to be effective at dealing with proximity issues- the speakers don't boom even though they go down to 20Hz.

Duke of Audiokinesis had a set of speakers at the RMAF show ($4400/pair!) that can back up close to the wall too. They have a set of drivers that fire to the side walls, which is helpful for breaking up standing wave issues and at the same time allowing for a great sound stage.

"English speakers also generally seem to get mentioned a lot."

I've noticed that, too. My speculation is that it reflects England, where living rooms are said to be smaller. (Easier to fit speakers in if they go close to a wall.) Plus I imagine it's less common over there to have dedicated listening rooms.

At a local (Seattle) dealership, I heard a very nice demonstration of the Wilson Duettes in a close-to-the-wall configuration and I thought they sounded very nice.

I have KEF207/2's and they do just fine close to the rear wall. They are also remarkable speakers (see Stereophile review). Good luck@