What speaker for being close to rear wall?

I think you mean front wall . Most speakers will produce more bass near a wall so a speaker thats bass shy would be a place to start , and of course front ported .

Agree on the wall description. If it is the wall in front of the listener how can it be the "rear wall"?

Now for the problem (regardless of what you call it). Bass frequencies load up (are emphasized) at room boundaries. Any two planes (such as wall and floor) are the normal example but corners are three plane intersections and therefore create greater emphasis. Few speakers are specifically designed to compensate for or take advantage of this condition.

Klipsch corner horns were designed to take advantage of the loading. AR-9s, and their offspring, were designed to compensate for this loading (by driver size, placement, and crossover points).

I don't know how many other speakers were designed from one of these two concepts but they include Snell Type A, Allison, Naim, Linn, and AudioNote. Also, the suggestion for bass shy models may work but you could end up with an upper bass emphasis without any mid or lower bass, resulting in a heavy or overly warm sound.

Then in addition to bass response, imaging can also be affected by close wall placement.

Good luck.

Linn Majik 109 work great close to rear wall.

Stereophile Review:
http://www.stereophile.com/content/linn-majik-109-loudspeaker

According to the reviewer:
"Another unusual aspect of the 109 is that the 2K array is mounted on a dedicated cast-alloy chassis directly in front of the front-firing reflex port. The impetus for this design came from Linn Japan, which was pressing for a bookshelf model diminutive enough to easily fit into a small Tokyo apartment. As a result, Linn chose a front-firing port to enable the speakers to function properly when placed flush against a wall. In fact, in addition to dedicated stands (available in black or silver), these speakers are available with optional Linn Brakits for wall mounting."

The rear wall would apply from the speaker's standpoint. I know many refer to that wall from the listener's standpoint hence the description of "front wall". At least we're all clear on that now!

Mmike,

My favorite comment on this debate came from a 'goner who asked:

"If the wall behind the speaker is the "rear wall", does that make the opposite wall behind the listener the "front wall"?

Just a funny observation borrowed from a fellow contributor.

Marty

Marty