Allison and Snell - Against the Wall

There are a few today, but mostly it is in the vintage speakers where you were required or suggested for close wall placement or corner placement because it increases efficiency and bass response, now it is all about detail and soundstage, and the music suffers because of it.

Klipsch Cornwalls.

Boston Acoustics a100, a150, a200...

The a100 series stipulates in the manuals it be placed up against a wall, 2 feet from any corner.

Never heard them, but quite keen on getting my hands on one - want to tear it down and see what they did on the inside. 

The Klipschhorns of course qualify!

I had Allison Ones in 1976.  You needed a room that was about 12 feet wide. You put the Allisons against the side walls 3 feet from the front wall with only one side of the Allisons facing the listening position. The other side faced the front wall which required a little absorption. Set up like this they would image very nicely. With the speakers facing you directly the image was a foggy mess. I never used them with subwoofers. None were around yet. 
K horns and the La Scala were designed specifically to be against a wall but back then that is what everyone did. They put the speakers against the wall usually in corners. Away from the wall positioning was born with the KLH 9 , Quads, Dahlquist DQ 10 and Maggies. My dad had Bozak B302A's up against the wall in corners. I am not a big fan of putting speakers in walls. The wall is nothing but a sound board with very unpredictable behavior. For theater systems sound quality comes second to last. It is more important to hide the speakers which you need for special effects.