Floorstanders with a large sweetspot

The PSB line of speakers, especially Stratus and Synchrony, have very wide sweet spots and are designed to load the room equally.

5-10 inches is really close to the front wall. Not many speakers are designed for this; I doubt this is optimal placement for the Salks, for example. I used to have North Creeks in my main system, which are designed for this, and are lovely -- definitely worth researching. Audio notes go close to walls, but I understand the require corners, which is not always possible If the speakers are not designed for near wall, I'd be inclined to stay away -- crowding can have really unhappy effects on the sound.

Add in the "wide sweet spot" and you've a really limited search. My Montana EPS2s fare well on this (though you need to be a ways from the speakers), and can be placed surprisingly close to walls for big boxes (18"-30"), but come in a bit above your price point; you might consider others in the line -- there are often good used prices.

In the end, I'd be tempted to drop the "near wall" constraint; in a 12x18 room I'd think you'd be able to find a decor, or negotiate one with interested parties, that would allow placement a bit further into the room, and would leave you with a lot of nice options, new and used, at your price point).

Good luck,

John

Yes, agree with PSB for something more conventional that I have heard that also excels. I could probably live with those! From my experience, those still sound best a couple feet out from the walls. Most speakers do, though some are designed to go flush/couple directly to walls and/or corners with perhaps some sacrifice in soundstage depth, which is not a concern for many. Klipschorn is the classic example. Rear ported speakers tend to be designed to do best further from rear walls in general, so probably avoid speakers that are rear ported.

REGA R7s / RS7s

http://www.stereotimes.com/speak022306.shtml
http://www.audioreview.com/cat/speakers/floorstanding-speakers/rega/r7/prd_337424_1594crx.aspx

REGA R9s

www.plurison.com/rega/Test%20Reports/Hifi%20Choice%20R9.pdf

Sorry, the phase cancellation from unequal path-lengths for centrally placed images (as an example) not only sound markedly different off-axis, they MEASURE differently.

IMO, having a wide spot to sit to hear centered images with their ENTIRE FREQUeNCY ENVELOPE INTACT is not possible with stereo, unless there has been a recent break-through in the Laws of Physics.

We will buy time-and-phase-aligned speakers and then sit off axis which is most certainly NOT a phase and time aligned listening position.

Doesn't mean that we can't sit off-axis and enjoy the sound, but it is important to recognize that such sound is a distorted version of the original.

Can still be great fun to listen - I do this when my wife joins me - she gets the sweet spot :)