Nearfield listening - once more

@pwerahera thanks! Seems reasonable. Basically I think you are right. Yet these are not the only laws of physics. Bi- or omnidirectional speakers sound different and work differently from traditional front-firers. I would say that room treatment is important also if you sit four feet from the speakers. Even if the indirect sound is now less prominent, it is there, coloring the direct sound. And even with headphones, where the material of the cusps can change the sonics quite a lot (cf Audioquest Nightowl debate).

My two way (horn treble + conventional woofer) floorstanding speakers sound good and quite coherent even from quite close. This is most probably due to each speaker having two identical set of drivers, two in front, two in the back. This arrangement is designed to create the correct spectral energy plus the right time alignment of the direct and indirect sound. It helps smooth the bass and treble and integrate the two.

I do hear bass even from quite close to the speakers. You wrote: "Big floor standers will give you the bottom octave, but you need to sit away from the speakers." Not so clear in my case.

you can get even the lowest octave in a nearfield set-up:  

@mahgister 

Thanks for comments - I agre with much of what you say.

You wrote:

"Room acoustic cannot be replaced or being disposed of because we listen nearfield ..."

Exactly!

But you also write "the result will be a no existing soundstage or one located only between the speakers"

If I sit forwards, almost between the speakers, yes, the soundstage will be located here. But is this neccessarily worse?

Personally I find that I often enjoy the sound, closer to the speakers, although I have not changed my main listening position, with more conventional distance to the speakers.

There are two main advantage of near field listening. 
 

#1 less room sound 

#2 more dynamic as less SLP is needed for the same listening volume. 
 

I always try to sit as close to my speakers as my setup allows. As you know there are lots of things at play that effect how close you can sit. 

If I sit forwards, almost between the speakers, yes, the soundstage will be located here. But is this neccessarily worse?

Yes it is the worse situation ... Because a well done acoustic relation between speakers position and listener position and room acoustics controls will always give a soundstage able to make many well recorded albums filling all space around you outside of the speakers limit border and in front of the speakers ...

Nearfield listening does not equal a soundstage isolated between the speakers ... This is why room acoustics, vibration/resonance controls of the speakers and decrease of the electrical noise floor of the room/house/system matter all together exactly as in farfield listening ...

Nearfield listening must be better than almost all headphones and never being a stopgap ... It is  so for me , with  active speakers i never liked for 10 years which cost me peanuts... But when i had learned how to use them properly and modify them and optimize them they metamorphosed themselves from caterpillar to swan .... What is possible with  this 100 bucks speakers as my own must be possible with any costlier speakers with a basic good design ...

Acoustic rules the gear pieces even in near listening ...