Nearfield listening - once more

There are 2 kinds of nearfield system:

• The kind where the owner chooses to listen at a smaller distance that absolutely necessary in his/her room, for whatever reason. So for example a stand-mounted 2-way system is heard from 6 feet away (with a lot of space behind each speaker), when the system could just as well be heard at more conventional distances; or
• My kind, a cramped home office (13’ x 13’) w/a desk pushed against the front wall & the speakers mounted on the desk ~3 feet away & 3-4 ft apart

Nobody would chose my nearfield system as the optimal way to hear this or that speaker. Still, it’s all I have, and after having 4-5 pairs of powered 2-way speakers and 3 pairs of passive 2-ways here, I formed a few conclusions:

1. Ported speakers might work if the port is in the front, but if in the back, trouble ahead
2. I get better results all around with sealed/acoustic suspension 2-ways. Not only do they interact less with room boundaries, but the subjective quality of bass notes is much better
3. Get each speaker off the desktop as much as space/height considerations allow. My present speakers, vintage KEF 103.2s, have 4-5" from the bottom of the 8" woofer to the bottom of the cabinet. I place each speaker on 3" tall foam supports. It helps tighten the already tight bass
4. Use an electronic crossover to get the lowest frequencies off the desktop and to a good subwoofer. I can only fit one sub, but it’s a good one (JLAudio e110). The crossover is a Marchand XM6 with the variable crossover (24 dB/octave slopes up & down) set to 80 Hz. As most sealed 2-ways I’ve had here have a -3 dB point of ~50Hz, my crossover is set comfortably high, ~1/2 octave above the -3 dB point. I can’t localize the bass to the sub and it makes the desktop mounted speakers sound tighter, less boomy.

I’d love to have more room to play with, but I simply don’t. Years ago I had large living room situated 2-channel systems. Those were the days, but those days are gone...

With very small speakers 4 inches woofer i prefer rear porthole ...Because it is easier to redesign his volume /neck ratio in a more nuanced and complex way ...

The result i reach with this modification elevated the performance to an incredible level ... near 50 hertz strong, no boominess, clarity all along the frequencies scales ...I modified also the wave guide of the tweeter for my position ( 3 feet ) resulting in a soundstage extending way beside each speakers with frontal and rear death...

All that with 150 bucks well reviewed  but modified active  speakers but  also damped against vibration and resonance  with my own device which is concrete block with over it a sandwich of many different materials ( oak plate-bamboo plate- granite plate-shungite- plate cork -plate sorbothane plate ,alterning in this sanwich more softer material with the harder one for an optimal coupling-decoupling chain ) and the damping is with tuned load of concrete block over them also ... All my connectors are shielded with my recipe (shungite plate)...

I can assure you save for deep bass under 50 hertz  for sure, i lack nothing and my active speakers driven by a tube preamplifier beat all headphone i heard save my top best one and reference one : the only working hybrid AKG K340  optimized and modified  which go near 25 hertz clear ....

Some are proud of their 100,000 bucks system 😊... Me i am proud without reservation of my 1,000 bucks one😁 Speakers + NOS dac + tubes preamp and tones control and a new amplification ( Sansui alpha) dedicated for the headphone only with his own battery dac ...

I only need the BACCH system of filters as upgrade  ... Anyway even without them i listen a soundfield with differential space qualities ( i mechnically decreased the crosstalk ) in my speakers and out of the head soundfield with the K340...

All this to say rear porthole are not bad at all , if you know what to do ....😊

Ported speakers might work if the port is in the front, but if in the back, trouble ahead

Nearfield is a listening configuration that helps take room acoustics out of the equation. As such it serves as a very good reference point for how any system should sound. But fact is the farther from nearfield one listens the more the sound of exactly the same gear will sound different as room acoustics factors in more.

Some speakers are better designed for nearfield than others. A concentric driver design that is also highly directional is best at least in theory.

Sorry if I am a bit slow, answering the many good comments in this thread. Reason; I need some time to adjust my ears back to the music. I get tired listening to the sound. "Is A better than B, or maybe C", and so on.Testing is fine, now and then, but too much does not work for me. However, the discussion has been useful. I have moved my listening chair closer to the speakers, and will get used to this, before I change anything.

I went to the hifi shop to buy a pair of 2 way stand mount speakers for late night low to moderate listening because my big floorstanders needed some volume to really jell. I hung out at the shop a few hours listening, talking to the owners and on my own decided to max the power to my floorstanders instead. With their permission I borrowed a pair of Mc611 power amps to replace my very nice Hegel H590. Low volume listening was transformed!!! detail, dynamics, image specificity, depth, everything just came to life like I've never heard from a large speaker b4. With less than 1 watt i was listening to an effortless presentation. 

I bought and sold a half a dozen used speakers in the $25k(retail)price range and was dissatisfied because low volume listening didn't satisfy for one reason or another. I wouldn't have believed a 600 watt amp would sound different than a 300 watt amp at a half a watt output, and maybe there's more going on than the wpc here, but I've become an advocate for component matching now as the most important thing we can do for our speakers.