And what do Maggies sound like near a wall......

The smaller Maggie models are fairly light weight and easily moved. Is it possible for you to move them to an optimal position when you want to listen and then "store" them when they are not in use?

As stated already I don't think it would be a good idea, mine are 5 feet 6 inches from the rear wall and with any less they do suffer in every way. It took me a couple of months to get them dialed in for my room and listening preferences but now they are "right" and it was worth the tweaking, how ever you do need some room to experiment with. You may want to look into a monitor like the Merlin TSM which works better then most when being placed against the wall- I believe they may be in your price range too- I am just unsure of what you think about monitors.

I would explore Lowther drivers or equivalents in a folded horn cabinet like the medallion, or other horns like Klipsch. These can actually benefit from the bass reinforcement of being placed close to a wall.

Check out Lowthers here

The other problem is that your amp simply does not have enough power to get the Maggies going at even moderate levels. I had 1.5 Maggies with CJ MV-50 amps and the speakers just kind of laid there begging for more power.

hi,
has anyone tried maggies with brick wall behind them?

Maggies are by no means "space savers"....you defeat the purpose of a dipole design when placed close to walls...and to be honest...no speaker is going to sound their best 1ft from a rear wall...you need space to create depth...that being said...if you room is small...sealed design SPendors or NSMaudio speakers would be one of your better options...other than in wall applications...the Mags are a waste of money if you cant set them up correctly....