Indeed, however if the speaker is solidly built, on its back may have less vibration than on a shelf somewhere else in the room. Certainly the back of my speakers have barely perceptible vibration to the touch even when playing loud bassy music with a strong beat.
There is no such thing as a zero vibration location.
So as with all things HiFi there is no perfect place to put an amp.
Reducing vibration further by potting is probably not worth doing on an off the shelf £120 amp module.
Whatever benefits active speakers have, at the end of the the day, the SQ is determined by the quality of the amp.
Nearest would be a soundproofed cupboard or separate room…
Do you think the soundwaves in a room are enough to cause an audible difference by their effect on an amplifier that is firmly positioned on a level HiFi rack shelf?
Possibly, possibly not, depending on amp. What I’m saying is that on back of speaker may be no different or not significantly different. (And it is worth bearing in mind that this discussion is about the power amp not a low level signal amp.)
Funny. I choose my system by listening rather than imagining. Along, I guess with those studios that use active ATCs for mixing, monitoring and the like.
Roger
Just bought one on a well know auction web site - got to be worth a punt! Looking forward to plumbing it in and see what happens. Thanks for the advice
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You shouldn’t do that until you’ve listened to it. 
There is a YouTube video giving advice on setup. Screenshot below.
The main thing is set the output to fixed.
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I sold on my 272 and XPS DR, replacing them with 332 and 333. I have not looked back, sound quality is much better to my ears and the modern control functionality is really nice. It took me a while to find some ex-demo units at a not too distant dealer. If budget allows, that’s my suggestion.
Has anyone suggested swapping out the power amp for a 250 DR? or an NC 250?
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