It would be important that you position loudspeakers in a manner that tweeters are at ear level. IMO, the BBC type of speakers mentioned before are an excellent choice for long term satisfaction but considering the size of the room and the placement near the walls I would suggest that you try smaller boxes like ProAC Tab10, ATC SCM11, Spendor S3/5 and the like. You could add a sub-woofer later if you miss the deep lows.
I have been researching the rather limited information available on the Compass speakers and I have to say I am intrigued. I am still going to try the speakers that my dealer is getting in but, if they do not work out, I quite fancy trying the Compass. But it will have to be second hand and wil be without demo which I am nervous about.
I do have one specific question: They will still be partially hidden by furniture but they are tall enough that the tops of the speakers will be clear of obstructions. Will they work like this? Clearly they are of an unusual design but I can’t work out if they can be satisfactorily used like that or not.
With the mention of BBC style monitors and being just a little biased, I suggest looking at Graham Audio offerings, the range now includes their own designs as well as BBC licensed. They are not the best at updating their website, but social media sites show three or four new models.
I’ve never owned any Shahinians, but I rather liked them when I’ve heard them, and I just have a gut feeling that the way they project the sound upwards from the angled drivers might work for you without any wall brackets, wobbly stands etc. Maybe @Michaelb has more hands-on experience than I do. You could try contacting Pear Audio for some advice.
There were a couple of pairs on ebay recently that went for about £8-900.
Thank you. I will give Pear Audio a ring.
I had a pair of the Proac Response D2 speakers and loved them, hopefully you get a chance to give them a listen.
They should do. John Burns at Pear Audio is a great guy and will have had lots of experience of how they work in different rooms so should be able to advise more reliably. There is more than one forum member with Compasses so hopefully they will also chime in. If you listen to lots of “acoustic” (whether folk, world or classical) rather than “electric” music (which is of course played live through conventional loudspeakers) you are likely to love the Shahinian presentation.
This might sound like sacrilege, but maybe wall mounts could help you here?
A sealed or front ported design like PMC Twenty5.21 on wall brackets might give you some floor space relief. Speakers are personal so I only mention those as an example. There are many others that fit the wall bracket bill.
It’s an interesting idea but I think it will have to be left as a method of last resort as there are still significant siting issues plus the very substantial hurdle of convincing my other half. 
Well the auditions continue with two to go. I am going to hear the Proac Response D2 and ATC SCM 19s on Saturday. The snag is that they are not Naim dealers so the question is what would be the closest equivalent in sound to my Naim Nova?
They stock Audiolab, Bryston, Quad, Musical Fidelity, Roksan, Marantz, Yamaha, Denon, Teac.
Thoughts welcome.
Just to bring the saga to a close, after auditioning a fair number of speakers (thanks for all the suggestions and advice) and having a long and helpful discussion with Pear Audio where we concluded that the Shahinian were not going to work for me, I very nearly pulled the trigger on some ex demo B&W 805 D3 speakers which were superb but, even ex demo, were too far outside of my budget. One dealer also played me some Kef Reference 1s which were even better than the B&W and had a generous discount to match the ex demo B&W but still too pricy.
So I have settled on ATC SCM19s which arrived yesterday and so far I am very happy with them and they are already noticeably loosening up. I have some Something Solid stands on order having visited Deco Audio which is quite close by and meeting Mark who makes the stands.
And then the system will be complete. For the time being…
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