I will be attending an Audio Show next month. I want to listen to speakers which work close to the rear wall. Any suggestions from the forum members?
thanks!
SBL and SL2. Well you are asking in the Naim Forum!
Bruce
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LS3/5As, of whatever age or persuasion.
I think you need to give an idea of budget here. Is it to replace your NBLs? Is it for a second system?
Looking at your profile, is it correct that for your active NBL system your sources are a Naim ND5XS2 and a Rega 25? If that’s the case, you really really need to be sorting out your front end.
Keilidhs if you are into old school. I think ATC SCMs are good close to back wall but away from corners. Kudos Titans I think are ok (especially the smaller ones in the range). All can benefit from more space behind but these are as far as my research has gone so far. I have the same issue as my speakers fire across the 3m width of my room so very limited space. I’ve narrowed things to SCM40 or Titan 505 so far but I’ve got a couple of years to go before even thinking of auditions.
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Except the 808s are the most tolerant of all the Titan range and they’re the biggest. But also the most ££ of course
How is the wall constructed? If you don’t have solid walls you might be out of luck.
I found my NBLs worked best 5.5cm from a solid wall with plaster rendered directly onto brick/concrete and this held for both a 16m^2 room and a 42m^2 one but when I moved to a 35m^2 room with plasterboard backed by foam insulation lining the walls they needed to be further out for the bass to appear and in this room I have 35.5cm from their backs to the wall. The best impression of scale in the last two cases was with 2.4m between the tweeter centres, I don’t know if that’s room or speaker related or just coincidence. It was about that in the first one too but I wasn’t giving it much attention.
I met a chap at an ND555 launch event who had replaced his NBLs with Audionote Es, which use wall/corner loading and was delighted with the result with his 282/250 but I never got to hear the combination. I have heard Es at a dealers with a Tom Evans Linear A and Audionote amps and they gave very good scale but if you listened for it you could hear the boxes singing along.
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Yeah, I forget about those because they are not on my radar, even at used prices. I do wonder though what they might sound like in my 3x4m cabin 
If I may jump on to this thread as I am in a similar situation to the OP.
I have a small (spare bedroom 9x8ft) listening room, at the moment I have my ATC SCM 7’s about 10 inches from the rear wall and 15 inches from the side wall, now I know that this is far from perfect but under the circumstances there isn’t much else I can do.
Like the OP I would like some suggestions on speakers that I can audition that are keen to be friends with bedroom walls.
I don’t think that my ATC’s do a bad job but if there are speakers out there that are better suited to working close to wall I would be keen to audition them.
Hopefully this is okay with the OP.
For a small room like that you might want to audition the Proac Tab 10’s. As sealed boxes they are v happy next to the wall and sound rather good
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I will suggest Kudos, generally. My X3’s (no longer in production) work well. The downward firing reflex port helps them.
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Strangely I had a brief addition of the Kudos Super 20A’s yesterday, a very nice speaker indeed, I did ask about using them in my small room and he thought that they could work with that downward firing port being key, then he added at least it might be worth having a try.
Maybe I’ll see if I can blag a pair on demo, but will wait until I have my new TT in place, he may be more inclined to let me borrow them if i’ve bought something from him.
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My ATC 7’s are sealed boxes but ATC recommend a metre from from walls, what makes the Proac Tab 10’s happy to be next to a wall, could my 7’s go closer to the wall? Maybe I need to have a play.
PMCs twenty5i’s work well close to a wall, front ported
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If you are looking at floor standers I would also consider PMC Speakers, being transmission line and not ported speakers means they are less position sensitive. I have always had to use PMC speakers close to rear and side walls due to room constraints and never had any issues such as overblown bass.
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The obvious answer is to place them against the wall and have a listen. If it works then you’ve just saved some money!
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Trial and error may work and indeed it might save me some money, but against the wall isn’t a natural home for the ATC’s so I am a bit sceptical but I have nothing to lose so will play around tonight and report back.
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I used Larsen Model 4’s for a little over five years. They worked very well with my Naim Uniti and XS series integrated amps. Nice combinations. These are designed to be placed right up against the wall behind them. Makes it very nice when space is at a premium.
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How about those Guru speakers? aren’t they designed for close to wall setups?
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Yes they are, I also have a pair of the Juniors. They work very well with Naim too. Fun speaker!