Speakers that behave well near wall

[Geo2160]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking to finally equip my living room with a proper pair of speakers (1.5-2.5k eur), but my room does not allow too much wiggle room for me to place speakers properly (30-60cm away from wall). I have a ~45cm depth x 30cm width limitation for towers. I intend to use room correction, but I have choice paralysis. Could you point me to some options that would work for my use case? towers, bookshelves and even studio monitors are fine with me.

 

[Purité Audio]

Most ‘proper’ manufacturers recommend placing their speakers between 10-60cm from the front wall, you can then measure and EQ if necessary.
Keith

 

[Moti]

Larsen from Sweden. Not sure if new ones are made anymore but second hand or NOS offerings are available in EU.

 

[IngMishael]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking to finally equip my living room with a proper pair of speakers (1.5-2.5k eur), but my room does not allow too much wiggle room for me to place speakers properly (30-60cm away from wall). I have a ~45cm depth x 30cm width limitation for towers. I intend to use room correction, but I have choice paralysis. Could you point me to some options that would work for my use case? towers, bookshelves and even studio monitors are fine with me.

View attachment 485555

Wharfedale Super Linton Heritage Speaker (Pair)

Wharfedale Super Linton Heritage Speaker (Pair) are available online or in-store at HiFiHut.ie, Ireland. Visit our Dublin HiFi showrooms for a demonstration or call us for advice. Free delivery on all orders above €50.00

www.hifihut.ie

in whatever colour you want

 

[Wayne Highwood]

Search around, there are some speakers designed with close proximity to walls in mind, for example the KEF R11 Meta.

 

[MAB]

Many active speakers have built in eq to adjust for wall proximity. Genelec is an example.

You can use the same eq approach for passive speakers and active models with no eq.

EQ is helpful to deal with wall proximity.

 

[Timcognito]

Some measurements here. Two models for sale on usaudiomart.com

 

[NTK]

This book has an entire chapter to help with understanding this issue.

 

[krabapple]

Most ‘proper’ manufacturers recommend placing their speakers between 10-60cm from the front wall, you can then measure and EQ if necessary.
Keith

that's 4 inches-2 feet, for the metrically-challenged among us.

FWIW just because I got tired of the space they were taking up, I've recently put my front pair against the front wall, (toed in towards me, of course). I rely on DSP to tame the SBIR bass -- they're crossed over to a sub at 80 Hz too.

 

[Timcognito]

that's 4 inches-2 feet, for the metrically-challenged among us.

FWIW just because I got tired of the space they were taking up, I've recently put my front pair against the front wall, (toed in towards me, of course). I rely on DSP to tame the SBIR bass -- they're crossed over to a sub at 80 Hz too.

Do they sound different as good or better? Curious.

 

[krabapple]

I wouldn't keep them there if it sounded bad.

 

[kyuu]

30-60cm is plenty of space for any speaker. Closer to the wall is actually generally better, as Genelec helpfully explains:

Reduces the level of dips due to cancellations from SBIR. The "downside" is you will get more boundary reinforcement in the bass, but you can use EQ/room correction to knock that back down resulting in "free" bass headroom.

Another possibility is to just put your speakers in the wall, then you don't have to worry about SBIR at all or how much space they take up.

 

[Tassin]

I've recently put my front pair against the front wall, (toed in towards me, of course). I rely on DSP to tame the SBIR bass -- they're crossed over to a sub at 80 Hz too.

Same here. About 5 cm (2") between the back of my speakers and the wall. EQ to tame the bass.

Do they sound different as good or better? Curious.

More focused stereo image (phantom center), less depth in soundstage.

Another possibility is to just put your speakers in the wall, then you don't have to worry about SBIR at all or how much space they take up.

After reading the related chapter in Dr. Toole's book, I understood this would be a very valuable solution. Still surprised why this doesn't get more attention and is hardly discussed. OTOH, still struggling myself trying to convince my wife.

 

[Tassin]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking to finally equip my living room with a proper pair of speakers (1.5-2.5k eur), but my room does not allow too much wiggle room for me to place speakers properly (30-60cm away from wall). I have a ~45cm depth x 30cm width limitation for towers. I intend to use room correction, but I have choice paralysis. Could you point me to some options that would work for my use case? towers, bookshelves and even studio monitors are fine with me.

View attachment 485555

I guess you expected some specific suggestions. I'll put KEF Q7 Meta and Q11 Meta forward.

In Erin's measurements of the Q11 you can see how the FR has a shelved down bass response. This is to compensate for room gain and will allow you to put the speakers close to the wall. Leaving 5 cm (2") between speaker and wall will be enough to allow the port at the back to work. The Q7 will measure similarly.

 

[Flaesh]

to just put your speakers in the wall,

When it comes to standard perpendicular walls, not all speakers are suitable for parallel installation. And not all listeners want parallel-firing speakers.

 

[Thomas_A]

Some measurements here. Two models for sale on usaudiomart.com

Perhaps not available everywhere but the Carlsson OA-61:

'https://www.hifikit.se/oa-61.html?s...WhWeqtqFb-ig1C79-NbXzBVbwhJWRd#horizontalTab1

And the Carlsson OD-11 by Teenage Engineering (active speaker).

Teenage Enginering OD-11

Teenage Enginering OD-11 – den legendariska Carlsson-högtalaren anpassad för nutidens digitala behov och hem. De aktiva högtalaren är en komplett anläggning för streaming med Spotify Connect, AirPlay 2, bluetooth och digitala ingångar.

www.hifikit.se

(Larsen was following the Carlsson ideas.)

 

[Bleib]

Also from Sweden: Ino Audio and Guru (Audio), same designer

 

[olieb]

So far most of the recommendations dealt with the distance from the back wall (speaker's view), but my first impression was, that here the problematic boundary is the side wall/door next to speaker S1.
Speakers for placement close to a back wall exist in great numbers, but what about this problem?

 

[Tassin]

You are right @olieb . Forgot to mention that the narrower dispersion of the Uni-Q driver may help reduce side-wall reflections. Pointing the speaker towards the MLP might be needed.

 

[kyuu]

When it comes to standard perpendicular walls, not all speakers are suitable for parallel installation. And not all listeners want parallel-firing speakers.

All you need is good directivity out to 30-degrees, which by virtue of the infinite baffle most good in-wall designs have no issue. There are also designs with aimable tweeters or offset/angled tweeters.