[bside123]

Recently I had the good fortune to purchase a beautiful pair of Vintage Snell Type A/II Speakers, which according to their manual and designer (Peter Snell), are designed to be placed directly up to the wall. See: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=115565.0

The speakers were designed to utilize the wall, floor and surrounding environment to "tune" the bass and mid-bass frequencies. I've been enjoying working with and tweaking these speakers and currently have them placed about 10" inches from the wall. This has freed a tremendous amount of space from our living area, and the speakers still sound fantastic. The placement of speakers so close to the wall generally goes against all of my previous experience. The listening area in this room is quite large, and my previous speakers were about 4 1/2' feet from the wall... into the room. Big Difference!

Anyway... this got me to wondering about other models of speakers that were designed to be place against or very close to the wall(s). I've read about the work of Von Schweikert Audio and his models such as the VR-22, VR-33, VR-35. Presumably, he was also inspired by Peter Snell. I got a chance to hear some VR-33s at RMAF.

Are their other designers, manufacturers and speaker models that have successfully integrated their speaker designs for close to the wall placements?

What's your experience with speakers and the wall? 

[charmerci]

Klipschorns!

You can't use them unless they are in the corner. No backs to them.

[Letitroll98]

Allison.  Roy Allison and Peter Snell worked on parallel paths, both using surface reflections to tailor the sound.  I had Allison 3's which used the corner, Allison 1's were in effect two 3's put together for midwall placement. 

Larsen SC, 4, 6, and 8 speakers from Sweden.

Sonab OA-4, 5, 6, 12, 14, 116 and 2212.  Designed by Stig Carlsson in the 60's and 70's.  Later he made his own line, the Carlsson OA-50, 51 and 52.

[Saturn94]

Back in the early 80's Boston Acoustics made a pair of speakers designed to be placed against the wall (don't remember the model number).  They were a broad shallow box with the woofer mounted near the floor.  I heard them when shopping for my first real speakers back in the early 80's and I remember being really impressed by the big soundstage they put out.

Edit:  did a search, looks like the model number was A200?

[WC]

Back in the early 80's Boston Acoustics made a pair of speakers designed to be placed against the wall (don't remember the model number).  They were a broad shallow box with the woofer mounted near the floor.  I heard them when shopping for my first real speakers back in the early 80's and I remember being really impressed by the big soundstage they put out.

Edit:  did a search, looks like the model number was A200?

The A400's were larger than the A200's but they were similar in design. I have some BA HD-9's which have a 1" dome tweeter, 6.5" woofer, and an 8" passive radiator. They are only 9" deep and sound decent against the wall. They were the next generation of speakers after the A series, with cheaper cabinet materials.

[fiveoclockfriday]

The Sjofn 'The Clue' speakers are designed to go right up against the wall, or within 2-3 inches I believe.

I've heard them, and they're really very good for the money (around $1000 I think). Great bass, good imaging and overall tone is musical and enjoyable. They also are specific about height of stands, toe in, and distance to listeners. So, a little fussy, but if you can nail the placement they are great.