I've gone through numerous amounts of monitors in this price range (used). Von Schweikert VR-1's, Meadowlark Swallows, Rega R1's, Norh 5.1's, Polk Lsi-7's and Lsi-9's, Audio Note Ax-Two's, Ascend Acoustics CBM-170's, Raw Acoustic HT-1's, Klipsch Rb-3's, Totem Acoustic Mite's, Energy C-3's and Onix XLS monitors. In hindsight, I should have never gotten into this hobby!
All of the speakers listed above were at one point or another, were placed only an inch or so from surrounding boundaries. It should come as no surprise that most of the speakers listed above required space to breathe for proper bass integration. However, there were three speakers in particular that performed very well considering such harsh conditions. In no particular order;
Audio Note Ax-Two. The roots of this speaker can be seen within vintage Snell designs. Audio Note designed this 'general purpose' louderspeaker to work in realistic home applications. In the UK, where Audio Note (UK) hails from - space is a premium. The Ax-Two, like many Audio Note speakers - was designed to work well when placed next to or even against a wall. Retailing at only $480 USD, these speakers have been my favorite for years when it comes to versatility with ultra linear performance. They sound great with solid state gear and even better on tubes!
Rega R1. The R series has been a big success for Rega, and for good reason - the whole line is great at making music. The R1 is a half-pint sized monitor that I found to work exceptionally well in tight quarters. The custom woofer never tries to be something its not, and while far from sounding full range.. the output it does have is nice and taught down to the upper 60hz range. It took me a few days to become accustom to the voicing of the speaker, which initially struck me as being on the 'thin' side of things (even when voiced with the matching Mira 3 integrated). But once I settled in with them, I began to appreciate the R1's ability to capture the fundamentals of the music. At $495 USD a pair (someone correct me if I am quoting an inaccurate price).. they are solid buys. The Ax-Two from Audio Note however... is a pretty heavy hitter at that mark.
Lastly, the Meadowlark Swallow. While Meadowlark Audio is no longer in business - the Swallow was perhaps one of the finest crafted affordable monitors under 1k to grace these eyes/hands. With a solid wood baffle draped by real wood laminate on the side, Meadowlark's S series just oozed craftmanship. I personally loved the sound of these speakers, especially when matched with warmer sounding solid state electronics. Their front slotted port allowed themselves to be placed near walls without much of a fuss - giving a very coherent and balanced presentation. Part of that of course, is due to their time alignment/phase correct design! Of the three, this would be my choice. But theres just one problem; they rarely pop up on the used market - typically when they show up its within the $500 range.. give or take. In fact, of _all_ the speakers listed above, the Swallows are one of my top picks for an over-all satisfying compact musical box. There was not a genre of music they could not handle, and boasted great resolution and timbre that suggested you were listening to a pricier speaker.
Thats my story and I'm sticking to it!! Good luck in the hunt!
