After several lengthy experiments I see floorstanding and stand mounted loudspeakers as a dead end in this particular room and overall situation (think two small children here).
My current speakers are easily the best ones I had in this room. But the best location soundwise is in front of some record cabinets. So it’s either good sound or complete access to my records 
. Both scenarios fail to satisfy me bigly.
Because of this, a better set of headphones and some nice speakers on top of the record cabinets might be in my future.
Some obviousl candidates are (in alphabetical order) the Harbeth P3ESR, ProAc Tablette 10 and 10 Signature, Trenner & Friedlich Sun and Wilson Bensch Square One. Comments and suggestions are welcome!
Posted on: 01 May 2018 by ChrisSU
I’m not quite sure that I can visualise the layout of your room - some photos might help. Would wall mounted speakers be an option?
I’m thinking that N-Sats might be a good option here, particularly with young kids, as you can’t push them off their stands, you have to lift them up vertically to unhitch them. This applies to both stands and wall brackets, if you can find some.
Posted on: 01 May 2018 by Mulberry
Thanks for the suggestions, all of them are worth a second look and hopefully a demo.
Chris: I really should get an account at one of the picture hosting sites. Until then, imagine a rectangular room with the Hi-Fi and some Montana storage units (ca. 70*70*35 cm) on one of the short walls. The speakers are in front of the Montanas, this gives the the optimal distance from both side and front walls. Due to livability reasons, there’s really no other way to set things up.This may change in a handful of years. Until then, I’d like to put the speakers one the Montanas and close to the wall. If the speakers are suited to different placements, moving them away from the wall later on is something I will surely try.
Posted on: 01 May 2018 by ChrisSU
The reason I suggested N-Sats is that they work pretty well close to the wall, as well as being relatively child-proof if mounted on their dedicated wall brackets. This might work for you ir there is some wall space above your storage units.
Posted on: 05 May 2018 by Mulberry
Once again thanks for your input so far.
I think I could live with speakers not primarily designed for near wall placement, if the bass would not become highly fat and/or slow. Put another way, I am more tolerant of a little too much at the low end, than a lightweight one.
