Speakers close to wall not as good as those with space?

I suppose that it depends on what you mean by sound better and in any case I think that such a blanket generalisation as you suggest could not apply. I'm sure that there are some awful sounding speakers that require free space. There will be a lot of forum members who will strongly disagree with your suggestion. Owners of Royds, Kans, IBLs, SBls, DBLs, SL2s (all close to the wall models) etc will tell you that these are the best speakers ever made. 

BN

The good thing of speakers not so close to the wall is that wall-hugging speakers can run circles around them...

... says someone not having close-to-the-wall speakers ...

What is close to a wall? and do this also mean small speakers or even speakers designed to be placed on a bookshelf or rack? I am not sure that the pplacement of the speaker in itself is important, but to match the right speakers with the right room of course is important.

Claus

The closer speakers are to a large acoustically reflective boundary the more noticeable the comb filter effect will be in far field listening.
(N.B. this boundary also decreases the distance from the speaker that can be considered 'near field' so you loose out in both ways.)

For a given fundamental level of performance, and in their ideal room positioning, a speaker designed for free space listening will outperform a speaker designed to require a nearby solid rear boundary.  In practical living spaces however true free space positioning is rarely practicable and a degree of compromise is almost always inevitable.

It's a paradox that most loudspeakers on the market seem to be designed for free-space placement, and most people don't have it.

One of the best sounds I ever heard at a Hi-Fi show was a pair of PMC 20/26's running off a modestly priced Bryston pre-power amp in a huge room with the loudspeakers sited about 6 feet off the back wall. The sound was magical with a massive 3D soundstage.

John.

Speaker positions are not just how far from the wall but other factors such as room size, room acoustic, listening volume, listening position, and personal preference are also key factors to get best personal results.  I think it sounds different when you move speakers around from back to front, closer as well as changing listening positions.  

I wish there is a simple answer.... or maybe this forum can help get clear easy answers 

All the above considered, I suspect a listener with ample floor space would rather get a speaker and let them breathe e.g. 6 feet from rear and side walls. I only think space limitations makes one go for a wall higher.

Moreover, Naims top speaker as reference, the S800, what distance from the rear wall do they recommend?

Mine are at 0.7m from wall. I did have Naim, at the factory, demo to me what moving the speaker different distances from the wall did to the sound - they still work well at 0.5m but with less clarity and the clarity continues to improve and seemed to reach diminishing returns after 0.7m so that was where I settled. There were definitely improvements up to nearly 1m away but to my ears they were slight and most were there by 0.6m. Distance from side walls was also important - in fact more important to have more room to the sides.

I've lived with and enjoyed both boundary and free-space speaker designs and they each have their strengths, but the bass has been cleaner and faster with the free-standing ones I've heard so far.

...also you need less distance from rear wall with smaller speakers that deliver less low-bass power, as it is a function of the low-bass output and the interaction with the room.

DB.

Having a near full range speaker out in good distance and with the supporting system for it.  Then with a speaker that benifits with wall boundaries and with a system able to support it.  What would you think would cost more ? What with everything inclusive above real estate etc...

( big speakers are really for cloth eared country bumpkins )

It all depends on how the speaker was designed, however I tend to agree with Huge's response. That said, a fundamentally related question is how near the listening position is tomthe rear wall...

Excellent speakers can be had both ways, one design is not necessarily superior to the other, just preferences, or preconceived notions make one more appealing than the other.

Darke Bear posted:

Mine are at 0.7m from wall. I did have Naim, at the factory, demo to me what moving the speaker different distances from the wall did to the sound - they still work well at 0.5m but with less clarity and the clarity continues to improve and seemed to reach diminishing returns after 0.7m so that was where I settled

 

Is that messured from the back of the speakers or from the front? I have  always thought that people messured from the back of the speakers to the wall, but others seem to do it from the front instead. My Audiovectors are placed 30 cm from the wall, and I have never really experimented with placement, but maybe I should try, I think I could move them 10 to 15 cm away from the backwall.

Claus

Innocent Bystander posted:

It all depends on how the speaker was designed, however I tend to agree with Huge's response. That said, a fundamentally related question is how near the listening position is tomthe rear wall...

That is a very important point IB. Sitting on the back wall is often problematic. Even my SBL's used to boom in that situation.

If one is able to do it; siting the listening sofa away from the back wall can make a big difference in terms of bass definition and overall clarity. A couple of feet is currently working for me.

John.

I owned for 13 years a pair of Allaes, loved them but they are not quite a wall speaker like the SBL and needed to be several inches from the back wall, problem when I moved house and placed these in a smaller living room they boomed and never got a great balance.

Now own a pair of Proac Tablette 10 and these are a couple of inches out from the wall and they sound superb, best speaker I have ever heard in any living room environment.

Okay if you have a living room the size of the Albert Hall then these are not for you but in most UK homes they are worth an audition.