Bookshelf speakers - near wall challenge.

What do you mean by needing to place the new speakers on a "surface"? In an actual bookcase? On a desk? Please elaborate...

Russell K red 50

Excellent speakers

I should get a pair Guru QM10 speakers for a home demo this week. Are you looking for something like that? If this is the case, the Wilson Benesch Square One might be another possibility, but I’ve been unable to get a demo of these so far.

I had the QM10 Mk 1's amazing bass for such a small speaker but they really did sound better on stands.

NSats.

PMC Twenty5.21/22 and Linn Majik 109 are both front ported. Linn Akudorik Passive are also well regarded. I know which I'd choose but won't recommend either since speakers are so personal.

As a rule of thumb rear ported designs will be problematic close to a rear wall. Enclosed designs are highly unpredictable with some models being highly placement and wall distance sensitive and others not. Front ported designs probably give you the most consistent bet that close to a rear wall will work,

Although rear ported, the PMC DB1 Gold are designed to work close to (but not flush against) a rear wall. Their more conventional dimensions may make them more appealing than the sloped Twenty5 range.

varyat posted:

What do you mean by needing to place the new speakers on a "surface"? In an actual bookcase? On a desk? Please elaborate...

Hello - sorry I thought I was clear but I didn't describe my set up. I have no room around my hifi stand/rack which is built into a unit. The unit has a surface on it and I plan to buy some isolation stands and a set of speakers that will sit on top of them.

Cheers

I think I’d have kept the Nova with the restrictions you have in your room but as you’ve got the new kit already…

Proac Tablette 10’s work against the wall and would be a good match. Does your unit allow access to the wall behind ? If so it might be worth investigating wall brackets (along the lines of the old SO brackets for the Linn Kans). This would allow you to couple the speakers to the wall and minimise the compromises of having to sit them on the unit.

Another thought – Bob at Neat is a very helpful chap. I’d give him a call and explain your circumstances and he may be able to suggest a good solution from the Neat speaker range.

An interesting challenge !

james n posted:

I think I’d have kept the Nova with the restrictions you have in your room but as you’ve got the new kit already…

Proac Tablette 10’s work against the wall and would be a good match. Does your unit allow access to the wall behind ? If so it might be worth investigating wall brackets (along the lines of the old SO brackets for the Linn Kans). This would allow you to couple the speakers to the wall and minimise the compromises of having to sit them on the unit.

Another thought – Bob at Neat is a very helpful chap. I’d give him a call and explain your circumstances and he may be able to suggest a good solution from the Neat speaker range.

An interesting challenge !

Hey - the kit I have is old kit I never sold. I just added the NDX2. TBH it sounds incredible even through a tiny set of neat iotas.... there is a wholeness that the Nova doesn't bring. Thanks for the bob tip off....!

Ah sorry - just re-read the first part

Putting speakers on top of the cabinet that houses your hifi does not sound ideal. If there is any wall space on which you can mount a speaker wall bracket, that might be worth looking at. Naim’s N-Sats have a dedicated wall bracket designed for this purpose, although they are a bit hard to find now. 

ChrisSU posted:

Putting speakers on top of the cabinet that houses your hifi does not sound ideal. If there is any wall space on which you can mount a speaker wall bracket, that might be worth looking at. Naim’s N-Sats have a dedicated wall bracket designed for this purpose, although they are a bit hard to find now. 

If this is too much of a faff or simply impractical then look at buying some sorbothane feet to sit the speakers on, even a few blobs of Blu-Tac would be better than just plonking them on a bare shelf. The name of the game here is to minimise vibration and avoid "killing" the sound. I bought some sorbothane feet from Amazon for under £10 to use between my speakers and their stands with (IMHO) excellent results. 

Jonners posted:

ChrisSU posted:

Putting speakers on top of the cabinet that houses your hifi does not sound ideal. If there is any wall space on which you can mount a speaker wall bracket, that might be worth looking at. Naim’s N-Sats have a dedicated wall bracket designed for this purpose, although they are a bit hard to find now. 

If this is too much of a faff or simply impractical then look at buying some sorbothane feet to sit the speakers on, even a few blobs of Blu-Tac would be better than just plonking them on a bare shelf. The name of the game here is to minimise vibration and avoid "killing" the sound. I bought some sorbothane feet from Amazon for under £10 to use between my speakers and their stands with (IMHO) excellent results. 

Now that is a cheaper experiment than the isoacoustics!

Guru Juniors if space is an issue. Can be placed very near a wall. Expensive now but incredible sound for the size. 

Try 20.21 or possibly linn kan or SBL.....

Proac 10 or the Signatures work very well against a wall

Richieroo posted:

Try 20.21 or possibly linn kan or SBL.....

The 20.x and 25.x from PMC require a pretty deep surface given their back-tilted cabinets. I was told they would work in surroundings like the OPs (which are similar to my own). The Kan should be nice while a SBL on a shelf will at least look unusual 

Mulberry posted:

Richieroo posted:

Try 20.21 or possibly linn kan or SBL.....

The 20.x and 25.x from PMC require a pretty deep surface given their back-tilted cabinets. I was told they would work in surroundings like the OPs (which are similar to my own). The Kan should be nice while a SBL on a shelf will at least look unusual 

You could just have the top box of the SBLs. 

...or the top two from the DBL 

feeling_zen posted:

... Although rear ported, the PMC DB1 Gold are designed to work close to (but not flush against) a rear wall. Their more conventional dimensions may make them more appealing than the sloped Twenty5 range.

Not a port but the end of the transmission line, and they work well (but not as well as when freestanding) mounted to the wall.

Although they are a fine speaker, they are eclipsed by the old 20.21s (no wallmount option). 20.22s are enormous compared to those two, but all the cabinets are super-inert compared to ported designs, so you will gain something by not having so much 'box' energy to contend with. Check my pics for the 22s next to the 21s (and they are deeeep!)

I have a demo pair of Guru QM 10 II at home right now and they work quite well on a bookcase and near to the wall. Somehow both their appearance and sound are not like I expected them to be, based on pictures and reviews. Yes, they look odd, but in a different way.  lower and deeper. The sound is thankfully not bass heavy, just full in a nice way. Not as agile as expected, sometimes even a bit dry. Overall I prefer them to the Dynaudio Special 40.

Will they be my new speakers? Not sure right now. A lot to like, especially given the price, but right now more appealing to the head instead of the heart.

Can't help you with the speakers , but if you have a "difficult" placement for the speakers, their are probably some good home-made solutions that may help. My own (harbeth 30.1) are mounted on the top of folding cast iron bookcases from container store just the right height and depth/width. Rather than have them directly on  the cast iron, I found square sorbothane kitchen mats that isolate well. Just try to think outside the box for solutions that work , after all (unfortunately) placement and room acoustics are both very important  - as are compromises as to placement ,size # of boxes, etc.

I just got proac tablette 10s. They're awesome no matter where you put them. Easiest setup i've ever experienced! You can do near field, on a table, in a bookshelf, against the wall, away from the wall - no matter. They just work no matter where you put them. Mine aren't even broken in and I can't get over the sound from these tiny boxes.

The Tablettes look great but how do you get round the bi-wire challenge with Naim amplification?