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Speakers that sound good in corners or against the walls?

ATC has a new range called HTS (11/19/40) specifically made for soffit/wall mounting. You probably still want to keep them away from corners though. I've no idea how they fare against their regular speakers.
 
ATC has a new range called HTS (11/19/40) specifically made for soffit/wall mounting. You probably still want to keep them away from corners though. I've no idea how they fare against their regular speakers.

They look interesting and wonder how well they would work in a conventional (2 channel) system. A good review of them over on AV Forum...

https://www.avforums.com/review/atc-hts7-av-speaker-system-review.13716

Edit: I'd like too hear the bigger HTS40's on the end of a suitable amp....

http://atcloudspeakers.co.uk/hi-fi/loudspeakers/hts-on-wall/hts40/
 
E/III's were designed to be placed out and away from the walls behind them, probably 3 feet at a minimum. The other E does not have the rear firing tweeter.
 
Having owned ATC SCM40Mk2, PMC GB1i and 20.23, ProAc Tablette Ref 8 Signature and Dynaudio Focus 110 and Audience 42, I'd say that all of them, except Dynaudio, works well near the wall. I also did extensive home audition with Spendor D7 and it also worked very well near or even against the wall. ATC, even though it's clearly the biggest of the bunch, works also very well near back wall because of the closed enclosure.

So my recommendation goes to the british manufacturers.
 
My recently sold Dynaudio had to be 3ft from the wall as they where rear ported, my new Pioneer are up against the wall as they are front ported.
 
If the type Es are anything like the Snell type EIII then in my experience they need to be well away from walls.
From an Audio Note dealer

The AN-E is intended to be used against walls or even in corners if possible, not only does this allow the speaker to ‘drive’ the room very effectively at low frequencies, it also means that what is a reasonably large box can visually ‘disappear’ much better than many smaller speakers that require far more floor space.
 
Original Peter Snell A, K & Q works close to wall
Both "E & "J need space
Not sure about C

Audio Note (PQ) cleverly reworked Peter Snell's design and matched "E & "J for smaller European rooms to work closer to wall or even in corners
 
I use a pair of Arcs in a smallish room about 14 inches away from the back wall and only a few inches from side walls.

Sound amazing.

Front ported vs rear port is a bit of a fallacy, it's the overall response of the speaker and how it's been designed to interact with room boundaries that really counts. Peter Comaeu wrote an insightful article on this last year in one of the hifi mags.
 
Dali Zensor 1, Rega RS1 and several Royd speaters are all rear ported and sound ideal positioned close to the back wall
 
To my mind, whereas wall-hugging speakers are possibly ergonomically preferable, they simply don't have the imaging capacity of a free-standing speaker. I've has Briks and SBLs, both enjoyable in different ways (though the SBLs were a bit cool sonically). When I gravitated to ProAc Response floor-standers, a new and addictive presentation filled my room.

Two more Response floorstanders later, I went ESL and discovered a fast and massive soundstage with detail fireworks for dessert.
 
To my mind, whereas wall-hugging speakers are possibly ergonomically preferable, they simply don't have the imaging capacity of a free-standing speaker.

This is a good point for debate. I'd be interested if any can make a case for a wall-hugger than is able to convey image depth.
 
This is a good point for debate. I'd be interested if any can make a case for a wall-hugger than is able to convey image depth.

Much is psychological IME. Turn the light out so you can't see anything and the space and depth happens - your brain just stops it as you can see the wall and speakers. Turning the lights off and listening in the dark is the best audiophile upgrade this side of class A drugs IMO, I'm amazed it isn't discussed more! If you could sell it it would cost £thousands.

PS when talking about wall proximity speakers I'd still toe-them in to taste, speakers firing straight across the room seldom create a great image IME. I tend to like a gentle toe-in with most speakers, i.e. to still be able to see a bit of the side of the cab, but not much.
 
If you look at the design of the Larsens they need to be flat against the wall and not toed in as the tweeters are angled to fire across and in front of the listening position. This helps with the WAF factor :)
 
If you look at the design of the Larsens they need to be flat against the wall and not toed in as the tweeters are angled to fire across and in front of the listening position. This helps with the WAF factor :)

Turns out I have a problem with the Larsens. The '4' is two grand, the '6' is four grand.

Difference? Better drivers (they say) and slightly nicer cosmetics.

For a two grand pop in price? Sorry, I think the importer is going on a 'what he thinks the market will bear' plan. And I look at that 9" x 10" by 30" two-way speaker and don't see four thousand dollars.

If it were three grand? I'd probably be buying a pair. But at four grand it's a white elephant.
 
Original Peter Snell A, K & Q works close to wall
Both "E & "J need space
Not sure about C

Audio Note (PQ) cleverly reworked Peter Snell's design and matched "E & "J for smaller European rooms to work closer to wall or even in corners

This may be true but I think* I like my Snell JIII's in the corners the best.

* I think. I go back and forth. When I stick them in the corners, they have a more easy, back of the room presentation which I think I prefer
 
Audio Note (PQ) cleverly reworked Peter Snell's design and matched "E & "J for smaller European rooms to work closer to wall or even in corners


In other words he changed everything but the outer cabinet dimensions...
 


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