Up Against The Wall

Most speakers in the kingdom of audiophilia sound best well away from the walls. Virtually all esoteric speakers sound best at the 50 yard line.

Ideally you would hear the sound of your speakers ONLY. Any and all reflections, or bounces, off walls, ceilings and floors, take away from the purity of your speakers.

Room treatments can help quite a bit. Please consider Zorber Panels that you can see on a tab near the bottom of our home page. That brings us to…

Speakers That Are Happy Near The Back Wall

Yep, some speakers are much happier near the back wall than others. Some are designed specifically to be used near the wall. I’m not referring to gimmick speakers that have four cheese ball tweeters firing in every conceivable direction. If your speakers need to go near the back wall for whatever reasons, please consider these options.

 

Amphion

Argon 3S at $3000 Per Pair (black or white, $3200 for walnut) is the perfect speaker to place near the back wall! With unique Wave Guide tweeter designed to give flood light dispersion, and passive radiator on the rear, 3S will interact with your room less than any speaker out there. You won’t believe the full bass and huge image from this smallish stand mount speaker.

Straight from Finland, Amphion is revered for its high resolution performance in regard to studio mixing as well. Argon 3S unsurpassed in its flexibility of placement, while providing you a wide array of seating options as well.

 

 

Argon 7LS at $6000 Per Pair ($6300 Walnut) is the tower version if you have room!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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GoldenEar

GoldenEar offers more tricks in the bag than anyone else for less than ideal room placement!

GE starts with a ribbon tweeter, which isn’t bright, and has very broad dispersion.

The Triton models with powered subs are especially conducive to poor placement.

You can place your speakers conspicuously far apart and they’ll still image beautifully. The ribbon tweeters’ ability to cast a wide stage while centering a vocal is uncanny. I’ve never experienced a speaker that can do this as well as the Tritons.

Here’s an example. You can sit eight feet away, and have the Tritons even much farther apart, and they still present a cohesive image. It’s a pleasure, and almost eerie, to have your speakers 10-15 feet apart, with you sitting 8 feet away, and still have the image fill up the wall, including a rock solid center vocal.

Powered Tritons (the subs are powered) are also happy near the BACK wall because you can adjust the subwoofer level. Each powered Triton has a monster amp on board amp driving the subwoofers. The speakers are voiced to have the subs blend seamlessly with the rest of the speaker.

Of course you can crank the subs up to an overpowering level if that’s your taste. But more likely, you’ll be using the control to dial in good balance based on where the speakers need to reside. If your speakers are parked near the back wall, you’ll need less umphhh than if they’re at the 50 yard line. GoldenEar gives you the option to make this adjustment. Few others do!

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Klipsch Heritage

The new models in the Klipsch Heritage line are also happy near the back wall. First of all, K is looking to generate extremely powerful dynamics and bass.

K’s goal isn’t to be light and lean. K’s are full figured speakers meant to bring you huge (lifelike) dynamics and impact.

When you listen to a well recorded drum kit on a pair of Heresy 4s for example, you’ll reconsider renewing your membership to the audiophile nervosa club. While many audiophiles seem hooked on reading forums till 2 am about this, that, and the other trick to make their speakers sound like real music- just firing up a pair of H4s with a modest amp will prove such obsessions are silly.

All of the K models cast a broad image.. All use compression horn mid & tweet drivers. All are tremendously efficient and dynamic. All perform well near the back wall!

 

 

Heresy 4 is short and a bit squat. It has a 12” kick fanny woofer. It comes with the stands and is an ideal full figured speaker that really isn’t very big.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forte 4 uses a new 15” radiator to produce a deeper, tighter bass than you’ve ever experienced on a K. Forte isn’t especially tall or deep. Even though it’s fairly wide, when it goes near the back wall, does it really matter?