Silverline Speaker Opinion

Gary, you didn't ask, but FWIW, IMHO, depth of field is more of a product of the distance from the rear wall (and side walls) than the design of the speaker, i.e. even the best design will lose depth of image in direct proportion to the distance to the wall. The really big difference in rear wall placement is usually the affect on the bass frequencies. My big speakers are out 6ft into the room to optimize  both tone and imaging issues. At 3ft the bass is overwhelming in a not so good way and depth collapses. A small pair of stand mounted speakers (not Silverline) placed three ft from the rear wall has good  bass, good tonality, but looses the same depth of image that my main speakers did. As I said, FWIW.

Ghosthouse, Newbee,

In my post I should have written rear wall and instead wrote front wall. But thanks for answering the question I should have asked!

I generally position speakers in my main listening room about 1/3 of the length of the room- 6ft. Wasn't sure if it was my room, equipment or my ears....

In the bedroom, the Silverlines are 24" into the room because of the flow of the room.

I thought I read about some near wall placement speakers that still created the illusion of soundstage depth- that is what prompted the question. 

Thanks for the help!

gary

The current "non plus" Prelude is an amazing speaker when paired with a good sub. I've had a pair for years and it's somewhat unique in the Silverline line (!) in that it has magnesium/aluminum woofers and tweeters, not shared with other Silverlines for reasons I find mysterious. The "Plus" has doped paper woofers with a silk dome tweeter which are fine (and I'm sure they sound great as do pretty much all the things Alan Yun designs), but the Prelude has the little screens on the metal tweeters that keep 'em "poke proofed," a feature I like. I use a tube amp and 2 REL subs (although they worked fine with one sub, I found another used REL and added it in the mix, thus making my "one sub" arguments less valid) with the Preludes, and lift them up about 4 inches on maple blocks (Vibrapods under the Preludes de-couple them from floor vibes and make them sound even better to my earballs) . My only quibble about the Preludes is the fact that they aren't cladded in a real wood veneer, but I suppose that keeps them at a certain price point. Maybe I'll get a cabinet maker to put a striped ebony veneer on 'em. Yun told me in a phone conversation (I thought I needed a woofer, but didn't) to single wire the Preludes for "more coherency"…his words…and he was right (I did try bi-wiring anyway, at which point I discovered for myself that single wiring was much righter).

Gary,Wolf - I had definitely read Wolf's posts about his experience with the Prelude speaker.  I haven't tried Vibrapods under mine but do have them elevated about 4" (on a wood plinth + the height of Alan's spikes).  Found elevation to be good with the Forests too.  My Pluses are also single-wired and, based on input from Silverline, the speaker cable is connected to the lower posts.  I'll probably experiment with a diagonal connection as per Audioquest in the future.  

Gary - 6 feet into the room should give plenty of space behind them for projecting stage depth.  BUT if you do go with Preludes I wonder if a little nearer that "front" wall will help with bass given they are rear ported.  Obviously, rooms differ and experimentation is needed.

Wolf - what REL subs are you running?  Thanks.  

Speaking of subs, I decided to try a dual 8" driver sub with the Minuets today. Sounds pretty good but I'm still adjusting things. 

Before inserting the sub a buddy came by and after listening told me he had to have a pair of Minuets- he was impressed.

Thanks again for for all of your feedback, opinions, etc. Gives me several speakers to look out for and several things to try. I always learn a lot on A'gon.