Best speaker in nearfield listening

Over 80 percent of the classical music world for many years have been using B&W 801 & 805 Matrix series speakers. Their biggest client has 30 pairs of the 801 Matrix. All used the speakers in a nearfield application.
Today, most of them are in the middle of switching over to the new Nautilus series.

something just occurred to me: if you have a small room the acoustats might be wrong. they need to be at least 3 feet out from the rear wall.

My actual listening area is 12' long by 13' wide with 15' cathedral ceilings!! Dirctly behind this room is a 9' long by 13'wide kitchen. I listen to 90% jazz and female vocals and 10% rock and roll.

Everyone thanks for all the choices. I have some work to do. So far, it looks like the field is harbeth, Audio Physic,Sonus Faber and Merlin.

Will try to hear as many as possible. will report back on my choice.

Thanks again.

I compared virgos with sonus fabers.
I really liked the sound of the sonus faber electa amators, but they seemed to really lack dynamic impact. They still sounded wonderful though- with an extremely coherent timbre throughout the range.
The Virgos, which I bought, are also very coherent (a tough goal in the $3000 price range) but had the added bass extension and more of a lively, rhythmic feel.
The difference would be easily recognized in a bruckner symphony, I use Celibidache conducting Munich on EMI. I love the huge brass impact whenever they make thier entrances. With the virgos it was what I wanted, but with the Sonus Faber's I never really felt the excitement the same way. I was actually sort of let down, because the speakers are so nice in every other regard.