Best Speakers Close to Walls

See the post "whatz up with hi-end speakers near walls? " below. Lots of good suggestions.

"musikat" is mistaken about his assumption that "speakers wiht ports in the front" will work better closer to walls! The usually difference in acoustic space is "NEGLIGABLE" and usually fairly insignifican't to the frequencies that are applicble! The wave lengths are so long in the bass that most traditional designs aren't going to put the port far enough away from the walls to make a difference in most cases! The result is still going to be boomy, thick, dominent, "one-notey", "peaky" and uneven bass response! fOR ALL PRACTICAL PURPOSES, in smaller domestic rooms, the speakers will have to be designed to be closer to the wall, Be significantly "re-EQ'd", and you can forget about listening with a chair up agains a wall for sure!!!
So far, the Thiel Powerpoints are the best I've heard for "onwall" or "near wall" applications! (they use 45 degree angle on front baffel, and crossover manipulation I think). OTher than that, bass extension limited designs are going to be your best bet usually...leaving bass to the powered subwoofer.

The Audio Note Js and Es are designed to be against the wall. You can go to the reviews and read my review of the E.

NHT-3.3s against the back wall.

a dealer once told me that some of the older classic Klipsch designs (Belle, Lascala, Cornwall) are made to work up close to backwalls. Experience has shown that this assertion carries validity.