Is it possible to have Good Imaging close to wall

"Bo, the reality is that people are misinformed and ill advised everywhere not just
in audio."

So true, unfortunately.

The information is there more than ever, but so much noise to blur the picture....

Mapman: I have heard Avantgarde two times at audio events, not in my room. The first was bad and not properly adjusted I think. The second was great, all my preconceptions about horns just fell flat. So I don't know, these may work even better in your context, than Audiokinesis speakers. But for me, in my context, I like these speakers better, they are not so totally horny if you forgive a phrase, there is more conventional driver action, which I like. They are more mainstream so to speak. So I feel no need to change.

Avantgarde speakers is another example of speakers that very often sound bad
at shows. One would not expect this to be the case, as by design the sound they
produce should be affected less by the room (unlike in the MBLs). However,
audio dealers are "resourceful" (at least in the Netherlands) and they
manage to find so many ways to screw up the sound of a system.

With the right settings for the crossover and when driven with appropriate
electronics they will put out a large and realistic sound-stage. This even when
placed right against the wall. If, however, one is driving them with Bryston
power amps (like the dutch importer does) that tends to happen less often.

In the last 2 years there were only bad demos with different horn loudspeakers in the Netherlands during shows.

The rooms are not that good. But I still think that the knowledge of the people who sell it is not good enough.

Often they are not music lovers. The music they use is not the music they love. But they use it because they think it gives them a good demo.

At shows there need to be more told about music and artists. I want live music and I want to talk about it.

Excellent thread! Thanks guys.

I also am an MBL lover. Heard them the past two years at RMAF. MBL 101's are still the best sounding speakers I have heard, in my oppinion, to my ears, for my tastes. It's the only set-up I've heard that rivals the Funktion One set-up at Beta Nightclub in terms of dynamics.

This thread got me thinking about speaker placement again. I prefer my speakers to be pulled out as far as possible from the wall behind them because it makes the soundstage deeper in my experience, but for some reason, I didn't appy that logic to side wall distances. I felt like my soundstage is wider the further apart the speakers are but I'll be revisiting that theory of mine. Maybe I can get a wider soundstage if I pull them away from the sidewalls a little more... Room is 11x13 fyi.