Best speakers for near-field listening?

You should only consider speakers specially designed for near field use. Typical audiophile speakers are not tonally balanced for the type of close up listening you are intending. Look at pro oriented speakers. Tannoy, JBL, KRK and Genelec all make outstanding quality near field speakers. These products are not audiophile speakers -- they are monitors intended for professional use. They are accurate rather than euphonic. I would normally hesitate to recommend this type of product, but your situation is extreme. Good luck.

The venerable Rogers LS3/5A would be very difficult to beat in this application. Afterall, was it not designed to operate within the confines of a BBC broadcasting van? Buy really solid 4 point stands, spikes on bottom and use Navcom tile on top to stablize. Unbeatable at that price for that application. Good Luck.

You will get good sound from the MMG's. I have spendor BC-1 which work fine in nearfield but my magnepans work nearly as well. Plus if you get in a space that is larger, you are set up. One other advantage you have is the 30 day home trial that magnepan offers. You won't be sorry.

Your room is too small for good system, near field set-up means listening position and speakers form equilateral triangle, so your speakers are only going to be about 4ft apart also which gives very small 3D presentation, small monitors are best, but still very limited in your space. Any speaker will work in nearfield position, but most set-ups form 6-9ft equilateral triangle which produces spacious 3D soundstage.......the point of nearfield set-up is to minimize secondary reflections from other surfaces, Sam

check out the eminent technology lft-11 - this is specifically designed for *really* nearfield applications - i.e. computer speakers. this is an audiophile planar loudspeaker w/two-6.5" dynamic drivers in a separate enclosure. get more info at: http://www.eminent-tech.com/lft11prod.html good luck, doug

AudioPhysics will be perfect for you.

If your taste goes toward brighter, detailed-sounding speakers and you don't need a whole lot of bass, check out the ProAc Studio 100's. They call them "Studio" 100's for a good reason -- they're made for nearfield monitoring. The port is even on the front so you can back them up close to a wall (not typical of ProAc design). You can find them in lots of pro studios around the world. Note: They mate well with Transparent cables.

I've had MMG's for over 4 years, and can definitely say that they do NOT work at such close distance (6 or 7 feet minimum, the planar emissive surface is very large compared to small cone speakers, and each driver panel does not sum in phase at closer distances...this should be common knowledge). I've owned Alesis Monitor Ones for 6 years now, and for the $300 new, they are the best buy out there! Recently, I got a pair of Norwex Nisse monitors to try, and they seem nice so far, they're $1000. I've not compared these with other monitor speakers, although most fans of this type think that the LS 3/5 is the standard by which the others are measured...mainly because they've been around for so long. I prefer soft domes, myself.

I would not hesitate to stick with the Meadowlarks (kestrels or shearwaters) and I think the Proac Studio 100 is an excellent recommendation (a colored but beautiful sounding speaker that you could sit right next to if you wanted. The key to enjoying sound in small rooms is stay small and stick with tubes. Best of luck