Floorstanding speaker advice needed for long room

Firing the length is great-IF it were a dedicated space, and you could push the speakers out 6 feet and your seat is somewhere just off the middle of the room.

Reality, you're using a living space. Keep the sub for service. It will still handle the under 40Khz  bass which in real world conditions, is a floorstander starts to fall off.

Some will chime in with suggestions for wall friendly brands, though nothing replaces allowing the speaker to "breath" with plenty of space behind them.

Thanks for the advice. I read Spendor A7’s can sit 20-30cm from the wall so that would work (although I need to look into how close to each other they can be). As they’re 2 way, I’d need to keep the Rel.

Most conventional loudspeakers will work near a wall, they just won't be ideal. Skip anything with a rear port. 

The Spendor will be fine. I doubt that you need a subwoofer with them! BTW, I have owned Spendor  floorstanders ( S8E ) with the same linear flow port design and had no problem when placed close to the wall!

I use portable panels at the back of my room to treat an open door way, would recommend tring them as you can move them around as needed. IMO the panels are more important for a room than what speaker you pick:

Thanks for all your advice/comments. I think I’ll audition the Spendors. I understand  that whatever I buy will sound better with space between them and the backwall so it will be a compromise but I want a set of speakers that will sound good for now in my current set up without being boomy until we move in 3 or 4 years.

Audio Note speakers are designed to be placed against the rear wall. There are others as well.

I recommend 4 of these, two behind the MLP at the same distance that you are from the plane of the two front speakers and then one each at the first reflection points on the side walls. You can experiment with the reflective side on the side walls but use the absorptive sides behind you.

Panels aren’t an option as I have my set up in the living room and as much as I want good sound, I don’t want to turn the living room into a recording studio, even if the panels are portable, moving them around etc. is not a step too far for me personally.

Do not overlook the Vandersteen VLR's. They are made to be placed in a bookshelf. With the right power, they can really fill a room, esp. with a sub. They also work on stands. They look like a basic bookshelf speaker, but out perform many speakers that cost much more.

The Rega Aura is just a phono phono stage, isn't it?

B

My bad, I meant Rega Aethos. Thanks for your feedback, I’ll look into them.

Hi @side22olto,  My room is about 15 ' wide and 40 feet long.  Family room, eat in space and kitchen.  My Revel Salon 2's fill the room amazingly well!  Their height and size are awesome.  I can even listen around the corner in the (now) open Dining room.  Keep the sub(s) I have two Rel Carbon Specials which make a huge difference.  I run the Revels at full spectrum with great amplification.  A deal at around 12k used.  Ken

Zu Audio speakers would work and I agree, you should keep and use the REL T7.

Definitely look at the AM Acoustics room simulator to get an idea of your lowest room modes and where they occur.   This will help you understand your speaker placement choices, as well as what kind of bass traps, if any, you'll need.

Another interesting tool for you to use would be the Room EQ Wizard's room simulator, which let's you locate multiple sources and see how it would work out, such as two small wall mounted speakers plus a sub. :)

PS- Subs have a great advantage that you can use an EQ just for them, which helps a great deal in handling room modes and speaker integration. In a difficult room, with limited placement options, a satellite/sub configuration may make the most sense.

@erik_squires the simulator sounds interesting, how do I find more details? (Nothing came up as an exact match on a search), thanks.

I’m thinking now to audition the Spendor a7’s, some Sonus Faber’s at the same price bracket and the dynaudio.

Larsen's are designed to be against the wall, haven't heard them but reviews are very favorable.

@side22olto: there are many possibilities for you to consider depending, of course, upon your amplification source, budget, room accoustics, etc. Rear ported designs need not necessarily be dismissed out of hand, as one reader suggested. All depends upon how the ports are tuned. Although best to be avoided, if possible, in my opinion, ports can be modulated, to some extent, with bungs. The Dynaudio speakers that I've spent serious seat-time with over the years have always impressed me with their detail and neutrality. As with any choice for a component, but more so with speakers and power source(s), you would do well to consider how well these components pair. I've recently spent serious seat-time with the Spendor A4. Although I liked what I heard of them, I felt they were seriously constrained or hampered by the 60 WATT NAD amp the salesperson had them paired with. In addition to the Dynaudio and Spendor that you've mentioned, I would encourage you to do some serious seat-time with Monitor Audio, Paradigm and Revel in scheduled and controlled listening sessions or auditions (i.e.  try to replicate or approximate you home conditions, including source components, as much as possible). Good luck!

@side22olto: P.S. As for the sub issue, hang onto it and see what your ears think after you've brought your new babies home and have fully broken them in. Depending upon what kinds of music you enjoy and a host of other factors, you may find it needs to remain in play.  Enjoy!  

https://www.roomeqwizard.com/help/help_en-GB/html/modalsim.html

Thanks again for all the advice (looks like there’s no “like” function so I can’t like the comments. It makes sense to hang on to the Rel and see how the new speakers sound so will definitely be doing that. I’m hoping whichever speakers I get will sound fine 20cm from the wall in this house and hopefully get more space in the next one. Will give my local dealer a call and try to set up some auditions. The only issue is having to make a fairly quick decision. If I can trial 3 or 4 different models in a row with the same amp as I have at home and the same 3 or 4 records it should be doable.

@erik_squires thank you for sharing the links. 

@erik_squires thanks for the link

After auditioning B&W704’s, Sonetto III’s, and Acoustic Energy AE520’s, I settled on the AE520’s (paired with my Rel T7 sub) and they arrived today! Now starts that awful job of having to break them in 😉

"awful" :)