Does putting "bookshelf" speakers actually on a bookshelf necessarily kill everything a high quality speaker has to offer, or is that only true for bookshelf speakers that arn't really designed for bookshelf or next to the wall applications? It seems to me that there are many instances where the only place to put a speaker is on a shelf or on the wall. Have high end speaker manufacturers totally ignored this marget segment, or is it impossible to design for (which doesn't seem likely)? The Revel M20's mentioned apparently have a "External Placement Compensation Control for optimizing the loudspeakers response for flush-mount, bookshelf, or stand-mount applications". So it seems at least Revel have thought about it. Are they alone?
Real "Bookshelf" speaker 4 bookshelf or wall-mount
looking to upgrade speakers used in my home office. The only place they can go is on a shelf, or mounted to the wall (which is solid). Currently using a pair of Mirage Omnistats which are designed to mount nicely on a wall. They sound pretty decent but are not stock -- WBT binding posts were added (the original one were not as "high-quality" as Mirage claimed and snapped off with some stiff spades), and after opening up the speakers to change the posts finding horrendous crossover parts quality, I swapped out the caps and resistors (to Solen fast caps and Mills resistors). They image well, give a credible soundstage, and fairly smooth up top. But they could be improved. What high-quality speakers out there are designed to be mounted on a wall, or placed on a shelf right up against the wall? Amplification is a Kora Galaxy (50 wpc), and the room isn't too large. A Sunfire subwoofer Jr. discretely handles to low end. Thanks for the help.