Recommendations for monitor/bookshelf speakers

In practice, with shelf placement, the use of a front or rear port is not as important as you may think. What will impact the sound more is whether the speakers will be placed on shelves which are enclosed. With enclosed shelves, you will essentially be placing the speaker box inside another box. This type of placement will make all speakers sound pretty much the same, which is just OK. You will lose a lot of the nuances. On open shelves, the speaker sound will not be as closed in and will have a chance to open up.

I can tell you that if your shelves will be enclosed, there are a number of rear ported speakers that are designed with near rear wall placement in mind ... the Rega R1s, for example. The Regas are probably one of the best for this type of application. I was also surprised with how well the Energy RC10's sounded inside an enclosed bookcase. Equally surprising was how poorly the Spendor SA1's and Totem Mites sounded on enclosed shelves.

If the shelves will be open, then the Ascend Acoustic Sierra 1's would work very well. The Sierras can also be placed on their sides with no ill effects. My comments are experienced based as I have owned every speaker that I mention and have lived with speakers on enclosed shelves and on top of bookcases for decades.

My tastes in music run similar to yours ... Americana, folk, country, roots, etc. Try Rosanne Cash's 'The List' or Stills/ Young 'Long May You Run' when/if you audition.

Rich

As I reread your original thread, by constructing these built-is will you be turning your 12 x 12 room into a 12 X10 room?

Rich

Your set-up should work.

What I have just found frustrating with the 'enclosed bookcase/ enclosed bookshelf' type of placement is that the more expensive speakers don't usually perform much better than more modestly priced speakers.

So, I am not surprised that Harbeths are not mentioned ... you will not get your money's worth.

I had picked up Rega Aras for $300 NOS and they performed well on enclosed shelves. Good bass for their size. I also used Energy RC10s ($350) and they performed well, I decided to do a major upgrade and purchased the Spendor SA1 ($2100) and they sounded mediocre, which surprised me since they are sealed boxes and port issues should not be an issue. Also, the Spendors were designed with shelf placement in mind. I then auditioned Totem Mites ($750) and loved them in the store, but they were just so so on enclosed shelves. It is the enclosed aspect that is the great equalizer.

I came across the Ascend Acoustic Sierras and they have given me the upgrade boost that I was looking for. I had them on shelves and recently have moved them to on top of the bookcases. The sound really opened up when I took them out of the enclosed setting.

Rich