Recommendation of a good nearfield speaker

My best experience with near field listening was with a pair of Acoustic Energy AE1 Signature, you can go for the newer version or which ever version that fits the budget.

I would think LS3/5A would be great too.

I'd like to sit between 3-5 feet and use stands. I want something where the sound wraps around my head like headphones. Not a speaker with a deep soundstage that fills the room.

First of all, to me, the best near field speakers are the ones with a sensitivity rating of 99 dB and higher. Because you do not need lots of power to increase the SPL. A low power amp is all you need. Less power, less noise, more music. Make sense? Why go 5 watts when you only need 500 mW? A high sensitivity speaker, set up right with decent amplifier (not noisy ones) is very dynamic and will produce all even the small nuances you will have a hard time hearing on less sensitive speakers. In the same token, set up is important so as not to have a noisy system.

Secondly, in my opinion, active speakers are much better at nearfield listening than conventional ones. The amp only "sees" the voice coil of the drivers thus, are not subjected much to freq shifts from the XO required for a two or more designs. Read about it, you will understand why.

regards

"Less power, less noise, more music. Make sense?" Not really, high sensitivity speakers are prone to let more noise in and through. Why would there be more music? Low powered amps (500 mW) will have less headroom and will probably clip sooner. Many active speakers still have XO's.

Look into the Omega line of speakers. They are a high eff. single driver design. Give Louis at Omega a call. He will set you up right.