I'm thinking about getting a pair of M60s, they will be placed a little too close together - about 5'3" measured from the center of each speaker, but my main question is this: what is the minimum distance they should be from the wall they are in front of? I really don't have any room to move them foward more than an inch or so.

Hello Roy

What are your room dimensions? Not sure you would want m60's if you can only seperate them by a little over 5ft? Mine are like 11ft apart. Will it work, yes, but you may not get the best experience.

Also, the back of the m60's have bass ports, that filter low frequencies into the room. Again, yes it will work, but you really need to allow more than an inch, in my opinion. Maybe around 4" or more would be better.

Also important is how far you are sitting from them.

Roy, welcome. As the other replies indicated, the size of your room and how far you sit from the speakers are relevant. A basic rule-of-thumb is to separate the speakers about the same distance as your distance from them.

I had considered going with the M60's, but I did not have room to move them away from the wall, so I decided to go with the M22's (and upgraded to the EP500 to compensate )

JohnK, does this rule of thumb apply to the M22 bookshelves as well? I am waiting for my system to arrive any day now and was considering keeping them 10 ft apart, as I will be sitting 10-12 feet away from my HT setup.

That should work fine, especially since you have a sub in the equation. You may find you may need to toe (angle) them in just a bit towards the main listening position.