Hi. I'm searching for new loudspeakers for my living room, which measures (roughly) 20' x 30'. Speakers will be on a short wall, about 8' apart. There is a window behind each speaker. At most, I can bring them about 1.5' into the room, that is, away from the rear wall (and about 2' or so in from the side walls).

I'm a little concerned with rear-firing ports, given my placement restrictions. Any concerns with putting Axioms (or any rear-ported speaker, for that matter) within a foot or so of a rear wall? Will it muddy things up?

As for models: I'm looking at the M3, M22, and M40... quite a quandary. Like the idea of the M22, but I already have (too-tall) stands and don't want to buy another pair; M3s would work with existing stands, but might be a tad small for the room; M40... ahhh... just right. Right?

The current application is 2-ch only, driven using a Rotel 50w integrated amp. Possible HT application in the future.

Appreciate any advice owners can offer (Ian, too; Alan is already off the hook for time served... )

Thanks, and good listening!!

David

hi David,

my speakers are M22 and M3. I have the M22's about 1.5 to 2 feet from the walls behind them, because if i stick them out more people will walk right into them. It hasn't really affected performance at all.

the M40's are being liquidated, so you could pick up a pair for less (about 315$). They would fill your room a little more than the M3's, however, when I had my M3's in a 20 by 15 room with a 25 watt amp, they were quite good.

To fill a room that big, go for the M40s. I wrote a long head-to-head review of the towers, and was impressed enough with the M40s to pick them up then and there. For the price there's no comparison.

I have my M40s about 16" from the wall and they sound great.