You should limit your search to front-ported speakers.

The focal Chorus 706 is an excellent speaker that sells for only $600 per pair; amazingly good for such a low price.

The NHT Classic 3 is also an excellent speaker, and it is sealed; no ports at all. This speaker has been around for over 10 years, and has always had great reviews. They sell for $799/pair, I believe.

Either of those should deliver some good sound for you.

fruckman wrote:

Wanting recommendations for high quality bookshelf speakers that will sit on a bookshelf and within inches of the back wall. I realize this is not ideal, and that I may wish to plug rear ports. My budget is max $2500 USD. Will consider new or used. The room is large (17' x 20' 9' ceiling) and is open to the kitchen. I've had a similar setup many years ago with the Spendor 3/1 and loved it. Am considering speakers such as Harbeth P3ESR, Spendor 3/1, Dynaudio Focus 160. The TV and 2-channel audio system will play through these speakers. YOUR THOUGHTS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!

You should limit your search to front-ported speakers.

The focal Chorus 706 is an excellent speaker that sells for only $600 per pair; amazingly good for such a low price.

The NHT Classic 3 is also an excellent speaker, and it is sealed; no ports at all. This speaker has been around for over 10 years, and has always had great reviews. They sell for $799/pair, I believe.

Either of those should deliver some good sound for you.

fruckman wrote:

Wanting recommendations for high quality bookshelf speakers that will sit on a bookshelf and within inches of the back wall. I realize this is not ideal, and that I may wish to plug rear ports. My budget is max $2500 USD. Will consider new or used. The room is large (17' x 20' 9' ceiling) and is open to the kitchen. I've had a similar setup many years ago with the Spendor 3/1 and loved it. Am considering speakers such as Harbeth P3ESR, Spendor 3/1, Dynaudio Focus 160. The TV and 2-channel audio system will play through these speakers. YOUR THOUGHTS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!

You should limit your search to front-ported speakers.

The focal Chorus 706 is an excellent speaker that sells for only $600 per pair; amazingly good for such a low price.

The NHT Classic 3 is also an excellent speaker, and it is sealed; no ports at all. This speaker has been around for over 10 years, and has always had great reviews. They sell for $799/pair, I believe.

Either of those should deliver some good sound for you.

fruckman wrote:

Wanting recommendations for high quality bookshelf speakers that will sit on a bookshelf and within inches of the back wall. I realize this is not ideal, and that I may wish to plug rear ports. My budget is max $2500 USD. Will consider new or used. The room is large (17' x 20' 9' ceiling) and is open to the kitchen. I've had a similar setup many years ago with the Spendor 3/1 and loved it. Am considering speakers such as Harbeth P3ESR, Spendor 3/1, Dynaudio Focus 160. The TV and 2-channel audio system will play through these speakers. YOUR THOUGHTS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!

You should limit your search to front-ported speakers.

The focal Chorus 706 is an excellent speaker that sells for only $600 per pair; amazingly good for such a low price.

The NHT Classic 3 is also an excellent speaker, and it is sealed; no ports at all. This speaker has been around for over 10 years, and has always had great reviews. They sell for $799/pair, I believe.

Either of those should deliver some good sound for you.

fruckman wrote:

Wanting recommendations for high quality bookshelf speakers that will sit on a bookshelf and within inches of the back wall. I realize this is not ideal, and that I may wish to plug rear ports. My budget is max $2500 USD. Will consider new or used. The room is large (17' x 20' 9' ceiling) and is open to the kitchen. I've had a similar setup many years ago with the Spendor 3/1 and loved it. Am considering speakers such as Harbeth P3ESR, Spendor 3/1, Dynaudio Focus 160. The TV and 2-channel audio system will play through these speakers. YOUR THOUGHTS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!

You should limit your search to front-ported speakers.

The focal Chorus 706 is an excellent speaker that sells for only $600 per pair; amazingly good for such a low price.

The NHT Classic 3 is also an excellent speaker, and it is sealed; no ports at all. This speaker has been around for over 10 years, and has always had great reviews. They sell for $799/pair, I believe.

Either of those should deliver some good sound for you.

fruckman wrote:

Wanting recommendations for high quality bookshelf speakers that will sit on a bookshelf and within inches of the back wall. I realize this is not ideal, and that I may wish to plug rear ports. My budget is max $2500 USD. Will consider new or used. The room is large (17' x 20' 9' ceiling) and is open to the kitchen. I've had a similar setup many years ago with the Spendor 3/1 and loved it. Am considering speakers such as Harbeth P3ESR, Spendor 3/1, Dynaudio Focus 160. The TV and 2-channel audio system will play through these speakers. YOUR THOUGHTS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!

You should limit your search to front-ported speakers.

The focal Chorus 706 is an excellent speaker that sells for only $600 per pair; amazingly good for such a low price.

The NHT Classic 3 is also an excellent speaker, and it is sealed; no ports at all. This speaker has been around for over 10 years, and has always had great reviews. They sell for $799/pair, I believe.

Either of those should deliver some good sound for you.

fruckman wrote:

Wanting recommendations for high quality bookshelf speakers that will sit on a bookshelf and within inches of the back wall. I realize this is not ideal, and that I may wish to plug rear ports. My budget is max $2500 USD. Will consider new or used. The room is large (17' x 20' 9' ceiling) and is open to the kitchen. I've had a similar setup many years ago with the Spendor 3/1 and loved it. Am considering speakers such as Harbeth P3ESR, Spendor 3/1, Dynaudio Focus 160. The TV and 2-channel audio system will play through these speakers. YOUR THOUGHTS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!

You should limit your search to front-ported speakers.

The focal Chorus 706 is an excellent speaker that sells for only $600 per pair; amazingly good for such a low price.

The NHT Classic 3 is also an excellent speaker, and it is sealed; no ports at all. This speaker has been around for over 10 years, and has always had great reviews. They sell for $799/pair, I believe.

Either of those should deliver some good sound for you.

fruckman wrote:

Wanting recommendations for high quality bookshelf speakers that will sit on a bookshelf and within inches of the back wall. I realize this is not ideal, and that I may wish to plug rear ports. My budget is max $2500 USD. Will consider new or used. The room is large (17' x 20' 9' ceiling) and is open to the kitchen. I've had a similar setup many years ago with the Spendor 3/1 and loved it. Am considering speakers such as Harbeth P3ESR, Spendor 3/1, Dynaudio Focus 160. The TV and 2-channel audio system will play through these speakers. YOUR THOUGHTS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!

You should limit your search to front-ported speakers or sealed speakers.

The Focal Chorus 706 is an excellent front-ported speaker that sells for only $600 per pair; amazingly good for such a low price.

The NHT Classic 3 is also an excellent speaker, and it is sealed; no ports at all. This speaker has been around for over 10 years, and has always had great reviews. They sell for $799/pair, I believe.

Either of those should deliver some good sound for you.

fruckman wrote:

Wanting recommendations for high quality bookshelf speakers that will sit on a bookshelf and within inches of the back wall. I realize this is not ideal, and that I may wish to plug rear ports. My budget is max $2500 USD. Will consider new or used. The room is large (17' x 20' 9' ceiling) and is open to the kitchen. I've had a similar setup many years ago with the Spendor 3/1 and loved it. Am considering speakers such as Harbeth P3ESR, Spendor 3/1, Dynaudio Focus 160. The TV and 2-channel audio system will play through these speakers. YOUR THOUGHTS ARE MUCH APPRECIATED!

I have had my Revel Performa3 3 M105s installed with port bungs sitting on top of bookshelves instead of in them. Sounded fine but expect to lose 5-10hz in bass response. In a perfect world, front ports or no ports would be what you’d get but that gives you very few choices.

I have not heard any of the three you specified but they are all wonderful manufacturers. I know Dynaudio prides itself on delivering neutral, uncolored sound.

From specs, the Harbeth’s are extremely inefficient and I would bet are going to struggle to deliver room filling sound with an SPL of 83.5. The 3/1is much more efficient with an SPL of 88dB and would be a better choice. The Dynaudio’s are in the middle at 86dB. From that alone the Spendors win.

I might also look at the Monitor Audio Gold 100s. I love that tweeter. I am waiting for the now MA studio line to come out and they may be my next speakers.

What amp are you using to drive these? Unless it struggles with low impedance speakers like a First Watt, or is low power like a First Watt you ideally will be fine with a more efficient speaker.

In a perfect world, a sealed or front ported speaker will be better than a rear ported speaker with a port bung. There at ported speaker is typically designed to sound its best with the port open and about 2 to 3 feet off the wall. Putting the bung on and pushing up up against the wall is not how it was designed to perform best. It can still work, but not ideal. For some reason I am thinking the Polk LSis are sealed as well. The front ported speakers I had still needed a couple feet of clearance. I had Raidho X-1s and the needed 9’ of space between the and at least 3’ from wall behind to sound great. Otherwise they were 4x the price of Kef LS50s and sounded about the same.

The reality is, a bookshelf is never how these things were designed. No speaker is going to be at its best in a bookshelf and you should accept you are going to fall short in terms of soundstage. You will still get clear, clean sound but a deep and rich soundstage will probably not come together.

I have not heard the ProAcs either. Others may have. Spec wise they may be your best bet since they are efficient and you won’t need to seal the port. You will get much better bass extension.

fruckman wrote:

You advise to "limit your search to front-ported speakers", but recommend the NHT sealed speakers. Do you believe front-ported speakers are preferable to sealed for my application (near the back wall)?

Actually, sealed speakers are ideal, but NHT is one of very few that make them.

Front-ported speakers are just as good, and may require less power than sealed speakers, which are usually a bit inefficient (need more amplifier power).

fruckman wrote:

My current amp is a 25 year old Rotel RB-980BX with a continuous power output of 120 wps minimum RMS into 8 ohms and DIN power output of 220 wps into 4 ohms. I'm thinking of replacing it given its age. Your opinion, would I likely gain much sonically by doing so? Regarding placement, I get that bookshelves will compromise the speakers' potential. I'm simply trying to make the best of it.

That is a pretty good amplifier.

It would cost several thousand dollars to get something better, and the improvement might not be very great anyway.

Since you have that much power, I recommend the NHT Classic 3 speakers.

Hi,

This is my 1st post on this forum. I am not a native english speaker, so will try to share my experience with various speakers within my limited vocabulary.

I have a corner in my small apartment, where I listen to my music. I had bass management issues with KEF Q900 (rear port) floor standing speakers, which were placed closer to the front wall. I replaced with bookshelf KEF LS50 few months back. Since LS50 also have rear port (I used the bunge to plug them) the boomy bass issues were still there. Very recently I replaced LS50 with ATC SCM 19 (probably the largest bookshelves I have ever seen). ATCs are sealed design, and I am thrilled to report here that previous bass issues are now completely cured. I use them with my Roksan Caspian M2 AMP (85w @8Ohms) without any issues. These speakers have excellent clarity with reasonable bass (I do not miss any of my previous speakers for the want of bass).

I would also like to share my experience with cables (although it was not the original question). I have few different set of coaxial cables (Canare - copper, Audioquest Cinnamon with 1.25% silver) which I use in my system to connect CD transport to DAC. Audioquest gives me cleanest sound and much thinner BASS. You might want to consider looking at your cables also to manage some of the bass.

Good luck with your research and I hope you get what are you looking for. Thank you.