Front Ported Bookself speakers

[TinleyJake]

The wife threw a new wrinkle in my new speaker purchase. After exhaustingly auditionong speakers, I planned on going with MA RS1's on stands and RSLCR below the TV in our entertainment center.

Settled? Thought so but no. My wife doesn't want speakers on stands expressing that bookshelf speakers should go on bookshelves and she spent the day drawing up some impressive plans on an entertainment center that will take up most of the wall that she wants me to build that will house all electronics including the speakers on both ends on narrow shelves. I will build it so the tweeters will be at ear level and I plan in the speakers sitting on shelves extending out a bit from the sides to help reduce side reflections. The shelves will only be about 12" deep so rear ported speakers will sit fairly close to the back of the entertainment center.

I'm looking for recommendations on speakers that are front ported so I can start the audition process AGAIN!!

So far these are what I'm looking at:

PSB Image B25 (Little more high end presence compared to the RS1)
KEF IQ3 (To my ear sounds similiar to the RS1)
JM Lab Chorus 706V
Canton LE103 or LE130 (Haven't heard but rediculously cheap at Accessories4less)
Polk Audio LSi7
Polk Audio RTi6

Anything else frt ported that I should seek out?

I tend to like the netral laid back style of speaker so that puts the KEF and JM Lab's out front.

Thanks again,
Jake

 

[Gatorchong]

Usher Audio S-520, Vienna Acoustics Haydn Grand, Paradigm Titan Monitor. On a side note I have the older MA S2's and they came with a foam plug to block the port, so more than likely the RS2 will have one as well. If you're using a subwoofer the RS2's should be fine with the port plugged up.

 

[Swerd]

Your list has some good ones. I liked the KEF and JM Lab models I've heard.

Don't overlook sealed speakers, such as NHT. They make a number of smaller 2- and 3-ways (Classic Zero, Classic Two, and Classic Three) that might work well in bookshelves.

If you can build bookshelves, have you considered building speakers? That way you can build cabinets with the ports where ever you like.

I agree with Gatorchong that with a decent subwoofer, the lack of bass response (below ~80 Hz) of the bookshelf speakers won't be a problem.