[indydieselnut]

My setup for a while wasn't quite as extreme as yours, but I used a pair of Dynaudio BM6A monitors directly out of my Cambridge 840C with an NHT PVC-PRO attenuator. The speakers were only about 3ft away from my head at the outside edge of my recliner, tweeters a bit above ear level. I did miss a lot of low-frequency information but the immediacy and imaging were pretty addictive. I got tired of the presentation after a while but it was a meaningful experiment.

Glad you're enjoying your setup!

 

[Frihed89]

I sometimes sit on a puff about 3 feet in front of my LS3/5A minis, which are 6 feet apart; sometimes i stand. It's like being right in front of the stage. These speakers are quite well-known for their near-field abilities and its imaging. Up this close, the sound stage is behind the speakers and extends out to the right and left, beyond them. Quite an experience.

 

[Bones13]

Once you move away from headphones (or earspeakers like the K1000), then the listening environment comes into play.

Much as I love my nice headphone setup, the soundstage thrown by an appropriately set up speaker rig, in a well done listening room is a whole different animal.

That being said, I find a better sound stage from my near fields in front of me, about 3 feet away, with or without toe in. The computer monitor in between them, and the hard surface of my desk are definate no-no's in the "listening room" setup. I occasionally push the monitor back, and put down some dampening materials on the desk (ok, my desk gets messy) and the sound is superb with my t-amp and full range speakers.

I agree that in the nearfield situation, speaker component offset is much more of a factor than when the speakers are 12 feet away.

In answer to the OP initial post - making nearfield speakers into "ear speakers" probably can be made to sound "good", but the sound field will suffer, and the benefits of a good speaker setup is lost. Unlike headphones, which will work like this, you can't move your head much in your proposed setup.

 

[starfi3ld]

I have heard the A5 with a cyrus dac + preamp. It does not tickle my senses one bit sitting 1m infront of me. No offense but it was all over the place, the bass was flat and not tight almost everything i heard was wrong. I have not heard each at either side of my ears which i will not comment.

I would suggest something like the BM5A/6A to get decent sound or the AVI ADM9.1(best value active yet), they sounded more hi-fi-ish.

 

[Dan Millheim]

The arrangement of the A5's are slightly in front and extremely "toed in" when the recliner is fully stretched out. I have wall treatments that are not visible in this picture. The Bass sub is behind the chair as is a bass acoustic corner trap.I'm using an RR-77 and Symphony Pro which also impacts the room. When the speakers were placed in front of the chair the sound was horrible and thin. In the present configuration the treated wall reflections add to the SQ. Hard to describe, but it is similar to the sound stage being in the center or part of your brain like on custom IEM's. This has nothing to do with abusive volume all "mashed" together. It just works and the sound is so good that I rarely listen to my high end headphones anymore.

 

[robm321]

Interesting OP. I think it's a cool idea and should work. It's basically a K-1000 on steroids.

If you want the traditional speaker set up in a small or square room, you could always use a diagonal placement scheme which I've used in the past to great affect. With some effort, it eliminates a lot of acoustic issues for tougher rooms.

 

[woodcans]

This thread inspired me to lug home my office speakers (John Blue 3) and hook them up on my desktop, driven by my b22. Using uMBP -> Amarra -> Weiss DAC2 -> b22. So far, thoroughly impressed. I'll have to A/B w/ the HD800s later, but for now really enjoying the sound/soundstage, even with my computer monitor b/n the speakers.