A reader exchange: "I tried today your nearfield 'headphone-like' speaker setup with a GoldNote DS10, Bakoon AMP-13R and sound|kaos Vox3a speakers spaced 3.5m apart and fully toed in toward the listening position on a sofa ~1.8 meters away. May I invite all readers to give it a try? It's like discovering Sicilian ice cream after a lifetime of British one. Listening to "Jazz at the Pawnshop", the feeling of liveliness is the best I've ever experienced." Vincenzo Picone

Here is the 'headphone-like' setup Vincenzo referenced from my review of the Polish Fram Midi 150 speakers. This is how I responded to his email:

"As you found out, it's particularly effective with little speakers which don't pose the same cosmetic challenges and are easily moved back to 'normal' should such a wide free-space setup clash with the décor. You could move yours even closer to the hot seat if you wanted still more immersion." Small speakers of course also tend to have their drivers clustered more tightly to cohere quicker with proximity.

To which Vincenzo replied: "It tried even wider and closer to my seat. The level of immersion is indeed outstanding. More precisely, the difference is on intimacy, balance and overall relaxation. I suspect this is due to the fact that room interaction now is very low? Anything else at play? It feels like listening to my HifiMan HE1000 with a more believable soundstage and more palpable sound. You once wrote about 'the musicians in my room' versus the 'I feel I'm there' dilemma. This is definitely the latter. I put on Mehldau's "O Que Sera" and it again brought up memories of Sicilian gelato. Remind me, décor aside, why do we set up audio systems as we normally do? I suspect I won't be alone here to appreciate more tips from your experience in getting the best out of this kind of setup, e.g. how to get the bass right." Vincenzo

"Yes, it seems that the closer we get to our speakers and the farther those from our wall/s, the less room interference we hear. It's not so dissimilar from Joachim Gerhardt's original setup for Audio Physic speakers. Also, we suffer less SPL-over-distance losses and can play a bit lower for the same perceived sonic intensity. Now the speakers and amp work less hard which usually means less distortion. As you noted, it eventually becomes an enormous kind of headphone facsimile. The only overreach occurs when the center image collapses to become 'dual mono'. Then you've stretched the speakers too far apart."