Placement of 302's

[Guest]

Although new to this site, which I was absolutely thrilled to find, I am a long time fan of AR speakers. Bought my first high fidelity speakers, a pair of AR 3a's, back in '68, strayed for a while with a pair of JBL Century 100's, came back to the fold with the AR 11's and then bought a pair of 303A's back in '97. As a result of finding this site, picked up a pair of 302's which I intend to use as surround speakers for HT and multi-channel music. My question is this, because of placement limitations, I am forced to use the 302's as a bookshelf speaker. Although the instruction manual states this is possible, from remarks on this forum and my own knowledge of proper speaker placement, I know that stands would be preferrable, but since the room has to serve a dual purpose, and to keep peace and harmony in the household, I intend to position the 302's in a built-in bookcase that is part of the back wall of a room addition which is in the process of being constructed. Does anybody have an idea of how badly the bass will be compromised? The shelves will be 18" in depth, providing a little space between the speakers and the back of the bookcase. Any and all learned opinions will be greatly appreciated.

[Guest]

I'm also an AR fan from way back when. I've owned the AR4x, 5, 3a, 11, 10pi, and currently have a pair of AR 98Lsi. I had the 5s and the 3as on bookshelves and they sounded fine. The quality of bass depends primarily on the dimensions of the room, and secondarily on speaker placement. The closer to the walls or corners of the room, the more reinforced the bass will be. Just trying listening to them in various configurations and see what sounds best. If you're forced to have them flush against the back wall, you can at least vary the distance of the woofers from wall corners. Try placing them virtically and horizontally, and you can flip them around in the horizontal position too. Your ears will tell you what's best.