Yea....I think if I stay away from the rear port, most of the suggestions will be fine. As mentioned above and  before ---it's all about learning how the gear behaves in the studio. thanks

That's the thing , I've now been in 2 home studio's with the HS8's and I also demoed them in a store once where I got to compair with a bunch of other top selling brands. By far the worst that day where those yellow coned Rockets. I found many monitors where way to bass heavy.  I've just never seen or heard the MS series. They look totally different and they are not as powerful
 but who knows, they might be great,, I would have to demo them. 
 
 I get a magazine called Professional Sound and they review one or two Canadian studios each issue. You see the Genelecs and the Yamaha's HS series a lot. Of course you see more of the NSM 10's too as well as little Auratones.
 
FYI soffit mount speakers are not near field. They are BIG speakers and made to crank it up. That only works in a REAL control room with the traditional layout with the listening position mid room. I sort of have the same idea with my Alto TS 112 PA speakers up on stands. I proof my backing tracks with those.
 
The original idea of a Near Field Monitor was they go on what was once called the meter bridge which was of course mid room so always at least 3' to the glass wall looking into the live room. I would guess this was to avoid listening fatigue from the mains. 
 
Don't rule out rear porting speakers just yet. I'd did a lot of reading yesterday and lots of people using rear ports and some very close to the walls. I looked at my friend set up last night and his HS8 are about 16" from a very very dead wall. His mix position is in a 8' wide space and the front wall and sides walls for about 6' are 4" rock wool covered with loose knit fabric.  
 
I found a few threads on Gear Slutz with the topic. Plenty of people using Genelecs and HS-5 or 8's near walls. Most had treated the walls. I was going to treat my wall anyhow.  
Another comments I read - many found with the smaller speakers, like the HS5 the  bass enhancement was actually welcome and these people were having no issues at all with mixes translating to other playback systems... the bottom line with monitors. 
 
So myself I am not turned away with my choice of the HS8. But I might even look at the HS 5 as being more appropriate replacement for my NSM 10's. 
 
And I will look at other monitors when the time comes, but after that first test I did I will want to repeat that in a store again. Trouble is each store in Vancouver carries only some brands. 

Well take the MSP 5 = 40 Watts and the HS 5 = 70 watts. 
40 watts seems pretty wimpy.. I've always had at least 70 - 120 watts powering my NMS 10's. 
I realise these are all bi Amped and class D is different but the MSP series is almost half the power for same size LF driver power. 
 
I will certainly be looking at the MSP's as Yamaha has done me well over my 40 years of owning gear. If I could have afforded to, I would have bought the Yamaha DXR 12" boxes instead of the Alto's, but the Alto's were half the price so I took the chance and it's worked out 100% so far. 

The Yamaha website is a little buggy and I can't pull up a compair between the HS and MS series but note there is the MSP 5 studio as well as just the plain MSP5A they don't seem to have specs for the Studio. 
 
http://usa.yamaha.com/products/music-production/speakers/msp_studio_series/?selected=43547_43544_219980_&mode=compare
 
MSP5A - 
 LF: 40W at 400Hz, THD=0.02%, RL=4 ohms; HF: 27W at 10kHz, THD=0.02%, RL= 6 ohms 
http://usa.yamaha.com/products/music-production/speakers/hs_series/?selected=626718_626730_626725_&mode=compare
 
HS 5    70W (LF:45W, HF:25W)
 
So yes they are pretty close in power it's just a bit confusing how Yamaha posts the specs. 

Thanks to both of you. I just read your remarks---which were helpful.

No they are all the latest models. Retail store often only seem to stock what sells the most. Rare you can walk in and try every model of any particular brand. 
One thing you can do is order from Sweetwater and return them if your not happy. 
That doesn't work for me in Canada. I have to pay duty at the border and it's a hassle to get that part back from the Feds. 
 
Thanks once again Steve, Your correct that that comparison shows everything very clearly. You figure Yamaha would have a better web site.. I don't even see links for the owners manuals which is something I often download while shopping. I was curious what Yamaha say's about rear port distances, but I thing you've sold me on looking at the MSP series. 

Guitar Center retail stores are the worst place to buy recording gear. As Johnny notes, they are the 7-11 of music stores, stocking many inexpensive products with large margins that appeal to the gullible. Of course, you can get pretty much anything from their online store, as well as from their sibling Musician's Friend. (They are not your friend, btw, but they often have the lowest prices.) Check around and see if there are other local retailers that maybe you don't know about; you might be surprised. 
 
If buying from a local retailer isn't possible, Sweetwater is highly recommended. I've only had a couple issues over the many years I've been a customer (e.g. a keyboard case that didn't fit my synth and cost me $93 to ship back) but overall they've been helpful and customer-oriented.
 
But I still recommend trying the used market first. Guitar Center does have a used gear section on their website that you might want to check out. Craigslist is another avenue, Reverb.com is another.

Follow-up. I bought the Yamaha MSP7s and was missing lows (sans subwoofer) and also missing something in the mids. That's ---just me.
 
I ended up settling on AdamA7Xs and love them.
 
 Sweetwater is always so nice, I don't think I'm gonna ask to return them (MSP7)   (8 weeks late, though they do bend the rules)...so, they are for sale.
 
thanks again for your input guys!