All Merlin family members.

Capt,
You raise a big topic of its own in a few concise questions.
Indeed some treatments work better than others. It depends on what your room needs(e.g. relief from echo, bass absorption, etc.) In most cases, covering a whole wall is not a good idea.
I'd suggest reading up on basics of room acoustics on either the rives.com or realtraps.com websites. With a cheap radio shack sound meter and a Stereophile test CD you can get a useful(though not perfect) read that will help point you in the right direction; that is you'll have a better idea what ails your room. Then you can post more specific questions or read up here on how others have attacked their room issues.
FWIW, I've spent much effort recently treating a very challenging room, and the results exceeded most component upgrades. It's usually worth the trouble. Cheers,
Spencer

Bobby,

Is 8' width between the speakers too wide?

Ken

Thanks for the links, Spencer. I`ll do some research. On reflection of my question, I guess there isn`t one easy answer. Lots of variables involved. I`ll work at it.

Kyyuan
DG's speaker position is about 1.5 feet too much according to the instructions. When I had my SE's, I listened at 7 feet and enjoyed the heck out of them(room was 13 x 11). Most of the time, I was either lost in the music or asleep(2am sessions).

kyyuan, I think 8' is too wide. I used to think 8' was great - great width, depth,..... but I then moved them to 6' width, and moved my listening chair to 10' back with the alignment to the ears via the alignment gig/tool; wow........ The stage increased all around, width, depth, height, - in fact the soundstage is the widest it has ever been (depending on the recording - say a good symphony, let alone Miles KOB, a 13'-15' wide stage is regular here). With the older SE's no less (not MX's). the air of the soundstage engulfs me as well (not like a wall of sound you are seperate from, but rather included in). Better bass this way too, with centerfill, palpable players well outside the speakers, great rear corner depth(with the seating position moved back to 10') Now, I use a Joule Pre and Blue Circle amps, both through huge soundstages as well (in addition the Merlins setup well and room treated with RoomTunes). I couldn't believe it, but what the Merlins seem to do is throw a circular sound bubble - 6' apart with your seat 8-10' back, allows the stage to come together in a more complete manner, walls dissappear, as well as allows the sound to become more full/complete as well. They are not nearfield small room speakers imho.