Merlin Speaker Placement

there is no specific placement parameters in regards to "what's best"! Each room is different, and each seating placment commands different corresponding speaker locations accordingly, for each room and set up! You could put your VSM's 32" or whatever away from the walls in one room, and it might work. YOu can do it in another room and set up, and it might not work so well. It depends greatly on several varriables.
Simply getting the speakers away from the walls as much as possibe WILL NOT make the speakers sound better per se! There are better spots in each room, and better spots to place the listening seat(s). YOu must find them by trial and error, and possibly knowing what's going on acoustically in your room in regards to the DIMMENSIONS. Reading articles about acoustics can be helpful, and there's a lot out there if you dig.
Otherwise, enlisting the help of an acoutic expert might be worth your while...unless you like to tinker yourself and are happy with whatever results comes of that.
Good luck

What they said. I have tried Bobby's recommended placement as well as the Cardas recommended placement (from the Cardas website). Both are similar and both worked well in my room. I think I stayed with the Cardas set-up. Mine are about 5' from the rear wall, 3-4' from the side walls, and 5' or so from each other. I listen from about 7' away and I do think the recommended toe-in amount sounds best in my place. The above set-up is what was recommended based on my room dimensions and listening area. Follow Merlin's directions or check out the Cardas site, and give those set ups a try in your room. It is true that they sound quite different in different placements, so some experimentation is needed. The recommended placements are a great place to begin. You can tweak it from there to suit your specific room and tastes.

No personal offense meant here, or any dirrect criticisms intended, but It never stops amazing me how FEW audio enthusiests and "AUDIOPHILES" alike actually know how to set up speakers in a room! My experiences suggest that only a scant, yes scant few know how to do it right! Amazing...that is interesting ...

Hey...foreverhifi...aren't you supposed to pay Audiogon a fee to advertise yourself on this site??? :-)

I think everyone should try the method of disecting the room into 3rd and 5ths to find the modes. It was in the Sterephile Guide to Home Theater about 2 years ago. I finally got around to trying this last summer and it works amazingly well.
Maybe someone here can link or summarize better than I but basically it puts the speakers and the listeners in the best positions to avoid the rooms interactions. My speakers are actually in the corners of the room, about 6 inches from the backs and sides for my particular room, a placement that just seems wrong. But I can hear things on records that I have never heard before. It really works!