Haha...well that's the idea, we'll see how she responds. I can already tell a big difference. Placing the speakers 3 ft away from the wall would be rediculous. They'd be in the middle of the room.
I'm thinking with some acoustic treatments this will really be taken care of. I may be getting ahead of myself so we'll see how it responds tomorrow at higher levels. If the improvements remain at higher volume, and she's ok with the new positioning, I think I can chip away at this with all of the other suggestions and it would solve the problem We'll see. Any more ideas would always help.
I could use some guidance with cables. From what I gather, each cable has a different sound signature. People think that "transparency" is the goal, but I don't fall into that camp. There is so much that affects sound from the moment the artist opens his mouth or plays an instrument so I've accepted that fact and all I care about is what I like. And right now I would like a little less bass, maybe a little more detail and I always want more sweetness in the midrange (but without the expense of anything else at this point) and soundstage. If I had to give grades to those categories it would be ...
Sweet midrange - 90%
Soundstage - 65%
High end detail - 75%
Controlled tight bass - 40% (this might be much better with new speaker placement)
Realism - 80%
Dynamics - 80%
Of course if you asked me this a few months ago they'd be higher ;)