what kills soundstage depth?

Shadorne -
That is EXACTLY what they sound like! Big headphones. I set the triangle up with each side being the same length. But I will try less distance between the speakers. Or I could move my chair back. Should that accomplish the same thing?

Jimmy,

The equilateral triangle is most useful for mixing or mastering. If you want a more 'realistic' presentation then I prefer speakers facing forward (not toed in) and about 2 feet apart for 3 foot listening, 4 feet apart for 6 foot back listening, and 8 feet apart for 12 foot back listening. The further back the more natural and less like headphones it will sound - however you need correspondingly bigger space as you need at least 6 feet open space behind the listener and if you place speakers 8 feet apart then you need a room that is at least 16 feet wide.

Whatever you do DO NOT sit with your head or couch up against a wall - this is the single worst thing you can do in any listening room - if you cannot hear the damage done to audio from sitting at a wall then you probably need not waste money on audio gear. I see that you have a seat closer to the middle of he room than your couch - I assume you hear the degradation from sitting at the couch and use this seat for critical listening?

Shadorne-
Yes. That is what the rocking chair is for. Came to the same conclusion on that issue.$15 garage sale rocking chair has been biggest improvement so far. At some point I might get a more comfortable low back chair that is spouse approved but this works for now.
I will play with your ratios and see what happens.
Thx!

Shadorne
changed to the configuration that you outlined. It does get rid of the headphone effect. I still feel like the presentation is 2 dimensional but at least it is not right up in my face. I think that I will try pulling the speakers way out in to the room temporarily in a completely non wife approced manner and see if that dosent create more space.
I may not be able to get what I want with these speakers. I heard some maggies at a dealer a few weeks back and even though they were a foot and a half or so off of the back wall and there was stuff in between them, they produced a soundstage that seemed to extend a few feet behind the back wall. It was quite a trick. I just dont want them in my living room.

A dipole type radiation pattern will increase your sensation of depth due to midrange energy being reflected off the back wall.