New Room Long wall or short wall?


For the first time in my life I get to set up a system in a new completely empty room. I will treat and furnish it as required for the best sound. After 40 years of this, I know what I am doing, but, not sure where to start. You guys and gals who have been through this before can save me a whole lot of trouble and time by advising me on whether to try the speakers along the short wall or the long wall. I know, I know, I should try both ways and see which works best. But, I'm hoping to save some time here fooling around and cut to the chase and listen to others who may have a definitive opinion on my question. You'll probably go 50/50, but, oh well, lets give it a shot.
Room is 9.5 feet by 14.25 feet. Much smaller than I would like, but it is what it is. I will be using components I already have so please don't tell me to change this or that to work with the room. There will be vintage EL84 tube amplification and a heavy focus on analog. Speakers are Totem Forests or Triangle Comet's if the Forests prove to be too much in this small space. Feel free to discuss that aspect as well. Thank you all in advance for any comments or ideas. If you want to keep it short, just simply vote: Short, or Long.
hifiharv
FWIW, something else occurred to me about the long wall setup (which I've been enjoying many years now). There is known to be an audible comb-filtering effect from the rear wall the closer you sit to it. What I believe is generally not often taken into account here is that this can be mitigated at least somewhat by throwing the right amount and type of acoustic treatment on the rear wall. It's just that you don't often come accross users who've done this, mostly, I suspect, due to the WAF (as in my case). But, just whether or not such a thing could tip the balance for you in favor of the long wall, in practice I can't actually say. But, currently with my own rig with the seat along the rear wall and leaning forward in the chair, the presentation is at it's most 3D-like. When leaning back the presentation becomes noticeably more panoramic. It isn't as though it becomes flat. The difference is more like the difference between sitting in the first few rows vs the middle rows at a classical concert. In either case the system soundstage depth seems to extend well enough beyond the front wall and whichever perspective I prefer is at my choosing. I suppose I should add, however, of course, that true nearfield listening IME tends to minimize many of the soundstaging/reflection disadvantages of small rooms whether along the long or short wall.
Early on in the hobby I read somewhere that having speakers along the long wall is supposed to be the better setup for improved low bass when compared to the short wall setup. Fact or fiction?
In my experience in my room, bass enhancement was the only positive attribute of placing speakers along the long wall. You had to tame it, but it was there. In all other respects too numerous to mention, the short wall was better for me.
The Totem Forest sound best when they are placed 4 to 5 feet out from the back wall and ideally 2 to 3 feet from the sidewalls so it would seem that the short wall is your best choice. Unfortunately in this hobby there are no easy outs you must try it both ways to be sure. Happy Listening.
I think that the size of your room may be the deciding factor. If you use the long wall set-up and pull the speakers out from the back wall, you may not have enough distance for the sound to become integrated. I use a long-wall set-up, but my Zu Def 4s are within inches from the back wall; and my short wall is 15' long allowing sound integration.