System Help

"Can the room make that much of a difference?
"

Yes, IMHO, the room should be considered the MOST
important component in your system.

Keep trying with room placement and setup. You will
slowly get it dialed in.

It's a journey not a sprint...

My suggestion would be this: If you presently have the speakers along the 16' wall move them to the 32' wall, or vice-versa. This will definitely affect the bass balance and imaging so it will provide you with a clear impression of which placement works best in that particular room.

Sometimes you can put the speakers across a corner (with the corner in the center of the two speakers and get good results but I would try my first suggestion before trying the speakers across a corner.

Rooms can make all the difference between WOW!! and ho-hum, as you are learning. And if you don't have a good AC power conditioner or power regenerator in your system, I'd suggest that you look into getting one.

No one can say for sure, but from looking at your system, your amps may not be up to the task of running those speakers in a room that big. If you can borrow an amp from a friend or local dealer, that would probably be a good first move. If you can't borrow one, Cable Company has amps to send out for demo.