The space between the speakers

Stringreen,

I would think it would be more the soundstaging than imaging that would be compromised. I myself have a similar size cabinet between my two speakers and have pulled my speakers out to where the fronts are approximately 12" in front of the cabinet. Imaging is quite good from side to side and extends beyond the sides of the speakers. Soundstaging is not bad either, as I get good height but I will say the "stage" itself is not as deep (front to back) as I would like it to be. Of course, if the cabinet wasn't in the way, I would get another three foot of "stage" depth. As it is, the stage seems to extend from the front of cabinet to about five or six foot out into my living from. Of course, my system is set up in a "real world" enviroment, as are most peoples, and I've had to accept some necessary compromises because of that. Nevertheless, I'm satified sonically with what I was able to achieve

With most speakers, the distance from the wall behind will make more of a difference, especially in tonal balance. The cabinet's impact is usually reduction in image specificity and soundstaging. It depends on what matters to you. Good room acoustic treatment will help somewhat to counter the problem.
Check out rives.com, realtraps.com and audioasylum.com's acousticsforum to educate yourself on the topic. corner bass traps and absorptive panels at 1st reflection points will help greatly in most situations. Cheers,
Spencer

All great comments above. Compromises are a fact of life.

If you can get the speakers at least 12 inches forward and a couple of feet between the edge of the TV and the side of the speaker then it will be negligible and if you throw a thick blanket over the TV likely close to inaudible.

Alternatively you can build speakers into a custom wall so everything is as flush as practically possible - like this. Worth it IMHO if you are serious about "high-end" and want the most out of it. (However this will give you more bass response - extremely useful because reasonable bass SPL is ultra-expensive to generate with less than 1% audiophile distortion levels - but will give you stronger room modal issues and may require EQ on the speaker and some rear wall behind listener treatments)

If you are unwilling to position the speakers a small distance away from the TV (at least two feet) or build a custom in-wall setup (talk to Rives or others) then I think your proposed investment in "high-end" will be disproportionate to your needs. However, this is no different to most audiophiles ...many people enjoy owning a SOTA sports car with no place to drive it at 180 MPH, likewise many have amazing systems with speakers stuffed into a cluttered corner in an inappropriate room. The pride of ownership rather than than ride is a often the biggest part of a hobby.

A friend with this set up uses a echobusters panel hung horizontally from the corner of the TV when listening to two channel. Reflections are greatly attentuated.

Here is a good example of what to do: Eric's System In this case the speakers are slightly in front of the edges of the screen - this means there is no edge diffraction from a sharp edge, as the TV vertical edges are in the acoustic shadow of the speaker.