Another speaker placement question. HELP

Now I have moved the speakers back another foot so they are actually a foot and a half farther back and they are at least a foot closer to each other. I am now in a perfect equilateral triangle with the distance of the midline of each speaker to each other. At first the sound was horrible but then I moved my couch where I listen more even so my listening position is right in the middle of the couch. This did the trick but I am not convinced it sounds better. I am getting better central focus but the bass is less tight and detailed. The new positioning softened the bass a bit but I'll know for sure when I have an hour or two alone in the house to be able to play. I positioned the speakers exactly the same using the side and front wall to measure from. The speakers may now be 3 feet into the room instead of 5 feet and they are 6 1/2 feet apart as opposed to 7 1/2 feet apart. It sounds equal but I don't know if it's me or if it sounded better with the speakers further out in the room. I will listen tomorrow but I have a feeling I may move the out again 6 inches to see if that tightens the bass. Of course there may be other things at play but I'll live with it a bit and then experiment some more. I have a hunch I'll move them again but I'm not sure what exactly to try next. Further back more to the front wall or further away from the front wall. Any further suggestuions would be appreciated. My sound is different but not necessarily better.I hope with further placement I'll find the best but the Hales are a pain to move let alone measure exactly the same. As always I was able to get them equal but it took me 2 hours to do it. After all that I'm not sure.

Go to your hardware store and get some 'furniture movers', for lack of a better term, which are plastic faced rubber discs which you place under the corners of the speakers base. Then you can just slide them around to your hearts content. Mark or chart the locations which can work as you go. Mark the final location, remove the discs and you are ready to go.

Go to Radio Shack or the Internet and buy a SPL (sound pressure level) meter. Get a test disc, such as sold by Stereophile, which has test tones so you can measure the FR as heard at your listening position. This will really speed up finding the best location for bass response. BTW, don't forget that the location of the listening position is important for the bass (and rest) of the FR.

It takes a long time to find the best location for speakers - so don't think you are going to pin it down the first few times. I've usually set mine up to give the best bass response by moving the speakers and listening seat and then fine tuned the mid/upper frequencies by just moving the speakers. BTW inches count. It doesn't have to be feet.

Setting up speakers ain't magic, it's just hard work, done methodically and documented, to get it right! :-)

Your speaker is too big for your listening area.

Yep-speakers are way to big. You may be able to "cheat" the room by putting the speakers on the half wall. The gear between the speakers doesn't help, either. How about investing in a Behringer Digital EQ (if you're on Long Island, NY, I will lend you mine) and spray the room with some noise and see what the curve looks like and compensate with the EQ? If it works, I will probably donate it to you.

I am in Canada but thanks for the offer. My system is way to big for that space but it does sound quite nice. To sell my Hales would be a huge loss but the sound is good regardless. I had a friend come by who gave me some advice and I basically pushed the speakers back 3 feet from the front wall and 2 feet from the side wall. I measure from
the front wall to the mid of the woofer and I measure the side walls to the midline of the speakers. I am getting better centre focus but the bass is less tight. It's a compramise I suppose.