Distance from the front not the rear wall?

I think that the use of specific absorbing room treatment can go a long way in adapting to the situation.

Absolutely.

I have seen research that suggests you need to get the reflections 21 db below the primary signal to make them inaudible (according to lab tests rather than theory).

Diffusion behind the listener might be the most effective. If the listening position is anywhere near a corner then corner bass traps would also help.

It depends on the size of the room too. In my small room the listening position from the rear wall is about 2 feet(Tiofelon -I think we need to get the front/rear wall description right in the first place).

Personally I guess folks can either choose to place the listening chair at # feet from the rear wall or against it to achieve the best results that suit his room/ears/listening preference. Nevertheless, I believe it is still prudent to have some space from the rear wall to the listening chair for optimum results IMO. Shadorne's 4 feet - 8 feet can be useful in large spaces but not feasible for smaller rooms. It is more important to treat the wall behind the listener with absorption or diffusion(personally I prefer diffusion).

To summarize, try different configurations and adopt the one that sounds the best to your ears. Speaker placement and listening distance relative to wall boundaries are all correlated.

The obvious solution to the dilemma of "room treatment" is to buy a good set of headphones.