What Could Cause Center Image To Present Lower than Expected

Play with speaker positioning. Moving the speakers closer together will usually make the center image more pronounced but will sacrifice on soundstage width.

Spreading the speakers further apart will widen the center image and soundstage but at the expense of losing some of the focus.

And definitely move them out into the room about at least a foot away from the wall behind them. You can also experiment with raising the speakers off the floor slightly. You can use platforms or nobsound springs from Amazon to experiment on the cheap.

Create an equilateral triangle between your listening chair and speakers. It’s all room/component dependent.

Find placement that strikes a good balance. And if the problem persists, then you need to continue working on room acoustics and potentially revisit your components. 

If the 4" distance to rear wall is not a typo I'd yank them out several feet for starters and experiment with distance, width, toe-in, and rake. Slightly angling speakers upwards, even a few degrees, will change the image height in my experience.

You have nice equipment so work with the positioning. Others have offered good insights as well. I like an equilateral triangle with speakers aimed behind my head.

Good luck; something will make it come together. Keep experimenting.

Image height can be tricky. IME, low image height can frequently be attributed to ceiling reflections. While increased height can often be beneficial, room treatment can be a more practical option for most.

Speaker rake is what I'd check first, aka the tilt of the speaker forward or back. On my system, even a fraction of an inch change in rake moves the center image noticeably. Tilt them up until the center image is where you want it to be.

My mistake. They are 4 feet off the front wall. It has been a busy week, but I started with reducing the tilt. That has made a small but noticeable difference. More tracks sound fuller. Sorry for not having a more audiophile description. I am trying one thing at a time and listening awhile.

Next step will be to bring speakers closer together.

My listening position is roughly 7 feet back from the speakers.

Again, thanks for the responses.

Scott