speakers that are a little laid back in the mids

QLN speakers are super laid back in the mids, as are Sonus Faber, B&W D series (although the highs are forward) and Spendor Classics. 

I am using room treatment. I have some behind the speakers and different treatment along the side walls. I'll try moving the speakers out from the wall. I've always used them in about the same place. Maybe That's my issue. Currently I use Verity Otellos.

thanks

So how far were the fronts of the speakers from the wall?

So how far were the fronts of the speakers from the wall?

@soix , do you subscribe to any rules of thumb on that subject, with untreated walls?

The reason I ask is that when I posted my ’B Stock Revels’ thread, some of the feed back I received included a link from @james633 , which was a link to a guide from Genelec related to positioning monitors, and it was suggesting the faces of the speakers being max 25" off the untreated all; I believe the rationale was due to interactions with the reflections coming off of that wall, but I’d have to look at the article again as this stuff is not second nature to me.

Anyway, I am not asking because I want to argue with your input, I am genuinely interested in your opinion on this matter.

And I have positioned them both ways, but I didn’t want to get into my impressions just yet.

@immatthewj Yeah, I know Cardas also has their recommendations for placement as well among others. I’m of the opinion these are just guidelines and that every room and speaker are different and need to be positioned best for your specific room and personal tastes. To me, it’s a balance of getting enough wall reinforcement for adequate/balanced bass while giving the speakers enough room to breathe to fully open up to show their 3D soundstage potential. So I used a lot of trial and error until I found the “sweet spot” where the sound was balanced and the soundstage/imaging blossomed and where the speakers completely disappeared as a sound source. Once you get all that I think you’re done and the speakers end up where they end up. My room is about 26’ x 13’ with untreated walls, and my medium-sized floorstanding speakers ended up with their fronts about 5’ from the back wall, 3’ from the side walls, and 6’ apart with the speakers aimed so they point just outside my shoulders at the listening position — not that this has anything to do with your room/speakers/tastes but just for context and as an example. Any closer to the walls and the bass became a little too prominent and the soundstage lost size/depth/3D imaging, and any further out and I didn’t get enough bass. Anyway, that’s how I do it and what’s worked for me in case it’s at all helpful in some way.