Thanks, @soix , I appreciate constructive input from all legitimate sources. The room I presently have my gear in (and I don't see moving to another room any time soon) is significantly smaller than yours, so I am trying to maximize speaker placement for near field listening.
I did have the face of the speakers probably around 3' from the wall, and what it did "right" (by my perceptions) was that the speakers did actually "disappear" and although I am sure it was not accurate, what I particular noticed was the auditory illusion of the side walls "disappearing." And with certain tracks on certain SACDs, I found the vertical sound stage to be incredible--right on top of me at times (as I typed, I am sure it was not accurate, but I enjoyed it). (All that typed, I always listen in the dark with my glasses off and my eyes closed.) What I didn't like is that with certain CDs, is that it didn't take much volume for a trebley ringing sound over head that I could only mitigate by turning volume down or putting on a different CD. I attribute that to the CD combined with the room.
I moved the speakers back to the front face being 24" from wall, per that guide from Genelec, and that did mitigate the ringing sound and the side walls and the speakers still disappeared, but front to back got smaller and I no longer got that "right over my head sound" on certain tracks of certain SACDs.
So thanks again for your input and I am going to go back to playing around with a few things, including speaker positioning. I am kind of moody, and for what seems like an extended period, I haven't been in a listening mood, but I am about to start up again.