Yes, very surprising. I thought the SPL would fall off at a faster rate when distance is increased.
How do you narrow down a speaker selection search? say you want something that favors more bass or treble or mids is there a spec. you look at? When I bought my polks, i listen to a dozen or so different speakers and like these the best.
That is such a tough one to answer because the only real way to know is to get out and listen. Most retail environments are set up to catch your eyes and not your ears so it's hard to get a good feel for speakers like that. I think what helped me was hearing a true audiophile system, properly set up to maximize the listening experience. It gave me a point of reference.
The more quality systems you can listen to the better. Search for any hi fi audio places or Best Buys with Magnolia stores in them in your area. The Martin Logan electrostatic speakers they sell at the latter are very nice sounding speakers when you're in the sweet spot and they usually have a pair of those set up in a good spot. Bring music you're familiar with, shmooze the salesperson a little and you can usually get them to set you up for some demo'ing.
I will say that if you listen to different receivers and hear big differences it's most likely going to be due to differences in gain structure, or volume (1 or 2 dB louder can be perceived as sounding "clearer") and/or whatever DSP is engaged in one vs another. For instance, if one has DSP turned on and the other doesn't there's definitely going to be a noticeable difference.