Not-So-Loud Speakers?

[Chronos]

It's not good. You need some room behind your listening position just like you need it behind and to the sides of your speakers.
Furthermore, most setups with great soundstage/ imaging follow the equilateral triangle rule.
Say your speakers are 8' apart.. You ideally want to be 8' from each speaker and with most, some toe in helps as well.
Try putting a chair in the room, equilateral to your speakers to get an idea of what I'm explaining.
With your listening position so far back and against the wall, most of what is heard is reflected sound, making for a far less than pleasant listening experience.
Cheers, Mac

Hm... well, it's not very practical for us to move the couch or speakers forward, so I'll have to settle with moving the speakers as far apart as possible.

With the couch being right against the wall, would adding some type of sound dampening behind it help much? I don't want to go all out on sound treatments, but I could probably put a panel or two there without destroying the WAF.

Thanks again! This is an incredibly helpful forum.

 

[macddmac]

With your new monitors stand mounted, start at 8' or so and see how it sounds ( remember to toe-in) The sound stage will start breaking down at 10-12 ft (my guess).In your situation, toe-in may help minimize side wall reflections.
There was a recent thread that addressed a similar situation with the LP against the back wall.
One post spoke to adding some sort of wall treatment behind the sofa.
I will see if I can find it and get back to you.
Also, there are some WAF friendly room treatments out there.
Cheers, Mac
Ps nice score on the philharmonitors!
edit: couldn't find the post but found these:
http://www.atsacoustics.com/art-acoustic-panels.html
http://www.gikacoustics.com/