A little help please


My room is 13' x 21' x 8.5' ceiling. Speakers are located along the short wall about 12-18" off the wall. They can't come out as they'll block an entrance way.  They are about 4' from the side walls. 

Currently I have a Prima Luna Classic Integrated with their standard tubes. Source is Rega Apollo R, MMF-5/Clear Audio Nano V2, or Proton DAC. Speakers are Totem Arro (no mass laoding).

I realize that my placement isn't ideal and my wife's need for decorating balance with furnishings,etc require some trade-offs but I just don't think these speakers are up for the job in some cases. Some songs, like acoustic blues, female vocals, even piano sound great but I'm sometimes finding other recordings seem to sound muddy and there's no real pop and umf on some drums; like I'm hearing music but not feeling it some times.

The totems are not mass loaded. I have heard that mass loading them will tighten up the bass. I could also try some different tubes, but overall I'm not sure either or both will make that big a difference. Which leads me to a discussion of a sub or some new speakers.

I lean towards new speakers.

Possibilities (depending on what I can get my wife to agree to in price and size) are:

PSB Imagine T2, Quad 25L, Revel F206 - As noted above there are decorating issues. A sofa is located about 2.5 feet in front of the right side. As it is now imaging is good, my concern with these is they all have some low driver positions that will be an issue unless I can relocate. Relocating to the long wall is an issue because I'd have to straddle a working fireplace as well as other considerations. 

A larger Totem Forest - leaves me wondering if I'll have similar issues with bass.

Audio Physic Tempo 25 (NOT the plus version) - demo from my local store.

Vandersteen 3A - Signature - also demo from my local store. These are likely too big for my wife's taste; and quite possibly my amp.

 
 One thing I didn't note so far was the possibility of a sub-woofer.  I'm not thrilled with the idea but I haven't given it an ear so I can't say.

Thoughts anyone?

Thanks for reading and taking the time to respond, Jetson.
jetson
I've owned both the ARROS and FORESTs simulaneously in prior systems, so I 
have some hands-on experience with both their strengths and their warts.

ARRO speaker positioning. If you move them out from the back wall , their ethereal "presence" and especially the limited-in-any case low-mid range to low end bass response falls off dramatically, to the point of extreme frustration. With a 4 inch mid-bass driver, you cannot defy physics. The differences are not subtle.

ARRO peak performance quotient:  they are not as power hungry as the FORESTs but still demand high-current quality build  electronics upstream for peak performance. 

As highlighted already, a quality build subwoofer will help out but if and on,y if .... a quality build audiophile grade sub. And please, no cheap wooly chuffing bass boxes that comprise the big chunk of the AV arena. The problem is that that type of sub will cost you as much or more than the ARROS themselves unless find a helluva deal used.

ARROs cable sensitivities: I experimented with a myriad of speaker cable contenders and pretenders . They are fussy speakers - the winners were the Totem Tress and Chord Odyssey or Rumour. The Tress is a knockoff of the CHORD .... Silver plated braided copper. Quality build ICs are another must have . I never found any cheap choices that worked - full stop. 

ARRO mass  loading - simply put .... Don't do it. Waste of time and the resulting sonic signature I found was a step down and that step down was not subtle. 

IMO, experiment further first with the status quo and smaller $$-conscious changes,  but IMO you will likely be either dumping the speaker or the upstream gear - your post indicates some serious absence of system synergy so far. Speaker  Repositioning may ameliorate some of your frustrations and it's a $$-saving first step in eliminating the unknowns.
  I wouldn't rule out a sub.  They usually can be placed somewhere that is wife acceptable and will fill in the bottom end.