A Very Narrow Listening Room

Now for something really different.....

Try moving your speakers closer (yes closer!) to the side walls BUT toe them in so that the axis of the speaker crosses well in front of you. Several thing will occur:
1) You may not find a meaningful change in the bass frequencies assuming you have them well out from the back wall;
2) You will eliminate much of the 1st reflections from the adjacent side wall and can easily tame the residual with minimal treatment;
3) You will change the 1st reflections from the ceiling to some degree, but more importantly you will alter the effect of the 2d reflection (and subsequent reflections) substantially, which can be a good thing;
4)you get to move your listening position further back from the speakers - its possible, depending on your room, to get an 8' speaker spread which should allow a listening position 8 to 9 ft back; and
5)You will get a pretty good stereo image for others when you have guests who will be sitting to your side; and
6) You may get a better, more solid center image.

Just something to think about, it's worked for me on many occasions.

BTW, plotting with the Cardas system is just a good starting point, it ain't the end all, Actually, I did use the Cara program on the Rives site and it pegged my speaker location perfectly, but missed the listening position by a foot. Try it - it even lets you select from different speakers.

Vinylmatters,

It will help a lot if you get a Radio Shack Sound Level meter and a test disc with 1/3d octave pink noise tones up to at least 200hz (Stereophile test disc's with pink noise work fine). That way you can measure everything, speaker and chair location. FWIW, I have found, everything else being equal, that when my listening position has been about the same distance from the back wall as my speakers are from the front wall (+/- 6 to 8 inches) I get the flattest bass response, somewhat like set out in the Cardas system of 3rds.

Regarding the 4Jr's, I've never heard them, but the speakers I've used have had wide dispersion tweeters (Seas and Dynaudio) and configured as I suggested they were not a problem. I could easily imagine that they would if they were pointed straight ahead or listened to on axis. I assume there is much more involved that just the dispersion pattern of the speakers.

FWIW, if you are going to be listening in the near field, I would strongly suggest that you do not get speakers (or any other components) which have any kind of a reputation for being 'bright' by any name. At most you'd probably want neutal speakers which would allow you to find the tone you want thru the selection of components and assessories.

Regular updates please. It can be helpful for others in setting up their equipment under similar circumstances. Also, it gives the advise givers some feed back on what does, or doesn't work, under your circumstances. Good luck.........