The closer the panels are to the side walls, the better it is to have the tweeter strips on the inside---less sidewall reflection. Three feet from the wall behind the speakers is an absolute minimum, with five feet being much better. Five feet creates a 10 millisecond time difference between the front and rear waves reaching the listening position, the minimum time required by the ear/brain to perceived two sounds as separate events. That prevents the rear wave from "smearing" the sound coming from the front, the rear wave now being perceived as ambience.