Positioning full range electrostatic speakers

Musicaddict, my first Martin Logan Electrostats were the SL3's that I bought from Sound Advice many years ago. Following that I've had the Prodigy's, Odyssey's, Ethos, CLS2 X 2, as fronts and many other of their products when doing surround. On these forum posts I've read many opinions regarding the need for large distances from the front and side walls as well as the critical positioning of the listening "sweet spot". Within the restrictions of my listening rooms I've found from my own observation that neither of these placement rules are as critical as many argue. I keep a distance from the front wall to the panel at a bit over 3 feet and the side wall distance is pretty much dictated by the width of the room which is 18 feet. Some claim the sweet listening spot is very narrow claiming a location only 1 to 2 feet wide. The distance from one's speakers to their listening spot would dictate the width of that latitude but, in any case, it's not as microscopically narrow as many like to claim. This is only my opinion which based on a well furnished living room so even though I've been consistently happy with my various ESL based setups, I appreciate others' experiences and knowledge on the subject. 

I used the ML SL3 hybrids as my mains from 95 to 11 and they sounded far bettter at 6 ft from the front wall instead of 2-3 feet (where I started unknowlingly). I always ran short cables as well.  I still have my more conventional speakers' tweeters out 50" from the front wall for best results (and this room is a real living room too).

Atmasphere, I'm always glad when you enter a conversation especially when I have a vacuum tube question. In several other posts I've mentioned concerns regarding the Martin Logan CLS2 speakers and amplifier power needed for their best performance. The issue is important to me because I'm so much in like of these old things I essentially plan the around them which are my second pair. Anyway, I was using the Cary SLI80 in triode mode with them which were very musical but not very dynamic. Based only on its reviews I decided to buy a used Ayon Triton one amp with 35 more class A watts than the Cary in triode. I don't know how many times I've said "Wow, I finally have the setup I'll keep forever" but this time I really mean it (as if I hadn't thought that before) but this setup is not only musical but now has the dynamics I thought I was missing before. At least partly I assume that the extra power is a factor but there's something obviously beyond that. The bottom line is that, based on this experience as well as on the consistently outstanding reviews, I'd recommend this amp, though somewhat expensive, to anyone. 

Because of the dipole nature of these speakers, or for any other reason, might this be an issue?

None at all. Plus this allows you to run shorter speaker cables, which is a big deal when using tube amps with planar speakers of almost any kind.

In the end I decided to make the commitment to leave it on the entertainment console where it rightfully should be in the first place. Because it's a relatively high wattage class A vacuum tube amp it needs all the air circulation it can get. Also, because it has is an integrated amp I need an unobstructed pathway for the IR signal from the remote unless I decided to use a separate preamp. Because of its size alone it becomes a prominent feature so it'll take a little getting used to. I just wish the manufacturer hadn't decided to chrome plate the large transformer cans. 

a while ago, I temporarily stored a pair of stand speaker behind these panels and I wasn’t able to discern much, or any, difference in sound.