When I auditioned both the Signature 8s and Salon 2s back in 2011, the Salon 2s were far better (I actually preferred the significantly cheaper Legacy Classics to the Sig 8s, which I thought were way too hot up top). I ended up getting the Salon 2s then and haven’t even considered anything different.
If you put them in front of the 12 foot wall and keep them two feet off the sidewalls with a slight toe-in, they should still image quite well if you sit 8 feet away, and at that distance you’ll have enough room behind you to not get suffocated by bass along the back wall. They have plenty of bass, so you might be able to jettison the subs.
biggarthomas’s advice to spike them is spot on, and I found that using Star Sound’s Apprentice XL’s platforms took them to a whole different level.