No I'm not the guy with the vandersteens or the 12 x 12 room. Not sure where you got that. I thought if there was an absorptive material behind the speaker it could stop some high energy reflections and maybe bell that way but I wasn't sure.
Room acoustics
I have a pair I thiel cs2.4's that are only 2 feet from he face of the speaker to the face of the back wall. I've pulled them forward to 4 feet and they open up greatly. Unfortunately this is not practical. Is there any wall treatment on the wall behind the speakers that can help achieve the 4' distance sound being only 2' away?