Speaker placement

My speakers are like gypsies, they are never in the same place for very long.

Everytime I THINK I have found the sweet spot(Acoustat monitor X)I think I can do better and so I move them,a bit more forward, a bit further apart, a bit closer to the side walls, a bit more toe-in.

Then I move the chair back and forth,closer then further away from the speakers.

Nothing is really bad, and it's just one trade off for another.
You win in some areas and lose in others.

And did I say, it varies from recording to recording?

I do have some room tuning devices,which have helped,but when it comes to stats, the book is still out on a reflective or absortive wall behind the speakers.

So far spreading the room treatment out around the room seems to work,but that stuff is also in a gypsy state of mind.LEDE, been there done that, moved on.

Rules of thirds, Cardas measurements, tuning by ear, using test records,everything sounds decent, but still no definitive speaker placement.

My hat's off to anyone who feels that they have accomplished what I think is an almost impossible feat, at least with my speakers.

I guess I should clarify that I don't find the speaker placement issue a bad thing.

I've always appproached this hobby as a work in progress.
Here's one thing that I've done that's given me some help in arriving at where my speakers are now-more radically towed in.

I listen to headphones-AKG K702-Burson headphone amp-and then because they are almost like headphones, I place the Acoustats in my room to try and replicate that sound.

So far this has worked for me.

I have owned some multy driver cone speakers that need to be set back so that the drivers are more time aligned,like my last cone speakers the Ref 3 Grand Veena.

I tried to rake them by increasing the height of the back spikes and I liked it,but you had to sit closer to the speakers, more in a near field way.

My present speakers which were made in the 1970's are designed with a built in slant,but I prefer the sound when the speakers are raised at the back so that the top of the panels are flat using a level.Maggies are always seen with a back slant,yet my Maggie front and rear onwalls in the HT have no slant and the sound is very good.

I think there maybe some merit to the slanted back of the drivers to avoid floor bounce, but I really believe it's just a trade off as you increase ceiling bounce, which I think is worse,and not many of us want to add damping or diffusors to the ceiling, but next year I plan to do this as I devote more time effort and money into getting the room right.

Floor bounce is more easily controlled with a thick underpad and carpet,so I will side with the folks who like to rake their speakers opposite to the standard accepted practises, even when the designer intends for the drivers to be time aligned-sloped back at the treble area.I am a rebel at heart myself.

I like the more direct and to my ears ,sound of the drivers /panels firing straigh out into the room.

Experimenting with speaker and chair positions is fun, educational and doesn't cost a thing to do.

The best tweaks in life are free.