Speakers sound too bright.

Im gonna take a guess and say the problem in this room is they are a dipole sending tons of energy (50% of its total output) on the wall behind the speakers. This energy is reflected back into the listening space with a delay that is created by the distance from the speaker to the wall behind them and then back again. This delayed HF is being added back to the non delayed main output from the front of the speaker all of it summed together at your ear. This is the same issue when we talk about first reflections: the same sound taking two different length paths to your ear is a sure way to mess up any speaker. Usually the top end is the most offensive as we are very senstive to this information. I bet if we measured phase in the room it would be severely messed up by this major reflection.

Dipoles are wonderful but very challenging -you need large spaces to make them sing. Id say this room is not right for a dipole. Nearly impossible to fix in too small a space sorry to say!

Brad

Why is everyone skipping over this is a dipole 1 foot away from the wall behind them? I dont care how long you burn them in, what treatment you use, the cables, the preamp- NOTHING will fix that "dipole close to the wall behind them" problem.

If the dealer told you this would work, definitely return them and say it was terrible advice. Don’t shop there anymore if they really said that. If you wanted it and they said nothing because you were determined, I’d give them the benefit they didnt understand your room conditions. But if you explained this room in detail and they understood you were seting them up 1 foot away from a wall behind them, they shoudl never be trusted again. If they try to sell you something else to "fix" it, just run the other direction. This problem is super simple audio 101. Dipoles are advanced math products that require a good understanding of acoustics to properly set up. Otherwise you need pure luck or a deaf client.

To test what I am saying, try a little demo of your own. Divide your room in thirds wall to wall. Pull the speakers out to the first (third) point, dont change the distance to the side walls from where they are now. Then put a listening chair at the next third point. Now the room is divided into three, the speakers and the listening position split the room into three parts.   NOW listen- completely different right? This is how you know for sure its the room and speaker position. If the room is also highly reflective (hard surfaces everywhere, no absorption), it will make the problem worse and changing the speaker position will have have less of benefit. Dipoles in highly reflective rooms is acoustically a no no unless you have a acoustic consultant figuring it out and building the room specific to a dipole.  Dipoles can sound good in large rooms that are not highly eflective.

How very disappointing for me go on a really good rant about the wrong speakers!