speakers that are a little laid back in the mids

@immatthewj Yeah, I know Cardas also has their recommendations for placement as well among others. I’m of the opinion these are just guidelines and that every room and speaker are different and need to be positioned best for your specific room and personal tastes. To me, it’s a balance of getting enough wall reinforcement for adequate/balanced bass while giving the speakers enough room to breathe to fully open up to show their 3D soundstage potential. So I used a lot of trial and error until I found the “sweet spot” where the sound was balanced and the soundstage/imaging blossomed and where the speakers completely disappeared as a sound source. Once you get all that I think you’re done and the speakers end up where they end up. My room is about 26’ x 13’ with untreated walls, and my medium-sized floorstanding speakers ended up with their fronts about 5’ from the back wall, 3’ from the side walls, and 6’ apart with the speakers aimed so they point just outside my shoulders at the listening position — not that this has anything to do with your room/speakers/tastes but just for context and as an example. Any closer to the walls and the bass became a little too prominent and the soundstage lost size/depth/3D imaging, and any further out and I didn’t get enough bass. Anyway, that’s how I do it and what’s worked for me in case it’s at all helpful in some way.

Thanks, @soix , I appreciate constructive input from all legitimate sources.  The room I presently have my gear in (and I don't see moving to another room any time soon) is significantly smaller than yours, so I am trying to maximize speaker placement for near field listening.

I did have the face of the speakers probably around 3' from the wall, and what it did "right" (by my perceptions) was that the speakers did actually "disappear"  and although I am sure it was not accurate, what I particular noticed was the auditory illusion of the side walls "disappearing."  And with certain tracks on certain SACDs, I found the vertical sound stage to be incredible--right on top of me at times (as I typed, I am sure it was not accurate, but I enjoyed it).   (All that typed, I always listen in the dark with my glasses off and my eyes closed.)  What I didn't like is that  with certain CDs, is that it didn't take much volume for a trebley ringing sound over head that I could only mitigate by turning volume down or putting on a different CD.  I attribute that to the CD combined with the room.

I moved the speakers back to the front face being 24" from wall, per that guide from Genelec, and that did mitigate the ringing sound and the side walls and the speakers still disappeared, but front to back got smaller and I no longer got that "right over my head sound" on certain tracks of certain SACDs.

So thanks again for your input and I am going to go back to playing around with a few things, including speaker positioning.  I am kind of moody, and for what seems like an extended period, I haven't been in a listening mood, but I am about to start up again.

Revel F208

If you read the Stereophile review you see they have  dip between about 1000Hz and 3000Hz which gives them a slightly recessed prescence region.Imaging is also not as forward as most .They do not really mention that in that review but others have commented on it and that is how they sound to me.Very smooth and rich sounding speakers.

Wharfedale EVO4.2

Wharfedale LINTON 

My Vienna Acoustics Beethovens circa 2000-2004 have that slightly recessed mid from around 6-800hz to around 3khz is a smiley face. I'd owned the Kef R105/3 for around 12 years before buying them (ruler flat response) so when I'd swap the VA's in and turn the volume up so vocals sounded the same the VA's sounded so much more impressive and detailed in the highs and lows specifically because of the recessed mids. I've bought and sold at least a half dozen more expensive speakers since but the VA beethovens stay in my living room.