Suddenly, things are sounding awful...

Newbee, that meant that I put the system in a new position with careful attention paid to addressing acoustical problems. You're right that it's going to sound different, though I'd expect the basic tonality to remain at least similar. Perhaps that's not right.

The cables were actually all being used by a friend while I was gone. They shouldn't need any burn in time.

The tube is not new, and it's had probably 50 hours of playing time since I came back. It's a Mullard 6922, the lushest of the lush. Does anyone think it could be dying?

THanks for the feedback guys, I appreciate it all!

It really is amazing how many times I've been told about room acoustics and how many times it has failed to sink in! I'll keep all this in mind and not freak out too much about tubes. Thanks guys.

So I've had to move things around again, hopefully for the last time. Now I'm really clueless about what to do acoustically. I have everything shoved into half of the room, with one speaker about 18" from a wall. Yikes! My system is under 'getting started' and it's called 'the blue room'. There are pictures posted. Does anyone have ideas for me? I have more foam lying about.

Thanks!

Thanks for the advice. Sadly, I really can't move any furniture. I can, however, change the speaker positioning slightly, or add/subtract foam from the walls. I've experimented with toe in, but haven't found anything that sounds better than this.

Hi, the left wall is twelve feet to the left of the left speaker. In otherwords, that left speaker is floating in air. This is why I wasn't sure what to do with first reflection points- the two sides are not equidistant to the listener.

Hi folks, thanks for all the wonderful help. I'll try out these suggestions as soon as I can, you'll hear from me again soon.

And Howard, the speakers are actually the same distance from the front wall. The picture is quite deceptive. Thanks for the advice!

Well guys, I've done some experimentation.

First, I tried moving the speakers back and the couch forward. Nope. Still bright as hell.

Then, I moved the couch back to the wall, and put the speakers 1/4 of the way into the room, as per Trelja's suggestion. That was a serious improvement.

Next, I towed the speakers in so they cross about one foot in front of me, a la Newbee. Bingo. Brightness gone.

Imaging and soundstaging are not good, but those I can live without for the next little while until I move. I need my tonality. Can't deal with the brightness.

I tried placing foam behind my head, this killed the bass and did little for the brightness. Foam on the side wall, surprisingly, had almost no effect.

Foaming the ceiling corners would be serious project, and I'd probably kill myself in the process, so I'm going to save that one for later.

Anyway, things are improved, thanks to all the great comments I got. I appreciate everyone's help!