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By moving closer to the speakers, you're getting out of the bass buildup close to the rear wall. Spreading the speakers farther won't help with that.
Now, NOT having the distance from speaker to side wall and speaker to front wall be the same WILL help you. So, try pulling the speakers farther out away from the front wall. If you still need to move them closer to the side walls, then you'll want/need an acoustic panel on the side wall to deal with boundary interactions in the bottom end.
Ideally, you'd pull your seating so your seated ear position is approx 7-7.5' from the rear wall behind the seating.
Bryan
By moving closer to the speakers, you're getting out of the bass buildup close to the rear wall. Spreading the speakers farther won't help with that.
Now, NOT having the distance from speaker to side wall and speaker to front wall be the same WILL help you. So, try pulling the speakers farther out away from the front wall. If you still need to move them closer to the side walls, then you'll want/need an acoustic panel on the side wall to deal with boundary interactions in the bottom end.
Ideally, you'd pull your seating so your seated ear position is approx 7-7.5' from the rear wall behind the seating.
Bryan