nearfield positioning

[tvrgeek]

Just an observation.
On my desk, I had tiny FE85 based ( 2 1/2 inch F3 around 80) and they were fine for news or instruction. Bot so for music.
I bought a pair of Elac Debut 5.2. Very impressive, but produced this scarp 3-point imaging. Very un-natural, so they they go into my workshop where they will be fantastic. Overkill, but fantastic. I compared them to my living room speakers, and they had a very good soundstage sitting about 9 feet away. My desk is less than 3.
Put my old DIY surrounds in place. Dayton RS 125/Vifa XT-25 based. Better now, more like the image is from three blobs. Still not realistic across the front.
Sitting back a couple of feet, the further away the more natural the image is spread. So, I think I will re-box them into in-wall boxes. That gets me another foot. Not enough, but every foot seems to make a difference.

Any wisdom on this? Nothing I did with EQ made a difference in localization. ( suppressed mids for example)

 

[tvrgeek]

With the Elac's I played with a couple of pillows and no help. I am boxed in, wall on one side and cabinet on the other, so terrible environment. To boot, it is the corner of my living room so making it too ugly is not an option. If I do go in-wall, that will give maybe a foot to 18 inches on the sides I can put some OC 705 board on.

I have been playing with the various blends in APO. They help only a little. Curious how big a difference between speakers.