I now have a much more reasonable arrangement. The old speakers and coffee table are gone, the Tempestas are up on some temporary stands, and the furniture along the sides was moved farther away. On the downside I've added a 2' high fence around the area with the speakers to keep them safe from the dogs.
It isn't practical to do A/B testing between the Tempestas and my old speakers. But I do remember on Day 1 even with a poor arrangement the clarity of the Tempestas was better than my old Klipsch Heresey 2s. The bass was much stronger also. I really don't think the Hereseys, particularly in their current state, provide a meaningful comparison to the Tempestas.
The Tempestas are currently about 8ft apart, about 24" out from the wall, pointed straight ahead. The listening position is about 9 or 10 feet from the tweeters, about 2 ft out from the back wall. There was an improvement when I moved them to this arrangement from the previous arrangement of 6 ft spacing and 12" out. The sound was good before, but now even better. So optimizing the arrangement might yield even further improvement, as might adding room treatments.
Last night I was listening to Nora Jones and Diana Krall. The Tempestas seem perfect for this type of music. Each voice and instrument sounded clear and beautiful. In some of the Nora Jones tracks the notes from the piano seemed to dance around the sound stage. A number of the tracks fade out slowly; I was surprised to hear clearly the very last notes that were very faint compared to the background sound level in my listening room.
These are very enjoyable speakers.
