Pete,
I recently had a professional come and set up my room. It was one of the best things I have ever spent money on in this ridiculous hobby, and it was significantly cheaper then anything else in my system. Helped fix my sound tremendously.
See if local audio shops have someone who makes house calls, and then check that person's credentials.
Loading the room is of utmost importance. The loudspeaker and sitting position is critical for bass reproduction. What worked excellently in my room was measuring the length and width, and dividing the room into fourths by dividing by two, instead of by thirds.
For instance my room measured 218 inches long. This lead to measurements of 218, 109, 54,5, 27.25, 13.626, 6,8125, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. You can go on forever by then quartering the room. So, 3/4ths of 218 is 163.5, divided by two is 81.75, 40.875, etc, etc, etc. You can go on, and come up with dozens of potential placement options.
These are all points where you would position the source of the bass on the speaker from the wall behind them. For instance, my speakers are rear ported, and after extrapolating the possible points out, we landed on 61.3125 from the ports to the well behind the speakers.
You would do the exact same thing for the width as well. Measure, break it down, and position source of bass that far away from the sidewall.
Since the SS8's are not ported (right?) and use the side firing woofers, for the length measurement you would position the center of the side woofer at whatever calculated number you worked out. For the width, you would just go from the face of the side woofer closest to the sidewall.
Also, position your listening position in a similar manner away from the wall behind your head.
Be precise, 1/8th of an inch can matter. It is ridiculous, but true.
Good luck man. Using this method helped my bass tremendously.
Heres to hoping you maximize the potential of those gorgeous speakers.
Take care.
