DBT, nice post. You really have a lot of issues with the room and s story with an open floor plan so you have a lot of music bouncing around all that open space. I am glad you upgraded your power cords, I use AQ Tornados on all my gear with the William tell speaker cables and fire interconnects. I went from Quads to the Sapphires M3's. Which was a huge change, speaker wires that worked so well with Quad speakers was a no go with the M3's, Quad our electrostatics so they have a different need in speakers cables they dynamic speakers, so I purchased some Analysis Plus Black Mesh Oval 9 and they transformed the speaker, now the speaker had weight and body without the forward highs, bass clean fast and detailed and now dynamic and deep, such so that I pulled the 2 subs I had at 1st. @nd thing was what Clayton told me, relax and let them break-in, that is hard when you're been listening to a speaker like he Quad for 10 years, and then putting a new speaker in its place and you expect it to sound great, well that was dumb of me. For the past few months the speakers have settled in, and now daily consistent sound quality, I also learned about the speakers during those 8 months, moved them in out and wider, closer, apart, and then toe-in. Each room is different, my music room is a loft in my 2nd level which overlooks the family room below. So where I sit there is no wall behind me, just a rail. So the speaker faces no wall till 40' where the family room sidewall is.
Ideally you do not want anything between your speaker it kills imaging causes bounce off, and of course the perception of real people playing music in front of you, I only have my amp on its stand between my speakers. I put my stand there once it was a waster of an hour or so, 1st tune and got up shut the system down and removed the stand back to its old spot on the other side of the room away from the speakers, I use 5 meters XLR interconnects to run from my preamp to the amp.
Toe-in by little as 1/4" can make a big difference, so I started with the speaker tweeter crossing in front of me and then over time toed them out 1/2" at a time and when I thought I nailed it with bass, detail, and dynamics, I then moved them in 1/4" listened to see if it improved or went backward if so I returned them to where then listened again and then toed them out 1/4" and see if the sound improved, once I learned the speaker I then had a reference from experience to know when I nailed the positioning. Even my window behind the speakers with blinds the sound is different with them titled down or much better titled up a bit, then they are acting as a diffuser. I have ASR 8 x 48 panel running behind the blind dead center between the speaker and that even improves the sound imaging and depth. This tells you how much your room impacts the quality of the sound we all hear.
I can tell you the speaker speaks the truth I have recordings where the bass shakes the room, then others where you think the woofers died, unlike box speakers where you have bass all the time, due to the room and speaker interaction issues, OB speakers do not, your hearing a much more accurate bottom end. I think when you finish your audio room and you get that setup and so acoustic panels on the walls, bass traps in the corners, 1st refection points, and then the wall behind where you sit some defusion. Carpet the floor, I think you will be so happy with your purchase. Your room is a major part of the sound of your system, so it needs love and attention also. Clap your hands in a room, and listen for echo and slap back, that how your music is from your system is sounding also.
GIK Acoustics makes great products and affordable to boot, plus they offer good support in helping you choose what will work for your style of the speaker and the room.
https://www.gikacoustics.com/product-category/acoustic-panels/#scroll-to-productsYou got great speakers so hang in, you have not heard them at their best yet.
