Fiddling with speaker placement (distance between speakers, toe-in, no toe-in, only a miniscule toe-in and so forth) makes a huge difference.
Fddling with distance from backwall and sidewalls, will also make some nice improvements.
Every one of our rooms are different. All of our rooms have different demensions, acoustics and angles. So the results will always vary.
Another significant point to remember. If at all possible in your own individual rooms and setups......Always make sure that the front baffle of your front speakers are placed ahead of any furniture or TV that may reside between them. Even if by only a quarter inch or half inch (because of limited space)
And/or any furniture that may be placed to their immediate outside left and right sides.
Or else you will get immediate reflections off of your TV, gear cabinet or whatever piece of furniture resides there; which will screw up the sound presentation before the sound waves even make it to your ears.
And here's another little experiment I did.
I bought a bunch of these .......self-adhesive Waxman Grippers.....
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=54359-255-4739495N&lpage=noneI cut them into one or two inch pieces, peeled the protective paper off the adhesive side and carefully placed the adhesive side together; to make a thicker pad.
Then I placed one each under the front spikes (Front spikes only or front of floorstanders only) of my floorstanders (you can use a penny or dime under the spike and on top of the little gripper pad; to prevent puncture). Or if you have those brass spike coasters, depending on the thickness; you want to use just one gripper pad. As opposed to sticking two together.
I found that by lifting the front of my Jamo speakers just a 1/4 inch or a little over a 1/4" ........the soundstage became even bigger than it already was. Wider and more enveloping.
The bass response also seemed more powerful.
But, lifting the front up to a 1/2" or more.........compressed the bass down and made it seem like the bass was be squeezed out of a little vent; while expanding the midrange even larger. Didn't like that.
Different speakers, diffferent rooms ...may offer different results. But you'll immediately notice some differences.
Whether you perceive the changes as improvements; is an individual preference as well reliant of your room and speakers.
I also found that by using these.....
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=54433-255-4750095N&lpage=none.....under all four corners of bookshelf speakers that may reside on some shelf, cabinet or speaker stands; it really smoothed out the sound and cut down on the effects of footfalls or vibrations coming from the floor and furniture.
Again, I peeled the protective paper off the adhesive side and carefully placed the adhesive sides together; to make one thicker pad. I used whole pads (stuck together) on my bigger Jamo C803 bookshelf speakers. And cut them down a little for a pair of smaller bookshelf speakers I have.
Basically, I made four thick pads (one neatly placed under each of the four corners on my speakers).
It made a very nice improvement in all cases.
Other's may find that heavier bookshelf speakers require a three stack of these stuck together grippers. Speakers weighing less, maybe only one pad thickness will be required.
I also use these under DVD Players, a Turntable, CD Players and Pre Amps. They work well. And it's a relatively inexpensive tweek to try.
Oh, and another thing.
Have a component with cheap footers? Or maybe a component whose rubber footers are a bit worn out or dried out? Or maybe you want avoid scratching or marking a piece of furniture with the footers of your gear?
Try these 1 1/2" grippers....
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=54257-255-4738495N&lpage=noneThey come eight to a pack and you can stack/adhesive two on top of each other for a nice thick cushion, for your components.
They work very well.
Inexpensive and easy.
