Hey guys, can’t thank you enough for all of the sage advice. Much appreciated! I experimented with a few things today and am definitely getting a better sound. I swapped out the generic loaner phone connect for what appears to be a much better, albeit far from boutique, phono connect from Pro-ject that my dealer highly recommended. Next, I moved the speakers back a bit and placed them wider which has certainly opened up the image and enhanced the low end a bit. For reference, they are 32" from back wall to front of speaker and 39" from side wall to front of speaker. I don’t feel that the acoustic treatments are overly absorbing the room necessarily, as the sound is still what I would consider bright, almost too much so. I do think it is pretty accurate as I’m not getting any early reflections from the 9’ ceiling or the side walls and the bass should be pretty well trapped in all of the corners. Scrolling through the pics on this site, I'm kind of blown away to see so many setups with uber-expensive gear and zero acoustic treatment.
Despite the noted improvements, I’m afraid I’m already addicted to this and am still very curious to hear what a truly high end loudspeaker and/or amp combo is capable of. Thinking seriously about jumping on a used set of Devore Gibbon 9’s, but am having a hard time spending that kind of money on speakers I’ve never heard...especially until I’ve had a chance to check out some of the other brands suggested here.
Thanks again for all the suggestions. I really appreciate you taking the time to support a ’total newb’ as my 8 year-old son would say.
Best,
Chris