Paul,
If you can, try this:
I have my 40.1s approx. 60" apart (tweeter to tweeter) and about 43" from ear to tweeter. You really need to get it measured down to the 0.5" or better. Yes, this is "sweet spot" listening - so it sounds incredibly good in the listening chair, but is not optimized to sound as good out of the chair.
I face one corner of the room, but my head is a good 12 feet from the corner. So the speakers are well pulled out and are also away from side walls.
The phantom image really is 12 feet back into the corner and beyond, and the layering of the music is spooky real. These speakers really EXCEL in the near field (makes sense as they were designed for this in the studios). The performers sound so real and you get that "reach out and touch" effect. Ella, Louis, John Lennon, Elvis, MJ, etc - it sounds like they are still alive and in the room with you. Many who have listened to this have made this comment. My girls (6 and 9 yrs old) ask me if they listen to MJ Thriller and other favorites and they tell me their hairs stand up and you can see their goosebumps. They love it!
Bass is much tighter and controlled this way as well, as your ears are hearing the sound well before the room reflections cause smearing or serious peaks/dips. Transient attack is also better and they sound 'faster' than they do when put into the room.
I run them with the LIO DHT Integrated (directly heated triode in the linestage, MOSFET output stage that delivers 35wpc into 6-ohms). And being in the near field, I can play them very loud and clean w/o breaking a sweat. But what is most important is the level of realism that is conveyed, even at lower level listening.
I think many people don't realize just how much the room comes into play when you listen, and going more near field really (but not completely) reduces the room's impact.
Is it for everyone? No. Some can't do it because they don't have their own listening room and they can't get away with it in their living room (SAF issues I guess). And not all speakers even sound good in the near field. Harbeths really do!
In a smaller room, you can do something quite similar with the P3ESRs and it works well (I have a pair of them as well). But the funny thing is that set up the way I describe above, the 40.1s actually image and "disappear" better than the P3ESRs! I never experienced a large 3-way as coherent from top to bottom as the 40.1 / 40.2. Even with your ear just 24 inches away, it is difficult to hear the 3 drivers. It sounds like 1.
I'll end this post by saying (based on my experience), until you hear the 40.1s / 40.2 properly set up in the near field, you haven't heard what this speaker is all about ;-) YMMV based on other factors (your room, your equipment, etc). I hope this helps!
Have fun,
Vinnie
