Speaker distance and tow in?????/

If you are toeing your speakers OUT, you are not really getting the on-axis frequency response that the speakers were designed for. i.e., if your speakers are 8 feet apart and you are 16 feet away, the speakers are already at a 14 degree angle if they are facing straight ahead. Even if you were 24 feet away, the speakers would still be at a 9.5 degree angle. This means that you could still toe them IN ever so slightly. The more you toe them OUT, the more reflected sound from the side walls you will hear. (which smears your soundstage!)

I'm thinking you may be on a secondary node if the system sounds best with the speakers toed out. It reminds me of an old system I had years ago where I needed to tip the speakers up, they sounded best there, I have now come to believe this is because they sounded badly because they were not good quality, and thus the secondary node, as created through the room was less treble, thus a better sound. I figure that is not the issue with your speakers, so I'd try a number of possitions to see if there is a second place that sounds good, start with the speakers at 90 degrees.
Also the XLO burn in disk, or some of Sereophiles early disks, had tracks of white and pink noise to help determain node locations. When I first set up my system "by the book" the listening position had a node, it was 15-20 db lower than everywhere else, that's when I started to learn about the room and it's interaction with the system.
It can take a long time, but eventually you will find magic!

Jadem6,

You're right on. My real issue is that my room sucks - it's basically a cube - and my placement options are very limited. I've (literally) taken my entire system to a friend's house and it sounds *soooo* much different / better in his listening space. Amazing (mindblowing) soundstage in his room. Good soundstage in mine. Therefore I'll try the unconventional for grins.

Also, by looking at my speakers, you probably wouldn't even notice they are toed out - it's that minor.

The next major upgrade will be a new house. Great equipment can't compensate for a bad room. You can try, and you can "fix" some things, but it won't completely mitigate it.

Nrenter, I just looked at your system and it doesn't appear the equipment is the issue at this point. As you say, the room... How big is the room? I assume there is no other location than the corner of your room to set up? It appears the speaker location is locked with the firaplace hearth, thus you are unable to pull them out from the wall a bit? I wish I could bring my XLO disk over and play with the pink noise and speakers, maybe just an inch or so.
J.D.

Sean, can you elaborate on that 'old trick'.. do you mean you can find a better placement by using mono and once that is achieved then going back to stereo? (maybe a condensed answer if you've already posted this) I couldn't find it. Also, thank you Rives for your link.