Speakers too wide apart?

You and I sit in similar positions. I'm about 8.5 feet from the speakers, and the speakers are about 8 feet apart.

In my experience, moving the speakers closer together also resulted in a deeper image, but more contained between the speakers. Having them wider apart created a wider image that extends out beyond the speakers. Finding just the right distance is tricky!

Moving them closer also had the effect of moving the first reflection points a bit farther down the side walls, so this likely helped as well. Toe-in will also affect the location of the first reflection points. You know how to use a mirror (and a friend) to find the first reflection points, yes?

When you say 5.5ft.apart.Are you measuring from the inner edge of each speaker or from center to center.
I always used 3 plus feet away from side walls on all dynamic speakers I have had in my systems.I felt they all sounded better then when placed closer to side walls.
Tboooe very nice system

. I was immediately floored by how much better my system sounded. There was a naturalness that I never heard before. Soundstage depth also increased dramatically (which may not be saying much since before I had zero depth).

I keep saying it over and over and over and over and over and over and over - get those speakers far away from the side walls - at least 3 feet if you can!

If your "throne view" photo is anything to go by as to speaker placement then it is not surprising you were completely totally floored when you moved the speakers closer together.

Well done for making such a huge improvement ....at no cost to boot!

While it may vary somewhat with speaker design (dispersion), I believe most speakers will benefit from placement at least 3' from the sidewalls, measured to the HF driver. From my reading, it is desirable to have direct sound arrive at least 10 ms ahead of reflected sound to reduce muddiness and smearing. Fortunately, sound travels at approximately one foot per ms so this makes for an easy calculation. Using a tape measure, the distance from the speaker baffle to the prime listening spot (PLS) should be at least 10' less than from the baffle to the first reflection point on the sidewall and then to the PLS. From this you will see that sidewall distances greater than 3' may be even better.

If you have not read Richard Hardesty's "The Audio Perfectionist" site, he believes most systems are set up with speakers too far apart and that some form of isosceles triangle set up is best, not an equilateral triangle as we once believed.

moving your speakers closer together just changes the first relection point it is still there