Long wall placement is the only way to go. Tried mine both ways and the openness the Dunlavy's achieve so well just doesn't come across on the short wall (unless it's huge) i would say you need at least 3 to 4 ft between the wall and the speakers and 8 to 10 feet between speakers to get them to work like they were designed. They still sounded good on the short wall but much more boxy. once you hear a good placement with adequate room all around the speaker you could never crowd them.
Long wall vs, short wall
I am contemplating buying a pair of Dunlavy SC IVa speakers. My room is rather long (26 ft.) and narrow (12 ft.) and the ceiling is stepped (font half 7 ft. 3 in.. second half 8 ft. 2in.) the door is on one side wall towards the rear. There are two small windows in the rear half of the room on the other side. For all practical purposes, it would be impossible to have the speakers on the long wall. How well would these DSL speakers work firing down the length of the room? All other factors being otherwise equal would Thiel CS 6s work better in this room. Thanks.