About a year ago I went from a fairly "dead" room to a large, asymetrical and extremely live room (stone tile floor throughout). The room was so live that echos were literally everywhere.
After my initial panic I found that it was relatively easy to treat the room through the use of a large rug, paintings, etc. All in all I thnk I'd rather start with a room that is too live and tone it down rather than start with a room that is on the "dead" side. I think it is more difficult to bring the latter back to life.
Having the speakers five feet from the side and front walls minimize side reflections. Also, since my esl's are line sources, the only major issue was direct reflections. Easy to deal with via a large rug. YMMV with other speakers.
After my initial panic I found that it was relatively easy to treat the room through the use of a large rug, paintings, etc. All in all I thnk I'd rather start with a room that is too live and tone it down rather than start with a room that is on the "dead" side. I think it is more difficult to bring the latter back to life.
Having the speakers five feet from the side and front walls minimize side reflections. Also, since my esl's are line sources, the only major issue was direct reflections. Easy to deal with via a large rug. YMMV with other speakers.