'lateral' move - help

Here's my situation:

I started with a HT. Nakamichi AV10 receiver, NHT 2.5i mains, NHT VS2.4 centre, NHT 1.3a rears. Rotel rcd971 transport, MSB link DACIII half nelson.

Wanted better sound for music. HT is secondary.
Decided to go from HT to strictly two-channel. Sold the Nak. Bought a Unison Rearch Unico. Smoother sound, yes. More detailed? not really. Airy? AGain, not really.

I figured it must be my speakers. Sold em all. Bought a pair of StudioLab Reference 1's - MUCH different speaker than the NHT's...NHT = 1" metal tweeter, 6.5" inch midbass, 8" woofer. StudioLab Ref 1's - 3/4" soft dome tweeter, 4.5" bass driver.

When auditioning the StudioLabs in the store, they were being driven by a Jolida 30w/ch hybrid (JD301?) and source was a cambridge cd player. Not the most serious stuff, but 'good' gear.

With this gear, the sound of the StudioLabs was very open and airy - breathy, even. Very fast, crisp and clean. They lacked the ultimate in bass, but that's the price i was willing to pay for that type of higher fidelity sound. Ordered a pair. Just got em yesterday. Thought I would be infinitely pleased.

Now the sad part. I do realize that speakers in general need breaking in. And i know how significant this break in can be. But, I'm just not getting the clarity and airiness that i'm looking for. Further, there is a room resonance at a certain bass frequency...the room loads at that frequency and the bass becomes boomy and one note-y. This is most noticeable with dance music. I attribute this strictly to the room, which i KNOW to be very poor acoustically.

The fact of the matter is, I thought these speakers would significantly outperform my old NHT's in terms of airiness, clarity and dimensionality. I was wrong.

Is it possible that once the new speakers are fully broken in, the sense of 'air' will present itself? Or should i resign myself to the possible fact that the speakers are just not a good match for what is running them? Or is it possible that my room, in conjunction with the 'bass loading' characteristic has a way of 'killing the airiness' of a speaker?

Also, would changing tubes in the Unico help at all?

I'm not sure what to do or where to go at this point. I lost a lot of money in selling my old gear, and frankly, i'm not happy about it.

Cables are Audioquest type 4 and interconnects are MIT terminator 2???...digital cable from transport to dac is Kimber D60 silver.

The room is about 11.5 x 14, system on the long wall (has to be) Hardwood floor. Area carpet. Wall carpet. At times, there's a bed that extends into the room (which definitely interferes with the imaging), although this bed is put into couch form when listening critically.

any ideas at what i'm lacking to get this 'air'?

hellllp!!!