Thiel speaker placement - am I crazy?

No one can argue with Stan's advice, but there are some general principles(?) things(?) I've noticed over the years with all kinds of speakers in all kinds/sizes of rooms (BTW, you should provide your room dimensions to make the discussion more productive ;--)

What I found most important, over and over again (the tail that MUST wag the dog) is the WIDTH of the room.

WITH THIS ONE EXCEPTION: If the smallest dimension of the room is LARGER than 15~16 feet, then you will be able to place the speakers on the longer wall, with 2 or 3 feet behind them, and still be able to sit back far enough from them to enjoy the superior soundstage that 'long wall' placement provides.

But if you have a room that's only 15 feet wide or less, than you have to place your speaker in front of the short wall in order to sit back far enough to enjoy them, and that is when the distance of each speaker from its respective sidewall becomes critical. You must keep the (outer) edge of almost any speaker at least 20 to 24 inches from the sidewalls, or they will not provide an optimal image -- sometimes NO image.

In this situation, I therefore always start with my 2 X 2 rule: 2 feet from the back wall and the sidewalls; then if there is a poor (or no) soundstage or no tangible image of a (preferably mono) solo vocalist, then I start pulling the speakers together a couple inches at a time until a strong image appears (remembering to keep my listening distance approximately as far away as the speakers are apart (center to center).

When a strong(est) image appears, then you can play with all the other lower priority variables:
Toe-in
Listening distance.
Distance from rear wall.
Vertical tilt.
Etc.

I guess what I'm saying is that the only "rule" if you can call it that, is to be careful (in short wall placement) to give the speakers a minimum clearance of 2 feet to the sidewalls.

Stan, I have resigned myself to the fact that no room narrower than 15 - 16 feet will allow "proper" speaker placement; and at best will require shortwall speaker placement and 'near-field' listening.

Unfortunately, the majority of residential rooms, including living rooms, in this country fall into that category. Some people find that situation unacceptable for one reason or another (like they prefer big speakers and big bass). I advise those people to consider headphones ;--)

Miles, I can offer you two practical solutions. One will cost a bit and be a bit disruptive (but worth it IMO) the second is cheap, and easy a to try. It might even work -- especially with dipole speakers:
1.) Install two posts to replace the one in the middle and then you'll have a place for your listening chair, or
2.) Place you speakers, freestanding in the opening and in line with the post, and place your listening furniture against the long wall.
.

Paperw8, there are tables and formulas that specify the relative proportion (not the actual dimensions) of space behind the speaker to space in front of them, and depending on the room's dimensions and volume, what frequency(ies) of standing waves will be generated from those different speaker position, where they will be the strongest, etc. You can't eliminate them, you can only move them around, and hopefully kill them if necessary ;--)

I wouldn't consider having your speakers in your living room a handicap. It's usually the biggest room in the house -- a definite benefit. And as an architect, I've never found a properly placed set of speakers that couldn't work well with a comfortable furniture layout.

By the way, when you describe speaker-to-speaker distance, you should be measuring their center-to-center distance.
When you describe speaker to rear wall distance, it should be from the front (baffle board) of the speaker to the rear wall.
And when you measure speaker to sidewall distance, it should be from the left or right edge (of the left or right speaker) to its adjoining sidewall.