So exactly what did I hear during this process....
The staging from left to right was already very precise. For this I used a well recorded classical orchestral track because I know where the stringed instruments should be - e.g. left to right - violins, violas, cello, double bass, or something like that.
If your speakers are too far apart you can hear actual gaps between the many instruments - they sound disjoint.
Too close together and the instruments sound on top of each other - they should flow from left to right each having their own space with no gaps.
My specific problem was that from front to back on some tracks, it sounded as though everything was coming directly from the wall behind the speakers. Other tracks sounded as though they were coming from behind the wall, but there was never any sound coming from in front of the wall.
Selecting a track that sounded "flat to the wall" and starting with the front of the speakers about 44 inches from the wall behind, I moved the speakers back one inch at a time (to start with).
With each movement, the track started to have more depth from front to back and much clearer sounding with more details becoming apparent. I continued until the image started to loose it's clarity and the moved the speakers forward again to the point with the most clarity.
It's quite difficult the covey in words exactly what to listen for and at what point you have gone too far, but it became quite apparent when I was moving the speakers.
Once I had them in the right place I tried several toe-in angles and selected the best one. Again, when you are doing it it is readily apparent.
One thing I did notice during this process were standing waves in the bass frequencies , and positioned the speakers such that the sound had a nice balance to it from a couple of different listening locations.
Why more than one? Well, I have the sweet spot, where the sound is very good. And then there is the "wife and I" location, where we sit on those cold winter nights enjoying a glass of wine after a hard day skiing :-)
I had tried several times to find the right speaker location, but never really understood what I was doing, let alone what to look for. I tried the various formulae to no avail, because most of them call for the speakers to be in some position that required me to move furniture out of the room.
It wasn't until I read the posts in this thread, that I realized what having the speaker in the right place was actually achieving.
My thanks to all who contributed - I hope others find it as enlightening.
