I would assume directly in the middle (l-r) of your speakers is ideal. Does anyone find the sweet spot isn't in the middle? (in my house we have a corner couch, the comfy part of the couch doesn't quite reach the 'sweet spot'). How does position affect imaging? Even if the couch would reach, only one person could sit there anyways i guess.

Bass distribution is likely to be what is causing the "improvement" of one side over the other. Are you using a sub-woofer? If yes, try moving it in the room. If no, consider getting one.

ha, no subwoofer yet. we'll see how it sounds. it strictly a stereo system, not HT

Seated.

Oh, come on. You were all thinking it.

Correct as usual Tom!

lol, funny guys. i didn't think of that!

There are a lot of factors that will effect the “sweet spot.” If either speaker or the seating is nearer a wall on one side than the other you will likely get slightly higher SPL on that side even if sitting in the middle. Level matching the speaker will help but the wall will still effect the soundstage and tonality coming from the that side. If you can place speakers so that the drivers are at least 3 feet from the side walls it will help minimize this. Sitting close to the back wall will also effect imaging and clarity. Same thing applies with seating, try to keep it more than three feet from any walls.

This is where room correction systems like Audyssey are suppose to help in neutralizing the rooms effects on the sound arriving at your listening position.

Another factor I’ve found has a big effect on the sweet spot is toe-in. By using more toe-in I can create the best possible imaging at the sweet spot but at the cost of poorer imaging farther away. I’ve found that less toe-in generally produced a larger sweet spot at the cost of having the most perfect imaging. Of course the room plays a big role in how toe-in effects the imaging.

Cheers,
Dean

Okay, Dean's being "helpful" like usual.

Speaker positioning and room interactions make a very large difference in how you perceive the stereo image. Same with furniture placement, wall (floor, ceiling...) treatments, etc.

Somebody smart (Alan?) once said that The Room is the forgotten audio component. I've always liked that.

Standing up in the middle of the rug.

The sweet spot is my usual seating position when listening in 2 channel but I defer that spot to guests etc. when required and the system still sounds great off axis, which is a great credit to Axiom.