Well, my room is a dedicated HT room but it functions as both an audio and video center. The room is 12' x 20' but the back opens up to a larger area. There are three couches in a U shape around the back of the room and there is a burber carpet over concrete. No other acoustical treatments (yet). I have the M80's about 8 feet apart (from center of woofer to center of woofer) and my ears are about 7 feet back from them (on a direct diagonal). I do have a 65" CRT Rear Projection TV between them which I'm sure is not helping the soundstage but for now, I have to deal with it. The speakers are about 2.75' from the wall (to front of woofer). I have a slight toe-in that targets about 4' behind my listening position
Also, I probably read the same bad review(s) that you did but I can tell you that I auditioned a number of speakers before purchase and the one I think most closely compared was the Paradim Reference Studio 100. If they were at the exact same price point, I would have gone with the Paradigm...but the difference certainly couldn't justify a $1,000 price hike...not even close. I also didn't listen to the Paradigm in MY theater, but rather on $25k worth of processing equipment/amps in a showroom so who knows how much of a difference that made.
I still play with them almost every night, making minor adjustments trying to find the "perfect" position.
