I always place speakers a little narrower than equilateral and toe in fairly direct to the ear when near walls.
Typically speakers will fool you into dissapearing when the direct sound and indirect sound are more balanced in frequency and amplitude. Too much direct sound equals narrow soundstage and hard center with hard left and right images. Too much indirect sound removes weight from central image and can make images kind of diffuse instead of solid. Really a balancing act. Hence lfr1100s or game of inches with front radiating speakers. Also why dipoles are so fussy about setup. No sidewall energy. Lfrs have balanced sound and reflections -with a switch to increase rear output and treble when further from front wall... Oversimplifying of course.
My speakers are placed closer to walls so I toe in harder. I need less treble intentionally sent to the wall when closer. Bass largely goes through it. If you have to cheat your speakers really wide for them to dissapear you are giving a little weight away from the center image is all. Could show your lateral reflections are weaker -as in a width room setup. You also mentioned your room can sound bass heavy. Chances are lowering your speakers a little enhances the sweetness of voices by shading the bass a little bit. Also, firing across the short axis raises the resonant frequency vs long axis, so bloom is usually a struggle with fuller range speakers in rooms less than 14’ across. This puts the fundamental at 40 hz and gets higher as the room shrinks.
Hope this makes sense and I dont sound like either a kook or wizard. Really neither. Lol.
