I'm setting up a media room basement and planning on using M60s or m 80s. I plan to have a L shaped sectional couch. I don't want the end of the couch to obstruct the speaker. How much space should there be between the speaker and the end of the couch? Also, how should the speakers be placed in relation to the wall?

Here's a very rough markup of my plans. Basement Plans

I have a similar situation with my couch blocking my left speaker. When I had Axioms, I got around the problem by building some ugly, but relatively efficacious, risers which lifted all the drivers slightly above the edge of the sofa. Not ideal, but few things in life are.



When I got new speakers, I opted to set them on the floor to see if I could notice an audible difference. The arm of the sofa is a mere 6 inches, or so, in front of the speaker,blocking the bottom two of four woofers. The top two woofers, midrange driver, and tweeter are unobstructed. Still not ideal, but real world strictures demand compromise.



I notice no difference between the two speakers (YMMV), so, I opted to leave them on the floor. IMHO, If you can get at least two feet, or even one, between the speaker and the sofa arm, you need have no concerns.

As to positioning relative to the walls, the Axioms are ported speakers, so they need at least 3 or 4 inches of space behind them (more is better). Try to place them so that the drivers are not the same distance from the side walls as they are from the back wall. Experiment with angling the speakers slight in toward your ears (toe-in) to see what sounds good to you.

You'll find a wealth of knowledge and good advice among these articles.

I had the same issue as you so I ended up purchasing an L-shaped sofa with a very short L-leg. It's three feet away from the woofers of the M80 and I don't believe it makes any difference to the sound. Remember that what comes out of the woofers is mostly omni-directional so your imaging won't be affected by a small obstacle.