Tweaks which I have put into practise and are now de rigueur for me.
Speakers in front of the short wall,firing down the length of the room.
15% from side walls and 70% between the two speakers.
Minmum 3 feet from back wall.Ideally distance from back wall should be 25% to 30% of the total length of the room.
With the speakers as the first two points of the triangle,the listening position should be the third point.
For a distance of 8 feet between the speakers,listening position should be 8 feet at low volume,10 feet at moderate volume and 12 feet at high volume.
Small carpet at the center point between the speakers and listening position.
Diffuse first side wall reflections by placing some object/diffusion panel at the centre point between speakers and listening position on the side walls.
Potted plants behind the speakers in the two corners to break standing waves.
Thick curtains on windows.Minimum glass in the room.All glass tops should be covered.
Decent,stable,wooden rack.No glass.
Decent IC's and speaker cables.Minimum:Entry level Chord/QED.Hifimart!
One or two reference CD's,with good recordings and heavy bass for speaker placement.
Gently toe in speakers until the vocals seem to be coming from a center point,a few feet behind the speakers.
Toe in would have to be related to the distance from back wall and the distance between the speakers.Too much would smear the image,too less would thin it out.
Ideally,the music should not seem to be coming from the speakers,but from the entire wall behind the speakers.
Avoid speakers,recordings and placements which throw poison darts of bright treble and gobs of flatulent bass at you.
Tweaking should be a rare exercise.Doing it too often would ruin the pleasure of listening to music.
Wine is better with music than whisky or beer.
And the most important tweak.
LIGHTS OFF!
Music is meant to be heard in the dark.
Alone.
Or with a companion equally sympathetic to music.
NEVER with a philistine who is indifferent to music.
I KNOW with complete certainty,that a person who is indifferent to music is capable of the most inhumane acts.
