Max, I think Dave was referring to the fact that when the baffles are pushed together, they could act like a big flat-screen. So long as your TV is back against your front wall, and you are able to pull the OBs out and away from each other, you should be dandy. I find my OBs to have quite good center imaging/coherence when the positioning is right.

I think my favorite part about OBs is listening behind them. 

Update:

After tweaking the crossover a bit more here's where I'm at. This is in-room response with PN. No EQ applied.

No smoothing


1/2 Octave smoothing


Sounds excellent in just about all aspects. Tonally neutral and non-fatiguing which is always my #1 priority. Great bass that isn't peaky like with traditional cabinets. I do hear some bass distortion at higher (90dB+) levels. But it's incredibly articulate and detailed when rendering the low-end. Stand-up bass on recordings is palpably real and placed perfectly in the mix, something subwoofers can't hope to do.

Imaging isn't pinpoint like you get with a traditional mini-monitor or slim cabinet. You kind of trade spacious-ness for pinpoint-ness. Instead of instruments being confined to little blobs in space, they're expansive and in the room with you. Cliche, I know, but these loudspeakers are good at doing just that. Some might not like the effect, but it's all relative.

Am going to listen more and enjoy. I have the Jantzen caps in but I haven't installed them yet. That might be a fun comparison if I can figure out a way to A/B them. Other than that, I'm going to start saving up for a pair of these guys:

http://www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/ribbon-tweeters/raal-dipole-140-15d-ribbon-driver/

Yeah, I know. More immediate step is better amplification and possibly active xover.

Notice how they keep inching closer to the listening position...



I've got a good grip on their sound at this point. Measurements to follow.

These drivers are actually much better behaved which is a surprise for me. The FE126En had a pair of peaks at 5k and 7k. These seem to have a pair at 3.5k and 5k, which is further from that critical harshness zone. These drivers are easier to listen to without EQ.

• Red is on-axis, 2ft from driver.
• Green is listening position, baffles ~6ft from my front wall, ~20degree of axis
• Blue is listening position, baffles ~4.5ft from my front wall, <20degree of axis

Both green and blue have non-ideal amounts of toe-in which make it look more rolled than it is. I definitely miss a bit of that last octave in this position. Only reason I measured this way was because the FE126En sounded best in that position as it smoothed out those peaks a wee bit. FE166En sounds best directly on axis, as the red plot indicates. And it's less peaky (in perceived terms) so it's not a problem.  As you move the baffles forward, you get bassier. You also get more spacious and involving soundstage. It's a funny trick that OBs pull off. And I feel the 166 is a better candidate for OB duty than the 126

Here's an ARTA plot that's probably most representative of what I'm hearing: