You've changed the mix of direct/reflected sound arriving at your ears by changing position. If the preferred position is 1' in front of your speakers, I know of no room treatment that will provide that sort of sound 13' farther away. That's not to say further experimentation with placement and room treatments won't provide better sound than what you presently experience from your normal listening position, they certainly should depending on your listening priorities. Beware of too much fiberglass in the way of "traditional" room treatments, they operate as broadband absorption devices and can remove much of the life of the music. Speaker placement and listening position are the first things to experiment with since they are free. I normally suggest you begin with the WASP system as a good starting point.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=slv8-hptb5&p=wasp%20speaker%20placement&type=

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Do you think it's a result of more direct sound or more indirect from what I had been experiencing?

Yes, consider just what you are hearing.

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Is it strange that I prefer the sound from my speakers when I'm so close to them?

There are far stranger things that have been reported.

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Is this what it's supposed to sound like when my speakers are placed correctly and the room is treated correctly?

Yes!

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Can I achieve this type of imaging and immediacy in my usual listening spot?

Yes, this is done by putting absorbers at the side-wall and ceiling reflection points. If you can't hang absorbers from the ceiling, doing only the sides will still help a lot. However, in a small room like yours, "early" reflections from the wall behind you are also a cause of lost imaging. Ideally you'll use proper absorber panels at all of those places, but even hanging tripled-up bath towels will help a lot. It's a simple and free experiment you can try. These articles explain further:

How to set up a room
Early Reflections

--Ethan

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