Got the 'replacement' foam pieces from Speaker Exchange, though their physical dimensions, shape and the density of at least the inner piece differ from the originals. Not correct or even cheap, but it's the only thing available.
Now that they're as good as they're gonna be I gave the EVs another chance. I moved the NHTs off to the side to be able to position the EVs properly, really close to the wall. Still using dem make shift chairs for stands, but it works well.
First cd: Metallica, Black album, beginning to end.
Wow! They're better than before. The bass is now very good, totally different than before. It's actually dynamic and impressive.
They're only about 6" closer to the wall than before, as close as the chairs allow, but that made all the difference.
The overall sound is still flat of course, but the mids and highs are less harsh but still full of detail.
I'd still like to turn down the mids a tick, but since that's not possible on my equipment I boosted the bass +1 (out of a possible 5) and treble +1.5
This is really the only way to listen to these for me and it made it very enjoyable.
Next cd was a sound demo mix cd with a few well recorded songs from different genres, same cd I played before on these speakers.
Some female vocals, some country and some Stevie Ray Vaughn. Everything sounded very well this time around.
Final cd for this session was Best of Paolo Conte, one of my favorite jazz artists. The cd is very well recorded and sounds absolutely amazing on these monitors. Just perfect, really. These speakers SHINE with well recorded jazz.
Very happy with these guys now overall. They're quite the midbass monsters, maybe even more so than the NHTs though the NHTs dig deeper.
This is how I started out:
Then I tried some make shift sound treatment on the wall between the speakers. Just a (really ugly) blanket hung over a rod suspended on the chairs. The blanket really helped the sound, it drastically reduced listening fatigue by calming down the mids and making everything sound sharper and less muddled together.
I also placed some rugs on the floor right in front of the speakers (at the first reflection points) which helped as well.
Both of these changes together allowed me to listen to the music louder and for longer on these monitors. Great success.
Now I just gotta build some DIY sound treatment panels that don't look bad and treat the room.
Thanks for looking and Happy New Year to everyone!