Have you ever tried to play your speakers outdoors? I tried this once but the sound was thin and dull. That's when I realized that apart from the sound that travels straight from the speaker to your ears, the indirect reflected sound is also important.
Either way, too much reflected sound can distort sound quality. In order to tame these reflections, I moved all chairs and sofas away from the wall to somewhere around the middle of the room. The sound is now way better than before.
I have never looked at it from this point of view; it makes a lot of sense now since there are times when the sound quality is not so good. I have quite a large living room so I will try moving everything else to somewhere around the center.
I'm sure there is a science to this. Volume, bass, treble, the amount of reflections vs. all of the above. I go with what sounds good to me, and that involves a sparse room.
Have you ever tried to play your speakers outdoors? I tried this once but the sound was thin and dull.
This is when you turn up the bass and down with the treble. For starters. The more options in this regard that your system has, you can compensate well for the environment.
Issues around sound quality can get confusing at times but like decibel, I tend to go with what sounds good to the ear. Still, a sparse room ensures that the sound quality is above par.