In the end whether your image begins in front or behind the front plane of your speakers is FAR less important than whether your system images coherently in a three-dimensional manner, with everything in its correct place within a fully-fleshed-out three-dimensional soundstage
In his regular blog Paul McGowan of PS Audio mentions that the soundstage on speakers should be behind the speakers, “In an earlier post Where the music’s supposed to be, which I encourage you to read, we learned that our soundstage should be behind the loudspeakers, not on the same plane and certainly not in front.”