@mahgister "...imaging is NEVER achieved by luck or haphazard owners actions , but by acoustic good conditions and gear synergy for sure ..."
Are you speaking about image as a holographic or two dimensional ?
Imaging is the soundfield differentiation in space ...
Soundstaging is the three encompassing global dimensions of the soundfield way out of the speakers plane filling the room...
Holographic is the projection of the soundfield from points imaging in space to volumes distributed in space ...
Immersiveness when timbre perception is relatively accomplished as natural is the soundfield ratio between the sound source dimension and the listener position (ASW/LV ) in a word when the holography include the listener position ... Immersiveness is reached and timbre done relatively well when imaging soundstaging and holography are clearly perceived and distinguished together...
To all this i will add the acoustic aura and air between the volumes of each instrument in super high end systemin a completely controlled room ...(not mine) 😊
The best spatial attributes of sound maybe reached at any price but relatively (a low cost amplifier is not a 20,000 bucks one ) , first with Synergy between gear , at any price, then with mechanical and electrical controls of the working dimensions , and last but not least with acoustic control (not just mere passive treatment ) of the relation between the room pressure zones distribution and the speakers...But all that is not enough ...
Because of problems affecting all stereo system by crosstalk and the irrealism of the phantom images among many problems we need ears internal measures, HTRF measures. moving head measures filmed in real time and on top of that the BACCH filters system of Dr, Choueiri ...
Without all that even imaging will stay an abstraction almost as some points distributed in a spatial dimension between 2D and three D near the speakers and between it ... Even with some costlier system and even with EQ analog or digital, it is simple to deduce that it is not enough ....😁 And the sarcasms of some about any spatial true characteristics of sound as mere "illusions", "echoes", and "artefacts" says a lot about their own experience in their own system ...
Knowledge and creativity create S.Q. ,not mere price tag nor mere EQ. which is only one among other useful tools ...