Speaker positioning and center image depth

You already nailed the basic root cause of the issue blisshifi which is independent of the system price tag.

I ended up having to reposition the speakers myself in each room as I was listening, but it only helped so much due to the detrimental effect of the reflections and reverberations.

For any system the reflections from the floor and walls or the lack of them shape the sound image.

This worked best for imaging in my room:

• 30" long sound absorbers along the wall behind the speakers which are back ported.
• Speakers are about 35" from the back wall and slightly toed inside.
• A long haired carpet in front of the speakers.
• The area between and behind the speakers is empty.
• Bare wooden floor between and behind the speakers. I tested covering the area between/behind the speakers with carpet but the sound wasn’t good.
• Speakers decoupled from the floor.

Every case is room and system dependent. Only way is to test different treatments to get what you experience as the best.

I've been able to use a combination of the factors listed (positioning, treatment, recording) to get a fairly deep and wide soundstage. (Chesky recordings are often great for testing this, by the way.)

If I start with the best my system can do, what then changes it the most?

The amp, then the preamp, in order of importance.

Keeping everything else stable, swapping a tube amp for my solid state amp has done the most to expand (including deepen) the soundstage.

Next to that, swapping a 6SN7 preamp for my 12AT preamp has done the most.

DAC changes also affect this, but they come in third in importance.

I would be in the camp that speakers positioning, room size and shape and acoustics treatments have more to do with any kind of imaging than the speakers themselves.

I appreciate everyone’s input and resonate with much of what has been expressed. Especially @bobpyle on the wow factor vs trade offs, @walkup with every component/cable making a difference, and @tjag on treating the room properly.

I would be lying if I said I believe that I had my speakers set up perfectly, or all the correct treatments in the right places, or the best components and system synergy. But trial and error has gotten me to a place where the combinations of these things are producing results that I believe surpass many other systems I hear.

This doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate other systems that I hear - in fact it’s opposite. So many audiophiles listen to another’s’ system and are quick to point out its flaws, similar to how @bobpyle points out the wow factors & tradeoffs, but they don’t approach it open-mindedly enough to understand and resonate with the possible wow factors. Everyone has a perspective in which they think is the truth. With audio, there is some directional agreement on what the truth is, but at the end of the day, it is absolutely personal based on an individual’s perceptions. 

I don’t want this to become a measurements vs sonics thread, as I absolutely believe in how something sounds vs how it measures. But it brings me back to my original reason for posting. Much (no, not everything) of what is communicated in reviews and forums to generalize the soundstaging and imaging of a speaker is largely dependent on the communicator’s past experiences with gear (which may be very limited) and the way the speakers were set up in the room, along with all of the other variables shared so far. It is for this reason that I will not let reviews or chatter alone drive my decision on a speaker and need to experience one that moves me (at least in the same brand/line if not the exact speaker) to help me define my convictions of how it sounds. This makes me take what everyone else says about a particular pair of speakers with a grain of salt.

Just last week I tried moving my speakers (Acoustic Zen Crescendo) out 6 feet from the rear wall, as I have read so ofter that this is an optimal distance.  I can't leave them there as the room just doesn't work.  Anyway, I was very surprised at the sound.  The speakers were way into the room, but the music appeared to be glued to the read wall.  Very wierd to be seeing the speakers sitting in one location and having the music coing from far behind them.  Not good or bad, just different.