Help with Soundstage effect improvements

I'm not sure exactly where to post this question, please forgive the length. I recently purchased the Musical Fidelity X-150 and X ray CD combo. They are only a couple weeks old, running 24 X 7 on repeat. I already had a pair of Canton Ergo 900s that I've had about a year. It sounds pretty good with budget ICs and 10g copper speaker cables, a little weak on mid bass at lower volumes. I began experimenting with quality ICs and Bi-Wire cables this weekend, but quickly ran into confusion as usual. I friend lent me a pair of high quality?? ($1,000) silver ICs, but they were overly bright, so my dealer told me to bring them in and let him beat-up on them with a pair of way less expensive Transparent Music Link Plus cables. He used the Musical Fidelity A.5 combo integrated and CD and a pair of Vanderstein floor speakers. We put the silver ICs in and they sounded pretty good to me, then he switched them out and put in the Tranparents. I probably would not have caught the differences being such a novice at this point, but he pointed out several things that were actually true. The instruments were definitely in different locations front and back. Background singers were definitely to the left beyond the speakers. A guitar came from backstage up to the front during a solo, then drifted back. I found all this very cool, so I bought the ICs, took them home and hooked everything up. I was much disappointed and confused that I had very little stage and no separation. Everything was pretty much coming from the 8 foot circle around my Ergos. The actual music sounded good mind you, but no fancy mo-jo or magic. After an hour or two, I also noticed the highs became annoying and I had to cut the volume down quite a bit. This left me with no impact or beef if you know what I mean. The sweet spot couldn't be tolerated very long. I have no idea where to go from here. If someone with experience could offer direction, I would appreciate your comments. I would really like to duplicate the sound at the dealer, but know it's a complex issue, may take some more experimenting, and possibly room management.