Widening my soundstage

Listen to Ramstl. Also, not all recordings have out of phase signal information, so those will not image beyond the width of the speakers (this is not even considering the height and depth planes; instrument image sizes/prespectives, etc.). A good test CD is called for here. Listen to correlated and uncorrelated pink noise, and voice tracks in and out of phase. My two favorites are the Sheffield A2TB "My Disc", and also the XLO/RR CD..........................The point of good imaging, is to have the entire listening room disappear, so that you are transported to the recording venue. If that venue was not "continuous" to begin with, you cannot expect "realism" thru your system, that didn't actually get recorded in the first place. To assume otherwise is folly, but that doesn't stop lots of people from assuming it anyway.................They also love OH SOOO much, to assume that room acoustic treatment isn't necessary, as long as they can hear some form of phantom center image. That is utter foolishness also. Anybody can listen in an untreated room, but please do not deceive yourself into thinking you are "really hearing something good", because you aren't...........I heard the top of the line Spendors at a dealer's house, in a huge room treated only with plants(his "reference"). He was big on deceiving himself, like so many are....the slap echo was about like that of an airport terminal, or a raquetball court. The silly things people do, and with so much money to boot! It's a travesty!!!

karl: you are wrong, wrong, wrong, yet again. it doesn't take "out-of-phase" recordings (e.g., "amused to death," roger waters; "music," madonna) to get a sound stage width that goes waaay beyond the outer edges of your speakers. what it takes is a really good system (obviously, not yours). i could list a considerable number of cd's and lp's that image well beyond the outer boundaries of my speakers. i don't use mit or krell. i do use accuphase, rowland, avalon, cardas and fim, among others. the silly things you do, karl. it's a travesty!!! like i've said, karl, you need to get out there to listen to something other than the lower edge of mid-fi. ---your favorite "angry drunk" cornfedboy

Well, it may be that out of phase gives you sound outside your speakers, but what it really does is give you sound centered at each speaker, unfocused, with a hole in the center. So while you can argue it is "wide" let's not pretend it is correct. Carl is right-on with his comments on room treatment. A lot of things can be considered "the best money I spent in my system" ... for me, tube traps et all are certainly on that short list. When I now listen to rooms that are not treated, I hear so much of the room and the reflections and the sound is "muddy" and inarticulate in comparison IMHO.

I have different speakers of course, but I have found the most profound effect on soundstage is to set up the speakers according to the manufacturers recommendation. You should follow the manufacturers setup guide to a T, using a measuring tape and a level.
Other items, see the immedia setup guide mentioned above. Also, try to get stuff like extra furniture out of the room. Make sure you don't have anything (like a tv) in between them and try to minimize reflective surfaces such as coffee tables, and walls. For corners, I put some big plants in the rear corners of my room and that helped. I also have some curtains that cover the glass wall behind my speakers. Closing these does improve the soundstage.
If you want to buy something, I would try replacing the monster cables. I'm flag waving my own equipment yet again, but nordosts are known for as soundstaging champs. I'm hearing very good things about the Analyis plus cables. Tube equipment tends to increase the size of the soundstage as well.

Must disagree regarding all the talk about exacting speaker placements & specific room treatments.
My rig stages huge, & I've paid only precursory attention to that. My only room treatments are pretty basic: floor & wall rugs, drapes, stuffed furniture (which IS strategically placed) & I've sprayed the whole ceiling with 1" cellulose coating to kill reflections. With good program source material, the walls virtually disappear. Homebrew you really need to dump that Monster wire... Make some good extension cords out of it.