Widening my soundstage

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.

Korn, I wish you all the best with your problems.