Another soundstage question

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - soundstage height is just another dimension of the spherical 3 dimensional soundstage. The dimensions of that soundstage in a particular system is a function of how much INFORMATION that system can extract from the recording. Which of course means everything matters, from absolute speaker placement, but not toe in or tilt of speakers, correct direction of cabling and fuses, vibration isolation, room acoustics, RFI/EMI and all the other issues that contribute to sound quality, including those unmentionable things that many folks don’t wish to acknowledge, the things that aren’t directed associated with the speakers, the electronics, cables, the house power, vibration or RFI/EMI. You know, things that go BUMP in the night. 😧 In any case the better the resolution you can acheive the larger the ever expanding sphere of the soundstage will be, including height.

When you control the mail you control... IN-FOR-MA-TION. - Newman

"...spend at least half of your listening time adjusting the speakers to the recording..."

wolf, while this might be the ultimate solution, it is really not a practical approach for most people. I had an interesting thing happen last week that changed my view of the soundstage. I ran into someone locally (on A'gon) who was selling a pair of Fostex folded-horn speakers that he had bought as a kit (Madisound BK-16 kit, $500) and assembled it using a Fostex 6.5" full-range driver (FF165K). He was basically giving them away. I spent the weekend and made them look real nice using ebony stain, etc. Lot of work but he had already done all the heavy lifting of assembling it and did a great job at it. Anyway, I made a crude stand, slightly angled front to back, to put them off the ground and set them up right next to my 2Ci so I could switch between the two. One thing that immediately blew me away was the incredible image specificity and the amount of detail coming out of these two drivers. I truly heard things I had not heard before. And depending on the content, especially live recordings, the soundstage was wide, deep and full of activity. The 2Ci has the width and depth but the imaging from these little drivers just places the instruments so well within the stage that I'm now convinced the key to achieving a "good" soundstage is image specificity just like a live event where you can "see" the instruments and that visual cue is what helps in creating the soundstage. In comparison the Vandys sound very matured, warm and relaxed, and of course with more bass. These have decent tight bass but need a smaller room which I'll address when I move them a another room upstairs and put them closer to the corners. The other "downside" is they are way too engaging for casual listening and tend to demand your attention at all times. Some may say they're fatiguing but for now I'm just thrilled with my first exposure to the single-driver speaker world and must say I'm impressed by the shear amount of detail they deliver.
I just realized I hi-jacked my own thread but this was such a cool experience and a revelation for me in the context of how the shape/size of a sounstage can be affected by how well the speakers deliver the imaging. I now "need" a nice low powered integrated tube amp to go with these puppies. It never ends....

What really helped my soundstage (depth, width, height) was when I began including devices made by Audio Magic (ie, PEA's, Blue Dot Disruptor, Pulse Gen ZX, Cable Clarifiers).  All of these devices are made to address noice (RFI, RMI) riding in your gear.  Every time I have added one of these devices, my system 'opens up', and the soundstage becomes bigger, more defined, with a blacker background.  It has made my system go from really good, to really, really good.  Think holographic (and I'm not exaggerating)!
I do not work for Audio Magic, I am just an extremely satisfied customer.  If you want to know more, call Jerry at Audio Magic.  He's a great guy, who can make some recommendations on where to begin.  You won't be disappointed!  I hope this helps!

Note to self: Remember that parody doesn't always work among the often humorless residents of audio geekedom, although slipping the ridiculous into these forums does provide me with a bit of admittedly self indulgent joy.