The most important factor in soundstage imaging

@steve59 yes!  Heck, cables reversed, room, placement, CD player or equipment inverting phase etc...

@mrdecibel You nailed it!  I couldn’t agree more...recently switched speakers and Interconnects till I got that “Live” sound back in my room.

 @whart wise indeed and part, a big part of why I initially started making my own recordings....and spending a lot of time w organists, piano players, small acoustic ensemble and chorale groups....TRYING to recreate what you hear in what I call the balanced direct and reverberant space. Amazing and fun and a reference burned into whatever is left of my mind.

So right about gear and music and travelling in both worlds.. join us for more of that in the Music section, What’s On Your Turntable Tonight ? thread....not a lot of dealers there either.....BUT some half crazed all night vinyl spinners...ha

A huge congrats to you Dave! I wanted so much to buy the same pair that you have, I really like the carbon black. I just couldn’t swing it. Not all bad news though since I got a pretty good deal on a pair of DSP8000’s and tbh in this stubborn room I’m probably better off. I would love to come over and hear your system sometime. Will you be inviting the crew?

Any decent box speaker can image well...it’s getting the energy of the music to hit you with believability! I need substance, not ghosts :-)

The most important factor in soundstage imaging - is having 2 ears. Still nothing wrong with mono, sound staging is all in your head anyway. Just get one massive speaker and you have a real massive soundstage. Or buy pairs of wee weak chinless direct radators and they can put up a fake one. I would much prefer 1 large loudspeaker in mono over conventional audiophile offering in stereo. To me this sounds more like real music in a real space than standard audiophile fair.