I am Looking for That Elusive 3 Dimensional Room Filling Soundstage

@eag618,  I suggest you spend a good bit of time taking a look at the Realtraps website.   You will find a wealth of information on room and system set up and acoustics.  Also really useful tools.
http://realtraps.com/info.htm

GIK Acoustics has some really cost effective treatments and I think an industry leading free consultation.  
https://www.gikacoustics.com/?gclid=CjwKCAjwldHsBRAoEiwAd0JybSTTbBYpusCnPntumCDCKkolhDErBYA7oLqT7_Pa...
However, in order to make best use of that free consultation, you should fully inform yourself on the basics of room acoustics and get up to speed on the REW software for room measurement.  It is free, there is great support while you are trying to get started, and companies like GIK can use the data to identify and target your room's biggest issues. 

If you are using monitors with limited output below 40 Hz, your problem is somewhat easier than if you are dealing with full range speakers, but you still need to measure to understand your decay times etc.  

Since you are pretty good with physics, you have a huge leg up on most of us.  You might want to also pick up a text book like "Master handbook of Acoustics."   

I hate to rain 🌧 on anyone’s parade but no amount of room treatment can fix the horrible mess created by CD players, generally speaking. If anyone in the DC area wants to hear what a real soundstage sounds like - not the usual congealed, thin, projected, narrow, synthetic, digital, shrill, tepid, bland, disorganized one you’ve heard many times before and have got used to - make a beeline 🐝 to BWS Consulting in Arlington, Va. But don’t blame me if you decide to throw your whole rig in the nearest lake or change hobbies afterwards.

An ordinary man has no means of deliverance.

Well you may hate to but you just did.

From a technical perspective, streaming is a much more robust process than reading data of an optical disk (CD) in real time. All my CDs get ripped first right up front then streamed. Even off my smart phone in the car. I never "play" CDs anymore. The results are pretty much never as good as ripping. Not all CD players are created equal of course but they all face the same challenges.

Plus when you rip a CD with good ripping software (not expensive) you get very reliable metrics as an adjunct that help you determine which CDs have defects and are more error prone and which are not.

Many CDs may produce many read errors during ripping even when they may look to be in perfect condition.

However with ripping, the data can be re-read multiple times as needed until good whereas when playing a CD there is limited time for that (unless buffered up prior).

Only very few of the 1000’s of CDs I’ve ripped were so bad that they had to be ripped with errors in the resulting file. Even with those, it is still unlikely anyone will ever hear the errors that might remain with a properly done CD rip.

Streaming using a high quality service like Tidal, Qubuz, or Amazon also all share similar quality advantages over trying to play a CD in real-time yourself.

OP- I'll PM you

Be careful with room treatment.  Go slow, consider the speakers.  OHM recommends a live front end and treated mid/rear of the room.  I have my room set up differently based on speakers and a room can be overtreated.  You might get a precise soundstage and imaging, but a small soundstage as a result.  Diffusion is as important as absorption.  Go slow, maybe a couple bass traps in the rear corners and a couple absorbers.diffusers to play around with before going nuts.

the room is important, no question.  But the speakers still matter the most, as does the source.  Hi res streaming is where it’s at.