Sound stage, front, middle, or behind your speaker

Well, I have dipoles and my sound stage is either a little forward of....or, in line with the speaker plane......depending on which of my last two preamps I used.

My Audioprism Mantissa (tubed) placed the forward part of the sound stage in line with the speakers, and my Monarchy M-24 (also tubed)....extends the forward part of the sound stage a foot or two beyond the speaker plane.

I'd say it's the preamp, and speaker setup........although in my case the speaker location did not change (but I think you need to change yours?.....yikes!....7 feet behind the speakers?....something is wrong!).

Dave

I agree with Elizabeth. I'd bet that if you swapped the negative and positive speaker leads on each respective amplifier channel your presentation could move more forward. You might want to try that to see which way your recordings sound best to you... Be sure to do the swap on both channels or you will get an out-of-phase result that won't sound right.

I prefer an image behind the speakers in an (ultimately futile) attempt to create the illusion of sitting in a concert hall, with the performers some distance away. I generally sit mid-way or 3/4 of the way back in a hall, and I want the performers to seem to be an appropriate distance from me.

It may be entirely psychoacoustic in nature, but I position my speakers about midway along the length of my room so there is a space behind them for the musicians to "occupy." I want my ears to tell my brain something that it is impossible for my eyes to tell my brain. Crazy, no? But it works for me, and it works with a variety of different speakers.
-Bob