Component contributions to “sound stage”

Man, Ive spent the last few years chasing this and am finally satisfied. Soundstage has so many different aspects and I don't think it's a simple answer. It's going to depend on your room and setup. 

1.speakers. Your other components will have a role but nothing on a system defines how it sounds more than the speakers. Id they can clearly and truly reproduce the recording that's a huge first step. 

2. Placement. Where your speakers are in the room and how they are tied in. This is super speaker and room specific. For me, I use no toe in as my speakers still create a perfect center image with no toe in. Having no toenin maximizes the width of the soundstage. I have tried toe in before I changed some other components to try and achieve more image focus but always missed the depth too much. I'll say that this part, setup, is one of the most viral things you can do. Read the directions that come with your speakers. Call the manufacturer and ask for tips. It will take a lot of time but you'll get a lot of mileage here.

3. Source. I'm an analog guy so having a turntable, arm and cartridge that can accurately pick up the recording is crucial. Without that, you'll never get proper center image or depth or width of soundstage.

4. Amplifiers. This one surprised me. Id been looking to achieve more depth of soundstage and had changed all other components, largely to no avail. When I upgraded my amplifiers (Atma-Sphere MA-1s) I was blown away by the increase in clarity, space around the different instruments and voices. This space and clarity really enhanced imaging and depth.

5. Preamp. This is the one I changed the most chasing the depth. What I found was that while the preamp is the heart of the system in a o lot of ways, it didn't have that much impact. It does define the overall tone of the system but it wasn't until I proved my amps that I was able to hear the full potential of my system.

For full details see virtual system

Where the sound comes out: Speakers.

Then room acoustics, specially first reflection points on sidewalls.

I agree with most on here, but I would like to stress that the room itself is the most important component, not just its acoustics or the treatments within, but also the available size and the placement and positioning of the speakers within. It won’t be possible to get a very deep or wide soundstage if the room is too small or too big depending on the speakers’ performance and placement. We often talk about reflections being our enemy, but leveraged and managed properly (with treatments), they can become one of our best friends.

In addition to all the components listed, I’d also like to add that the number of subwoofers of an appropriate pedigree based on the room size and shape help to clear our room modes and advance beyond soundstage limitations set by the room and speaker. 

This is not as simple as just ’the room and speakers’ though they ARE very important in the chain.

You see the entire thing from the studio and mic’ing, the sound engineering, the pressing and onwards affects the stage. Let’s say you have a jazz combo where the musicians are close-mic’ed. Then more of the "soundstage" will be in the engineers’ and producer’s hands. They will control where an instrument appears in the "soundstage". Early Beatles recordings are great examples of this. If OTOH the mics are out in the room away from the artists, then you would get more of the studio’s acoustic signature in the recording with less specific placement other than perhaps left and right. Orchestral recordings done with only a couple of mics are excellent examples of this.

Do monaural recordings have "soundstage"? 😉

NOW we get to our "speakers and room" components. I have a pair of electrostatic speakers that are very sensitive to placement, especially as regards the soundstage. Contrary to what one would think, if I toe them inwards, the stage gets wider and less focused. As a consequence, the ’sweet spot’ though wider is slightly less satisfying. OTOH, if I toe them outwards a bit, the stage is very tightly focused at the cost of having a very narrow sweet spot. (And boy do I mean narrow!)

With regards to the influence by any components, other than speakers, I would suggest that your sources (LP, CD, Digital) which read and reproduce the recorded signals followed by your preamp would influence the sound stage. And finally, of least influence will be your amplification. Why? Good amplification will affect the quality of the reproduction in the chain (dynamics, frequency response, etc) but has little bearing on where an instrument will appear on the stage.

At the risk of causing controversy, I fail to see how a powercable might affect soundstage.

Happy listening.