Looking for the next level in imaging...

IME, the best sound image system was with Quad 57 with a dinky real old tube power amp in 1990. The sound images floated like a ghost between speakers. The flocking of guitar images were like audio notes dancing on the air. I could see and feel lips of a female singer. My audio-quest started that day. I had a music system (Inkel Concerto) on 1979 and few other systems until 1990.

I had below system in Black.

The best sound images I made was with Avalon Eclipse, Jadis Defy-7, ML-26 around 1997. I played with Avalon speaker sounds which had many options such as tweeter covers and sound damper pad.

I think the sound image is the most important part in hi-end audio. It is an art and very special. I will recreate those ghost images later if possible.

No. I change my mind. I don’t think so. I won’t play with those ghost images again. Why? It is not that special now. I have a natural sound system now. The ghost sound images are dry and tasteless sound images to compare the original natural sound system I have. I don’t think I’ll like those embossed (outlined) ghost like sound images from a conventional system now. And I must endure with the sound coloration, glare and veil from those systems. I won’t waste my time for ghost images from un-natural sound.

Also, I don’t think my ears will be happy with those harsh sounds. The ghost sound images are the combination of harsh sound of certain freq and reflection sounds (from walls and ceiling) of speaker distortion sounds.

I know many of you don’t hear my video sound correctly because your ears are tuned for your audio system which is un-natural sound which you’ve been hearing for life from your audio, your car, church, Disneyland, etc. To those ears, the original music sound much different from what I hear. Many of you earned seasoned ears through decades. So, you remember it took weeks to months to open your ears for a special gear. It is not easy to hear the original music and my videos correctly for those biased ears. The original music is a natural sound and it won’t take long time to earn open ears for seasoned ears but it’ll still take some time with concentration (search and try to hear the singer’s mouth and voice images in the sound-stage).

The original song is recorded directly from a singer’s mouth to Mic (1-2 foot distance?) in a treated room. So, live-recording video must sound the original music plus the room. So, there is an sound difference between the orig music and my live-recording video. Alex/WTA

to be honest when I am at a live music event, I don't listen for the sound stage. I believe my eyes 😊

@grislybutter  There is no sound stage at most live concerts.

@patrickdowns  Nice beginning!

I was born in 54. Up till age 4 my dad had to play me records on his Zenith console system. I could not reach the top. I pestered him constantly to play records. On my 4th birthday my parents went out to dinner, I guess, leaving us alone with Mrs. Viles, our elderly babysitter. They came back at something like 11 PM and dropped this large brown cube at my feet in bed. Dad asked me to guess what it was. I do not remember coming up with an answer other than it is a box. I could not think that it would be something so precious as a record player. It was a Zenith portable with the same Cobra  tonearm my dad's big system had except it was black. His was a tan color. At first my father would not let me touch it! I had to get them to put on a record, but now I could easily watch how to do it. So during the daytime, with my dad at work, I grabbed my mother and requested that she watch. I did everything perfectly. It took her another week to talk my dad into letting me use it by myself and away we go. Walk On By was one of my favorites. 

Listen to a lot of systems, listen to live acoustic music. You would be very surprised at what you can do at a relatively low price. Don't guess and lose all your assumptions. Measure. Get a good mike, Earthworks makes the best, and a measurement program. See what your room is doing, where the problems are. This will guide your acoustic management. You have to use your ears to authenticate results and compare with what you've heard on the best systems. How equal are the two channels. Any differences greater than 3 dB are certainly an issue. How committed are you to your speakers? Do you plan on upgrading? If so, don't waste a lot of money on this system. Read the Benchmark Post in Misc Audio. I think this is great advice. Good for them!! You are building a system around speakers dealing with their specific issues over time. This is an evolutionary process. If your speakers are shy in the bass you add subwoofers and a two way crossover. If you are clipping on loud passages you need a bigger amp, and so forth. It has always been a game for me to build a state of the art system without spending stupid money by researching and choosing components carefully. 

@mikelavigne ,

Thanks so much, re "here are those room tuning links to what i did back in 2015."

I prefer the "without" wavetouch. Sounds like you’ve removed the body and dynamics.

Similarly, in the thread when the option of the cuts includes the original, the MBLs, and the wavetouch, I preferred the original. The MBLs sounded too thin (maybe almost "tinny") and the wavetouch sounded contrived.