Lack of depth problem

Vet,

As I mentioned before and based on your last response, the room IMO seems over-damped! That can definitely reduce depth and create an acoustic environment that is too dead (i.e. no ambiance). Just try removing a couple of those thick blankets and sound panels. You might err on a too live environment, but in any case you can determine if soundstage depth returns.

Vet, Looks like you have pretty decent stuff, a decent sized room and dimensions, as well as appropriate damping, for a good sense of depth of image. BUT, in considering advise (and giving it) we should be mindful of how YOU define depth of image.

Some feel great imaging has a sense of airness, like looking at the stars at night. Very clearly defined bright spots of light against a dark background BUT I would see that as closer to 2 dimensional.

What I call 'depth of image' is more holographic, a sense of being at the event, a sense that you could walk in amoungst the players. Front to back depth of image, with the front plane being just slightly behind the speakers and the depth extending backwards from there and the performers/instruments have a sense of body. Hard to imagine sometimes until you have actually heard it (and you do need that on the recording!).

Assuming that you would like to have the second type of imaging that I described, I would suggest that you simply move your listening chair forward until your ears are between 9 and 10 feet from the speakers (inches make a difference, BTW). I would also suggest you fiddle with toe in as you fiddle with listening distance. Its the combo you're looking for. Different speakers have different radiation patterns so its hard to predict, but a couple of my favorite toe in set ups, depending on speakers, sidewalls, and ceilings, are with the axis of the speaker crossing just in front of the listener position or with the axis crossing just behind the speaker head. Doing this creates a, sort of, near field experience with pin point imaging, and while it may not get you to absolute holography due to other considerations, it would probably help a lot with a sense of front to back depth.

Hope that helps a bit.

Vet,

Your JMLabs tend to have a dip in the upper midrange off axis - if you trust these measurements - so this region will be particularly weak from your seated position: well back where you likely get quite a lot of reflected energy of which a lot less will arrive from the upper mid range.

A vocalist (normally placed out front in a mix) may appear more distant becuase of this feature. Conversely percussion may jump out at you because your speaker is quite strong in the 5K to 10K region (where you get the "slap" as stick hits skin). Since drummers are normally placed further back in a mix then this may bring the drummer perceptively forward. Drummer forward and singer backward = might mean perceptively less soundstage depth on most mixes.

Reverb is the other aspect of depth perception - if too much side wall refelctions are interefering with you hearing the reverb off the recording then this might be a factor in reducing depth.

Vett93, You should also make sure you eliminate ground loops in your system. This is a typical reason to have less than optimum depth. Try grounding just your preamp and floating all other components.

toe in and loose the sound pannels. these are great speakers, and should give a pretty balanced presentation without much fuss.