Soundstage wide and deep but not at all tall. . .

based on any particular room, acoustic treatment, and speaker placement......height, width, depth and center fill of the soundstage......will vary based on the ratio triangle of the speaker width and listening position and the degree of toe-in. the other varible is the specific driver dispersion, but since that is not changable you need to ignore it.

sitting height is a varible; but only to make sure your ears are at the appropriate height for your tweeter dispersion. beyond that issue, raising the speakers or sitting lower will not raise the image..... but it may change the tonality (in a bad way probably).

i recommend you start out with an equalateral triangle; where your ears are the same distance from the tweeters that the tweeters are apart. then toe-in the speakers so they point at the top of each shoulder.

see how this set-up affects center fill, width, height and depth.

now move your chair 4 inches closer. move it back.

move your chair 4 inches farther back, move it back.

toe in the speakers a bit more, move them back.

toe the speakers out a bit, move them back.

separate the speakers more, move them back.

separate the speakers less, move them back.

at an equalateral triangle; you are in a neutral postion; when you move closer you are in the near-field, farther is the far-field.

more height will typically come from the near-field with the speakers toed slightly outside your shoulders.....but that can come at a cost of center fill.

but you need to try all these different positions to see exactly how your speakers work and to what degree. it may take a few weeks and time spent with different positions before you are satisfied. the trick is to get a feel for what causes what and then what set of compromises gives you the characterisitics you prefer.

i know i could have simply said "sit closer, toe the speakers out" and not been as wordy...but i think you need to take a whole picture viewpoint since all these adjustments are so interactive.

I recommend playing with the toe in, to see if that makes a difference.
If it is a problem of phase, try switching your speaker cables (at the speaker end) by putting the positive wire into the negative posts and negative wire into the positive post, see if that makes a difference. Some setups can be more sensitive to being inverted or non inverted.
See if you can borrow a good preamp (tube).

Newbee wrote:

"Also, FWIW, IMHO, if you are getting a lot of soundstage width, on the plane of the speakers, outside of the speakers, you are either playing recordings with a lot of out of phase information encoded, or you have something wrong with your set up. In a 2 channel system playing stereo recordings w/out recorded phase manipulation, all of the information on the plane of the speakers should be contained w/in the space between the speakers. If there is a sense of airiness and a huge 'soundstage' beyond the speakers laterally it is more likely than not the result of room/set up issues. Lots of folks like that sound but it can reduce your ability to get holographic (truely 3 dimensional) soundstaging.

I have to totally disagree with this.

Just because one gets the soundstage outside of his speakers does not mean anything is wrong. Sure there are some recordings that will do this more than others, some might be recorded in phase or some out of phase.

To me, a wide soundstage with good depth and height is a better holographic (truly 3 dimensional) soundstaging.
But that is my personal preference, there is no right or wrong, But I believe the one with the soundstage stuck in the middle is the one that is wrong (to me).
Most audiophiles I know prefer the wide (beyond speakers) deep soundstage. This is how you really can get your speakers to disappear. Room/set up, placement of the speakers and acoustic treatment can play a big roll here.

I realize soundstage and imaging is not everyones bag, but to me it is important. I am trying to create the illusion of a live event, a real stage at times can be huge and some with many different musicians in different areas all over the stage.
When you make your speaker disappear, then I think your getting it right.

But my road might be different then someone else's.
There is no right or wrong, only what your presence is.
Now what toppings did you want on that pizza!!

What type of HF response are you getting? How was the stage before the new pc's?

Subjectively there is nothing lacking from the high frequencies. Plenty of air ad detail. The PCs did not change the stage, although they improved other areas. The background became quieter, which in turn seems to further highlight the location and separation of voices and instruments..