Seeking more 3d imaging, deeper/wider soundstage

"Even a cheap system should image and play depth. More has to do with setup (not just placement of the speakers in the room) than anything else"

When I read this nonsense you don't understand audio.

Just sitting here shaking my head at what is probably the most laughable single line comment ever on A'gon.

It has to do with the properties of the stuff they own.

Bo, you continue to enlighten us with such profound
contributions.

Realremo, a major game changer would be along the lines of Atmasphere's
recommendations ..try to get into tubes. And for me this always has started at
the line stage. Getting into tube amps would be something for later as this
requires more maintenance.

A handful of line stage / preamp products from the past are in the $1k range
and any of these would be a major jump in 3D performance for you:

Counterpoint SA-5 - Absolute killer preamp from the 80s. Way ahead of its
time. The tube regulated power supply has much to do with this unit's
midrange and 3D magic.

CJ Premier 10 or even the remote 14 - Line stages from the 90s. A bit on the
"warm" side but oh such musicality magic as well.

MFA Magus - Another tube line stage from the 80s. Something to keep your
eyes out. I only ever heard the bigger brother Luminescence which was a
phenomenal performer. Wow. So I suspect some of the magic here got trickled
down to the Magus.

CJ Motif MC-7 or other MC models. - These for Conrad Johnson's solid state
preamps from the 80s for those not wanting the "fuss" with tubes. I
owned this for awhile recently as part of a second smaller as was very
impressed with how it outperforms so many new products today which sound
very dimensionally flat in comparison.

BAT VK-3 series - Might be able to find this around $1k. Another great product
from the 90s.

The one product which gets much talk is the Audible Illusions but this was very
dimensionally flat when I compared it back in the 1990s. Just an FYI.

As for XLR connections, do not even worry about this. Your system is at a level
of cost and performance where your focus should be to find budget products
that standout from the crowd. And likely they will not have XLR connections.
And if they do, the likeliness of them being truly balanced designs are slim to
nil.

Once you iron this out, there are many many outstanding tube amps from the
80s and maybe newer in the $1k range that would take your system to the next
level of 3D. But I suggest that you start at the preamp level.

In what kind of time do you life......keep on dreaming!!

I guess this was directed at me for my recommendation of $1k products from 20+ years ago. And why did I recommend these products? Remember the budget is $900-1200 and these products stood out at the time as the top performers; finding something new today for this cost that can compete here, would be quite a miracle. A low-fi $1k Rotel product will be easily destroyed by any of the products above.

what an amateur!!

Thanks again for you response, but my system as can be seen by all, which has slowly evolved since the mid 1970s, would indicate I am not really an amateur. I clearly don't have the breadth of knowledge of component design such as Atmasphere, Steve Nugent of Empirical, Almarg, or a number of other major contributors here. And I am not a system setup wizard like AlbertPorter, Jadem6, Tbg, or other major contributors here as well. But I feel I am at least in the middle somewhere, thank you.

Bo, before you attack people here, you should do a little research on them first .or you make yourself quite the fool in front of everyone.

One thing that has been bugging me about this thread seems worth pursuing. Realremo- have you tried revearsing the phase on one of your speakers?

Wow, great great catch here. The effect here is very clearly heard that something is wrong when the images are all outside the speaker boundaries rather than within. It's quite a wild and cool sound effect!

Realremo - Atmasphere's comment related to the speakers themselves being out of phase not the musical signal itself. Make sure the + and - from the power amp goes to the + and - to the speakers. If one is incorrect, then the images will be outside of the speakers rather then in between them.

Concerning the signal itself being inverted, you could resolve this by inverting the speaker cables at both speakers .but I don't think you will notice much here. I had a DAC with an invert switch and I could flip it again and again and no way would I ever pass a blind test that anything was changing.

Concerning repair of vintage electronics, there are such repair places all over the country. And people here would be able to point you in the right place with a simple query. Some of the companies in my list, CJ, BAT are still in business.

Tubegroover - You will notice that I had no ARC products in my list. And this is because, for me anyway, the ARC magic starts with the SP-8, and this typically sells in the $1500-1900 range which is outside of the budget here.