Seeking more 3d imaging, deeper/wider soundstage

Bo1972,

The NAD M51 is not 2-dimensional.

Bo1972,

When you use the word stupid how differently can it be read?

Well Saki maybe I should take a wall down. That has a very low WAF, I can guarantee you...I've already brought it up a couple of times...the previous owner finished out the basement in a a very inefficient way. He put the bathroom right in the middle, assuring that the rest of the rooms could only be square and small or long and narrow. Grr.
Bobnegi, thanks, I did get a little hot after being told to "settle down." I've been reading a lot of tubes vs solid state threads, and nerves get stretched pretty taught on those. I'm thinking of starting one, but I don't know...

Improving 3-D imaging depends on 3 elements, IMO: components, cables and room treatments. There is no magic bullet. There are only incremental improvements. Some increments are more significant than others.

1. Treat the room. You're willing to buy expensive (relatively) component but cheapen out on foam. Go to ATS online and buy some absorption panels for first reflection points along sides and front and back and call it a day.

2. Tube pre would help.

A bit of an update my my Quad 22L2's specs, I find the manufacturer's information lacking and went hunting on the internet, there seems to be a consensus to the following:
Sensitivity: 89 db/1 W/1 m
Nominal impedance: 6 ohms
Impedance peaks: 60-70 Hz 17 ohms; 1-2 Khz 19 ohms
Impedance dips: 80-300 Hz 4 ohms; 6-15 Khz 4 ohms
Just FYI, folks...

You should be able to make a tube amp work with that...

Thanks Atmasphere. I was considering Focal's new Aria 926 (entry level floorstander) as a replacement for my Quad's, I'd always heard Focal's products were super efficient, but this is what I found on their site:
Sensitivity 2.83v/1m 91.5dB
Impedance 8 Ohms nominal, *2.9 Ohms minimum*
You have to go to the 906 bookshelf in the Aria line or the Chorus 816v floorstander to get impedance curves that don't go below 4 Ohms. This makes the Focals look power hungry to me, considering everything I've read...

Check out audiokinesis (http://www.audiokinesis.com)

Duke makes very affordable speakers that are also easy to drive and very musical.

Thanks, I'll check him out!

One last update. I went to Gold Sound in Littleton, and the owner treated me really well. We auditioned Wild Beasts' "Palace" and Peter Gabriel's "Don't give up" on three systems using Focal Aria 926 floorstanders, Cambridge Audio ICs and Kimber Kable speaker cable:
#1 - All Parasound, P5+A21
#2 - Dared Saturn SET amp, 20w class A
#3 - Parasound P5+PrimaLuna Prologue tube amp
#1 and #2 both sounded great. #3 was auditioned right after the Dared, and the soundstage compressed in depth, even got a little "steel-y." This lends weight to the recommendations of tube-pre with a solid state amp, instead of vice versa.
The biggest difference between #1 and #2 was the depth of the soundstage increased a little with the Dared. Sounded more spherical than rectangular, I guess. Also, the Dared is $2200, the Parasound stack is $3600. It was a fun visit.

I have the Focal 926. They are wire out of phase. The woofers move in instead of out. Sounds terrible. Have to reverse wire. The whole Focal factory is on vacation for the summer. Needless to say thats an avoid.

They are power hungry. You need to really crank it before they sound good. Unfortunately you don't always want to be at 100db.

No matter what kind of equipment you have the image and sound stage is going to be determined by interconnects and speaker cable. I first learned this as a dealer and couldn't figure out why the imaging was limited on a seriously high end system. It didn't seem to matter whether I was using $10k preamps and $20k amps, solid state or tubes. Yes with mediocre cable there will be improvements with better components, but nothing like you would get if the cable were top notch. When I say better cable I don't necessarily mean more expensive, my best cable finds have not been the most expensive, not cheat but definitely not the most expensive brands. If you haven't progressed cable to where you aren't getting improvements with better ones you are wasting your money on components.

POWER HUNGRY 91.5db, nonsense. Fifty watts per channel is more than enough. The cheapest option is NAD. Perfect match
with Focals. If you want more detailed sound then Simaudio
NEO 220i but bit more expensive.