what speakers do the best "disappearing act"??

yes the avalons are very good . try jm lab . sound labs with tubes are scary. that is what you are looking for i think. tim why dont you go hear the labs with good tubes?

I agree with Redkiwi. You need to find help in setting up your system. I can only add that analog (records) do it better than digital.

I've always felt the same way, that alot of speakers don't completely disappear, at least my limited experience. I've always considered my listening rooms less than ideal even with acoustic treatment. But aside from the significant effects positioning can do to acheive your goal, good electronics are also important. A better piece of gear can have a way of really getting the sound "out of the box." Another thing I wonder is how significant it is for the driver to be the only thing vibrating in the area, i.e. cabinet resonces may be to blame for messing up an otherwise capable driver for the task, among other things.

My tops are avalon eidolons and audio physics (virgo, avanti, spark and tempo ). The virgo is in a class all it's own for the 2500-2800 range.
A Tube preamp/amp will generally increase a sense of presence as well. Moving the speakers out into the room, and clearing away /covering reflective items helps too.

I agree with a LOT of the above comments but would also add this to the conversation:

Electronics / cabling have more to do with "spaciousness" and the "disappearing act" than you might think.

I have a set of large 4 way / 5 driver towers that have always come across as being exactly what they are: LARGE boxes. I swapped components and cables in this system MANY times and always ended up with a very specific left / right image. Like most others, i simply attributed it to the large baffle area and overall size of the speaker cabinet.

Out of curiousity and a bit of necessity, i swapped a preamp into that system that i had never tried there before. WHAM !!! I had air, spaciousness, detail, warmth, body, projection of imagery WELL out into the room, etc... ALL of the "musical terms" that you read about and hope to achieve some day. Needless to say, i was ecstatic and it taught me a WHOLE bunch about "system synergy"!!! I knew that i really had something when my brother, who was standing next to me some 25+ feet directly off to the side of the speakers as i was listening to Diana Krall's "Love Scenes" said "man, it literally sounds like we are at a live performance and she's out there in the middle of the room. Listen to that stand-up bass". I don't think that my smile could have fit in any "wide angle" lens if someone was taking pictures : ) Sean
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