Speaker disappearing act?

get the timbre right and all else is unimportant. gotta have that timbre !

I agree with the last part of this statement. Correct timbre is a much higher priority than a disappearing speaker. However, I am not sure that everything other than timbre is unimportant. Distortion, dispersion, dynamic range, frequency response, transient response are also important, just to name a few.

"Have you ever listened to a pair of speakers that are drop dead amazing, but when you open your eyes they may not be the purest "disappearing" act you thought? Does that matter?"
-Warrenh

"Everything in life is a compromise and when there is something good, there is something bad that comes along with it."
Arthur

My (admittedly subjective) experience has been very different: Tonal and timbral accuracy have generally correlated rather closely with superior soundstaging capabilities. There may be some speakers that shine more brightly in one area than the other, but GREAT speakers have tended to do EVERYTHING very well.

i've had some nice speakers over the years; they all imaged pretty well, but admittedly none of them performed at the level where i couldn't tell where in the room they were located. BUT, they all excelled at bringing out the textures of instruments/voices. now i could have, with the help of some friends, tried moving the speakers around inch by inch and perhaps gotten better results in getting them to disappear, but a decent stereo image has somehow been "enough" for me, especially considering the burden of moving 100-200 lbs. of speaker around.
NOW, usually it happens at the local wilson audio dealer that, regardless of the "wilson sound" good or bad, they can usually position them where i REALLY CANNOT TELL where they are. i just do not feel this alone is the last word in motivating a loudspeaker purchase. it certainly is uncanny, no doubt about it.

I disagree with people who say speakers can't disappear. I have a set of Hornshoppe Horns and I challenge anyone who is six feet away form them to point out where they are blindfolded. OK, you can tell they are in front of you more than in back. They image incredibly well.

On the other hand, crank up a pair of Anthony Gallo Micro's and I challenge you to find them uless you are with 2 - 3 feet (except for that front position thing). They are amazing.

Set up a home theater with Gallos and you simply cannot tell where they are. They are as close to point-sources as I have heard. Of course, they don't work well under about 100Hz - and if you drive them with an unfiltered signal with any low frequency, they will 'go-boom' rather rapidly...

Interesting question as I am struggling with this very issue my setup. For me, diasappearing means that I do not hear anything directly from the speakers. In my friend's setup, the soundstage is taller than his speakers. Because of this, I am able to hear things behind and to the sides of the speakers, giving a great sense of depth and width. Rarely do i hear anything from the speakers themselves. Conversely, in my setup, my soundstage is right at the tweeter height. Because of this, I never hear anything that is deeper or behind the speakers. I am not sure why my soundstage is so low. I know my speakers are capable of a higher soundstage since I heard them at my dealer. Anyway, disappearing speakers do add a lot to the sense of dimensionality.