My soundstage is terrible. i need help bad.


Ok i have the following pieces. Pioneer 39tx a/v reciever. I have Psb stratus silver i speakers, allantis biwire speaker cables. Tara labs vector 2 i/c. And a large subsonic 5 subwoofer. rarely used. I have little to no soundstage at all. almost sounds like a 5yrs old boom box. i dont understand which direction to go. I am going to be getting some psb stratus gold speakers here in the next 2 weeks from a buddy and im trying to get things straightened out before the new arrivals. do you think going to the better speakers will help or is it that i have everything setup wrong in the house. Cathedral ceiling home. Equipment set up on the highest wall. 26ft. and the seating postions at the lowest around 12ft about 4ft from the back wall. Im just confused on wehere to strart. My kitchen has to open doors to the right if ur sitting in my seating postion. I dont think the room is ever going to be able to give me what i want at any price. I just need some help on setup. lmk what you think i should do first. aprreciate all the info guys. this site rules. Kevin
flyin2jz
Flyin2jz, I'm offering a contrarian opinion: there is nothing wrong with your amplification and cd playback. Don't worry about it being "low-end". All the money in your bank account being spent on replacing that gear will not resolve the problem you are having.

"Soundstage" usually refers to the ability of a system to create the illusion that real musicians are in the room. The speakers need to "disappear". It's my opinion that those PSB speakers will not disappear: their conventional design fights against that happening. Point-source omni-directional speakers would be a better candidate.

Also, as pointed out by photon46, you need to do some dampening in the room: tame reflecting surfaces. You don't have to spend a lot of $ to do this.

Do what you can with the listening environment, and strongly consider replacing the speakers.
I have owned a NAD 541 , it can do some amazing things with the soundstage , if it is in the recording ! It is the only CDP , that I have owned , that could give me a soundstage behind my listening position ! It was also able to put the musicians behind the speakers outside of my room while putting the singer at my feet ! Really quite startling the first time out !

Enjoy .
Flyin2jz,

Definely pull your speakers out in front of your wide-screen TV. I myself have a large entertainment cabinet housing my TV and components in between my speakers. And I know for a fact that if I position my speakers behind or even with the entertainment cabinet, then I lose my soundstaging. Pull forward some, soundstaging returns. Btw, I used to use a NAD C542 CDP, and I got good soundstaging from it, so I would suspect your NAD C541 would do the same.
How far out in front of the tv do the speakers need to be? I really dont have a ton of room to do that. I could shove the tv back a bit and the speakers out in front but then the wifes gonna think im a nut. I have some psb stratus golds coming so hopefully it helps also. I think the nad player will also help. I just want what i heard in the low 90s. If it makes my eyes water and my balance off im good. SOunds like some kinda drug. hehe I am slowly getting the equipment that i heard when i had no money to spend at all. thanx a ton for the info. Im still learnin guys. Kevin
I thought you were concerned about soundstage. Now you're concerned about the tv?