Another soundstage question


There are a couple of soundstage related threads running on the amp/preamp section and they reminded me of a question I’ve been meaning to ask without hijacking those threads. The speakers are Vandersteen 2Ci and the system along with their placement is giving me a real deep and relatively wide soundstage - but not much further to the sides, but I’d like the height of the soundstage be little higher. The speakers are on the sides of a bay window, about 10’ apart and with heavy drapes pulled on either side and about 2.5’ behind the speakers. Much lighter curtains cover the bay windows for privacy. In my seating position that is about 10’ away from each speaker the top of the soundstage is just about the top of the speakers, sort of like I’m sitting at the same level as the musicians. The depth is realistic but I think the height needs to higher to give a better feel for the height of the singer standing in the middle and the rest of the band scattered at different levels within the stage. So having said all this, is the soundstage height mostly a function of the electronics driving the speakers or its the size/shape of the speakers, e.g., speaker height, tilt, etc., the listening placement, or a combination of all of the above. Thanks.

128x128kalali
get a tube amplifier.  seriously.   my soundstage went from big screen TV size to wall to wall, floor to ceiling size.  
Thanks. To your point, the realism of the soundstage improved significantly by replacing my SS preamp with even a moderately priced tube preamplifier so I tend to agree with your recommendation. Except I'm not ready yet to take the plunge since I just got the preamp about a month or so ago. The amplifier is a Vincent SP-331 with a tube input stage so I figured that was a reasonable compromise given my power requirements. For now, I may just experiment with speaker placement and see if I can tilt the soundstage up a bit. 
You can experiment by raising the speaker height. You can use some books and place them under the Vandersteens ! BTW, years ago when I owned Vandersteens I had to tilt them real far back for them to work in my room !
IME soundstage height is enhanced with equipment which has good HF resolution  (the low level detail needed is often lost is lesser equipment) but a lot of speakers don't really open up, soundstage wise, at lower volume. I had this experience with both Quad 63's as well as some box speakers with lower sensitivity driven with tubes and SS. At higher volume they became absolutely holographic.

When you are working with set up don't forget to consider ceiling reflections can be as important as side wall reflections, as can proper toe in and listening chair placement. FWIW  I doubt that you will be able to get the height effect just by tilting or lifting your speakers although you can certainly change to tonal response to some degree (not necessarily always a better effect).

Have fun, and take your time.