Is there such a thing as too much soundstage? Should the width of the stage extend to the side walls in your listening room? How would you compare the soundstage in your system to live music?
Is soundstage really that important? You should pay more attention in the tonal balance and the musicality aspect of the system. If you get them right, it pays big time.
A wide and deep soundstage is important. You can have too much of a good thing if you get a wide deep soundstage at the expense of placement/timbre accuracy in the soundstage. On a good recording on a good system the instruments should have weight and presence and be placed accurately in 3 dimensions. If the instruments are blurred or seem to have a “haze” around them then you might want to start tweaking. Most, if not all, live music I have heard were not set up with soundstage in mind at all. Cheers - Dan
The soundstage should change with different recordings. If your system reproduces a huge soundstage when appropriate, but does not exaggerate intimate recordings it is a blessing not a problem. Does it sound natural, does it sound like music? Thats the only question. The only answer can be found by listening to live music. I bet lots of listeners wish they had such a "problem".
I don't think you can have too wide or too deep of a soundstage as long as you don't give up imaging. My soundstage is simmilar to Cornfedboy, well beyond the side walls and very deep, on some recordings (Dr. Johnson - RR sound test) the back wall is 30' deep. I have a fireplace 7' back from the speakers, I've often thought the singer is in the firebox! Very cool.
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