Three things mainly affect imaging: room acoustics, location and position of speakers in the room, and maintaining correct polarity between the respective left and right channels. On the last point, I have seen speaker pairs where one speaker is wired incorrectly and the polarity is reversed. As you might imagine, that scenario totally destroys imaging and needs to be corrected by reversing the positive and negative speaker wires (or rewiring one speaker correctly). If I were you, I'd get a hold of a test CD that has channel phasing tests and put the system through its paces. You could also check to see that you have not inadvertantly reversed the polarity of one channel somewhere in your playback chain (most likely at the speaker or amp).
If you find that everything is functioning as intended then it would be time to experiment with speaker placement and fine tuning their position in the room. Look at what furniture (if any) you have between your speakers; and the symmetry and similarity of the acoustic environment between the respective left and right speakers.
If your CD player has tubes, maybe it's time to install new tubes. Possibly, a decent equipment rack might help, as well.
I wouldn't start swapping equipment until you figure out exactly why your system doesn't image properly. Even cheap gear can image well and your gear is not what I'd call cheap...
If you find that everything is functioning as intended then it would be time to experiment with speaker placement and fine tuning their position in the room. Look at what furniture (if any) you have between your speakers; and the symmetry and similarity of the acoustic environment between the respective left and right speakers.
If your CD player has tubes, maybe it's time to install new tubes. Possibly, a decent equipment rack might help, as well.
I wouldn't start swapping equipment until you figure out exactly why your system doesn't image properly. Even cheap gear can image well and your gear is not what I'd call cheap...