These are all very helpful responses. I thought the imagining might be unobtainable 'until' I got tube amps based on some of my reading, so its reassuring the hear that they can only help it in the end.
That said, I am using Boston Acoustic VR3s for speakers. They're home theater floorstanding, and I imagine they aren't built for the kind of music demands I was seeking. I'm considering trying to start a separate system for two channel with some cheap (>=$500, <$1000) speakers. Monitors and Magnepans seems to get a lot of praise for their 'holographic' imaging. Of course, I'm trying very hard to identify if there's an intersection between my budget and audio goals at the moment, and also how best to obtain those goals.
Also, thanks Tbromgard, since I have never heard that treatment trick before and will have to try it. I thought I had played around with placement/*fuax* treatment until my head was spinning, but I guess people aren't exaggerating when they talk about how much you need to play around with it.