In earlier periods of my hi fi experience the issue of soundstaging
depth and precision[or good stereo effect] was never really an
essential part of my enjoyment of a system.

The more I have experienced though the more I have come to value this
as an absolute necessity iin terms of enjoyment and engagement.The
ability to hear all the instruments and voices as distinct entities
within a three dimensional sonic picture is enthralling stuff.Voices
and instuments should have a shape,not just a suggestion of a shape.


A recent experience with a friends ME 550 power amp trialled in my
system was a really interesting confirmation of just how getting one
component wrong in a system can completely destroy this illusion.This
despite all the other components being strong in this area.


Like very many transistor power amps the ME has absolutely no depth
to
the soundstage.I have been told that this is typical of amplifiers
which use lots of negative feedback and have high damping
factors.Many
CD players are like this too although they seem to have improved in
this area a great deal.The ME sounded remarkably like a cheap
Kenwood
power amp I used to run woofers with.Great bass but no imaging.Rotel
power amps I have used sound like this too.
Many of the digital type amps sound like this too although again they
seem to be improving.The latest Nuforce amps are quite good for
imaging precision and depth.


Amplifiers like the Supratek Malbec and Monduese [Wolcotts too I
believe] have variable feedback and damping factors.With these it is
very easy to fiddle with these adjustments to hear for yourself how
too much feedback and,to a lesser extent too much damping,can cause
the 3D imaging to collapse from something approximating a pyramid on
its side[pointy bit in front of your face] to a sausage with a
squashed middle section.


I think the tragedy is that many people never get to hear how
involving a stereo system can be when the imaging is right.This was
certainly the case with me until somebody sat me down in an front of
such a system.