We’ve been on a bit of a roll lately—talking about setup, imaging, and now depth. And I think that’s a good thing. These are the fundamentals. They’re what turn a system from something that plays sound into something that creates an experience.
One of the most revealing parts of this process is discovering just how many small changes can make a system better. A quarter inch of speaker movement. A shift in toe-in. A cable that lets more air through. The right DAC or preamp that stops flattening the image. Each one brings you a step closer to that magical moment when the system disappears.
And today I want to stay on that theme, but zoom out just a little.
Because there’s one illusion we haven’t talked much about yet, and it might be the most impressive of all: width. Not just left speaker, right speaker, but beyond the speakers. The feeling that sound extends past the physical boundaries of the system—where the stage spills out into the room, the walls fall away, and instruments and ambiance stretch beyond what seems possible.
It’s one of those things that, like depth and three dimesnionality, once you hear it, becomes unforgettable. But getting there requires more than just good gear. It takes careful attention to how your speakers interact with the room, how symmetrical the setup is, and how well your electronics preserve spatial cues.
So let’s talk about image width—what it is, how to get it, and what it tells us about the rest of your system. Because if you’ve already got a solid center image and some real depth happening, this is the next door to open. And what’s on the other side is pretty special.
I’ll dig into that tomorrow.
