The cost of a soundstage

Visitors to PS Audio often walk away from Music Room 2 with their jaws still open. Following a recent visit, Karel Osten wrote to me:

"I know you have described the sound but until I heard it for myself I had no concept of the depth and rock solid placing of the sound. Words are inadequate to describe the effect of the wide soundstage but at the same time the precise location of instruments and vocals. It seemed to me to be a strange combination of mono and stereo if that makes sense. How much do you think you have to spend to get anywhere close to the same sense of depth and soundstage?"

This is a great question and one we struggle with all the time. Fact is, what you hear in MR2 is not just the IRSV but an entire system. Those speakers are some of the more revealing speakers made. Thus, anything before the speakers gets shown in a harsh light—for better or for worse. There's no hiding possible. When it comes to the specifics of Karel's question of depth and soundstage, that's a little easier to answer. Given decent electronics, even a low cost loudspeaker system can disappear and in its place, listeners can experience a full soundstage. It just takes some setup skills, enough room for the speakers to breathe, and the right group of equipment. Synergy focused on soundstage. I am pretty confident most of us already have many of the basic components needed to achieve what Karel's looking for. The reason we don't get there is often a single missing piece in the chain.