I wanted to follow up to my response in light of some recent responses. As I said in my first reply, I believe the A3 is underpowered for the N803's; as CDC says above, start with at least 150 watts, this makes quite an improvement in the N803'S. The original question is about soundstage though.
I used the N803's with the Mark Levinson No.383 for quite some time as well as using a BAT VK-200 amp (with VK-30 pre) for a few months, these are both rated at 100 watts; they sounded good with the N803's but not great. I switched to the Jeff Rowland Concentra II and the difference was jaw dropping, this combination made some wonderful sound. But as I said in my earlier reply, I am temporarily using Mirage M3's and this has opened my eyes to some things.
The original post asks about the soundstage (SS), we all agree that a more powerful amp will be best for the N803's, but IMO this still will not give the SS he desires. The Rowland improved things immensely, but not SS, changing to the M3s did, by a mile.
I have a friend that would come over occasionally to play some tunes and see/hear the latest and he would consistently say my system didn't image well, going to the Mirage M3's I can understand exactly what he is talking about.
With the N803's the music seems to come right at you, or 'jammed', as the poster put it; going to the M3's it opens up, greater SS, separation, transparency and imaging; but the M3s are warmer, less detailed in the mids, recessed and not as tight in the bass.
It seems to me, by the descriptions the poster gave, he has an accurate handle on the 803's, I haven't heard the 803's with a big amp like a Pass 250 but it would have to do a lot to equal what I hear going from the N803 to the M3 as far as SS, etc.
