In my experience, synergy between amplifier, speaker, and the listening room play a dominant role recreating sound stage, granted it is captured and recorded. Of course, your playback system should be able to faithfully extract this information. Speaker placement (Hey, it is free!) is very important. Speakers placed too close to the back wall, or too far out can also distort the sound stage. Floor reflections as well as side wall reflections also alter the sound stage.
Component contributions to “sound stage”
What components in your stereo system do you think make the largest contribution to your perception of sound stage in your system? Which element or component contributes the least to this part of the stereo listening experience?
Rankings are fine. Justifications or explanations are even better.
kn