Dedicated cdps that excel in vertical soundstaging

Agree with Warrenh & Esoxhntr, with emphasis on the speaker design, which is more important than the room interface to the extent that a lot of speakers will not give you the height factor except at loud volumes no matter how well you set them up, and some speakers won't give it up at all. Best case scenerio speakers that give you height at low volume. If its in the recording your electronics will pass the signal thru to your speakers. IMHO.

Warren, When talking about vertical imaging its much more about the sense of space. But, FWIW I've heard "point source" speakers like your Caravalles for example, with solo voices where the voice seemed to originate from a location on a plane with the tweeter/midrange about 3 to 4 feet above the floor. Don't know of many vocalists that short.

The same recording on some planers and line stages will create an illusion that the voice is coming from a higher, and more natural, plane. Same goes for classical orchestral music - when you sit in the front most rows were you can hear some clearly direct sounds from the instruments most of the real stage will be at and above eye level. Not so with point source speakers, the image is typically vertically compressed unless you really crank up the volume.

We are not talking about just the direct sound of the instruments, but the totality of the environment that its playing in, including hall induced reflections etc. With good speakers properly set up and with good source materiel you should have a soundstage that fills the area behind and above your speakers as it would in real life. Thats why some folks like panel and line source speakers. No free lunch here. Its a rare speaker that does it all.

Phasecorrect, I will agree with you that CDP's can make a difference and had you asked for recommendations without the expression that "few add height" I think you might have gotten a few more responses on point, as opposed to the discourse on speakers & rooms. At least now you've defined what you were referring to perhaps you will. Personally, in that price range I'd look at something with tubes as having the potential to deliver what you're looking for.