Speakers with Depth Layering abilities

The Avalon Eidolons do this - in my vinyl and tube-based system, the Eidolons create a soundstage that clearly diffentiates this sort of layered depth of field. I've also heard a highly tweeked pair Merlin VMS-SE speakers do this in friend's system.

My Genesis 201's in a tube based system do a fabulous job of soundstage depth & width.......multiple layers etc.

I tend to lean towards most planars--as did HP--for depth. These always seem to have more in terms of imaging and soundstage to me than their dynamic counterparts. I also find that tubes tend to have more depth and layering (until you get into the very expensive solid state--then I'm not so sure tubes have an edge).

What's interesting about my response is that both the planars and the tubes by definition have greater distortion. The tubes have harmonic distortion caused by the tubes themselves. The planars have phase distortion caused by their interation with the room (large amounts of energy on the back wave). I believe it is these distortions that give the perception of depth. As a side note: the Genesis 201 are dipolar as well--so they too have this distortion--and I'll bet they sound great with tubes!

Others may disagree with what I've found--it's odd in a way that inherently greater distortion yields better layering and depth of sound field. I do think the distortion being correlated distortion (not random noise) and thus is the reason for this added depth, but beyond that I don't have a very good explaination.

Just as a side note: all of my systems are dipolar (either ribon or electrostatic), one system is tube based.

My newform research play depth layering quite well on both vinyl and cd. That may be the ribbons as the system is solid state. Years ago I heard a pair of the original Snell J [2-way monitors] that were designed to play with tubes. The source was the rotel855, the intergrated tube amp was the sonic frontiers [50watts], the cd was Nanci Griffith,"One Fair Summer Evening", and the soundstage seemed to come from the sidewak in throught the basement wall into where we listened. What incredible depth.....that was special, and showed me what depth could be.....was it the tubes and the distortion? Well, it was big......and we loved it.

Jmlab Electra 926 driven with a quality amplifier has a nice layering.

Reynaud Trentes

I owned Maggie 1.6s for a few years and the Trentes are clearly better at revealing subtle audio cues in very fine gradations front to back, they go deeper with finer precision.

Spica's do nice depth, at a low cost, good driver two ways do depth, 3 ways are harder to do, due to baffle width.

Amp/speaker combo is the big difference, layers and such come out with system tuning and tweaks. Your into the short and curly's now.

jeff

My Legacies, both FOCUS and Whisper, do an amazing job of layering the soundstage. With orchestral performance and small ensembles especially, you can hear definite 3-D imaging of the performers. The Whisper improves the vertical pattern over the FOCUS in that regard. It also gives a more linear front to the sound image as opposed to a "horseshoe" image with the center instruments, etc., sounding a little more distant (other than when the musicians are arranged this way, such as an orchestra) that the Focus projects.

I have always marvelled at how some listeners can't appreciate accurate musical soundstaging. The gold standard to judge the accuracy of the system is the real thing. Next time you have the opportunity to go to a live performance, note how much differentiation of soundstage layering you can perceive. There is no way you can tell a difference between the rows of the same instruments, but you should be able to tell the woodwinds are a little further away than the strings, then the brass, then the percussion, etc. Jazz or acoustic ensembles are probably the easiest to detect because of the relatively few instruments involved and distinct positioning of the musician in space. I like to listen to a recording then check the insert to see if there is a picture of the musicians being recorded to confirm my impressions of where the performers are relative to one another.

Of course, if the music is recorded in a studio not as an ensemble (in other words, each musician in a different recording room), the image either is artificial, or layering doesn't exist at all. This is the case in most modern music. If all the instruments are amplified and the amplifiers are stacked or otherwise near one another, again there will be no depth to the soundstage. Keep that in consideration when evaluating equipment.

Have fun and great listening!

Can a speaker with bass depth ,bring out a recording that had none.These then would be great speakers  and highly sought after.

Maggies.

Of course Thiels, Vandersteen and Dunlavey... all first order, time and phase coherent wave launch, minimum baffle, no goofy crossover slopes with midrange wired out of phase, excellent impulse response that starts with the wave heading the correct direction, and in the case of Vandersteen’s pistonic drivers. There are others, as noted the Spica was very capable

I want to point out that the room matters a great deal here.  In terms of depth, what is between and behind your speakers matters a great deal as well as what is behind your head.

Of course, narrow dispersion speakers also have an advantage with less interference of the room before you hear the signal, but a good sounding room is paramount.