Tube Preamp, Amp or Int for holographic imaging?
I am pretty new to High end, but was drawn to it after hearing some music with a holographic soundstage. Since then I've been on a quest to reproduce it in my own apartment.
I listen exclusively to vinyl music at home(nothing against CDs, I just personally find Vinyl more charming and collectible), and am currently hooked up to a Planar 3. I am using my home theater receiver as an amplifier, since I don't yet have a second system.
I've been using the Graham Slee Era Gold V for a preamp. It sounds great in everything except its ability to project the sound forward and leave the notes hanging in the air (at least on my system). My main goal in audio is, at present, getting that holographic soundstage, and I have read that tube amps do it best. My main question is, would it be enough to switch the phono preamp to a tube (probably the EAR or anything else someone wants to recommend), or should you have both preamp and amp be tube? In that case, what would be a good integrated for exclusively vinyl under $1k used (Jolida is the only well reviewed one I know of)?
Finally I have played around extensively with speaker placement, and some dampening. I get 'some' sense of depth (maybe imagined), but the images rarely seem to suspend in air. Also, the music still seems to come from behind the speakers most of the time, and I feel if I could just get the voice and front instrumentals to jump forward a foot or so I'd be perfectly happy.
Thanks for reading, any input is welcome.