Walk-in soundstage

I first experienced it with Magnapans and a SUMO class A amp plying vinyl.  Yes substances were involved but I felt like I was inside John Klemmer's horn.  An experience that happened almost 50 years ago but  still remembered today.

I guess I can think of one system I have heard like his. It was a completely optimized Wilson Chronosonic something and Rowland system. Today I am sure Burmeister / dCS / Wilson will do this. The sitting position was actually about three feet in the air on a platform. The soundstage was so holographic and deep that you could literally hear images as spheres at different depths. The physical depth from the listeners position to the front wall was probably twenty feet. Images would start five feet or so in front of the you and extend three or four feet deep (high and wide as well). Different instruments, different sizes. The kick drums and like were at or in the front wall far behind the speakers. I got to spend a couple hours with it. The cost was around 3/4 million? It’s been a while. 

I was awestruck. But it wasn’t the sound I wanted in my home... but it was wonderful to listen to.

What I think is likely different about the way I did it and the way it was done for you @lanx0003 is that this is Not the kind of thing that collapses as soon as your head drifts out of a narrowly designed sweet spot. In fact it's the kind of walk-through stage that you can effectively 'walk through'. When I walk to the front wall and turn around I can see the same soundstage that I do when I'm in the listening seat. Never once does it roll off, fold, evaporate or collapse. From anywhere in the room.

My system is quite laid back, however. That means the more forward the center image is recorded in the mix, the more it will tend to follow your head as you move laterally to the side from the listening chair. But that's already a known effect of laid-back setups.

Is the way I did it here the ultimate in the walk-through effect? I'm thinking probably no, surely there exists somewhere a setup that beats it, it's just that I haven't run across it myself yet. But, I'm thinking there might be more than one way to achieve the effect.

I also experienced that bubble of sound at a local dealer.  It was a fairly large listening area definitely longer than my room and slightly wider.  No noticeable treatment but perhaps built in.  My listening room is 19’x26’x10’.  I went in to purchase a Bluesound node a few years ago and for whatever reason he let me listen to their dCS Vivaldi stack, Boulder stereo amp, and Wilson Alexia V.  All I can say is it was incredible but perhaps too good if that makes sense.  It took me awhile to re-appreciate my meager system.

@newbee I had the same experience with the same recording (specifically the track "Tiden Bara Gar").  It was in 1981 at Lyric Hi Fi in White Plains, NY, and I was choosing between Mission 770's and DCM Time Windows.  The DCM smeared the image and the resonances from the cabinet made the music sound boxy and muddy, but the Mission threw an image of the acoustic bass some 7' behind the speakers, with the other instruments interspersed within a wide, deep soundstage.  I bought the speakers, and the record, and was unable to recreate that feeling until recently with my purchase of Martin Logan ESL speakers, a Parasound A23+ amp and Schiit Kara pre.