The big factor, to me anyway, regarding the soundstage issue with the 4.5 speakers is the choice of amplification. Critical. You can get topshelf results in that soundstage, but it will cost you plenty. They are very very finicky with regards to amplifiers to extract all the sounds possible out of these speakers. And you need lots of power and lots of balls to drive these and tubes reallly do help that midrange & that's where the magic is.
In my opinion, these speakers require far far more $$ in amplification than the speakers cost. They flat out love bi-amping and monoblocks & 100 watt tube amps to drive these are not plentiful nor cheap. And they need high end speaker cables to boot.
In my opinion, these speakers require far far more $$ in amplification than the speakers cost. They flat out love bi-amping and monoblocks & 100 watt tube amps to drive these are not plentiful nor cheap. And they need high end speaker cables to boot.