Hi Anonymous,
Well, here goes. I replied to you the other night but couldn't post it because our message boards were down.
Yes, eliminating the toe-in of your speakers will increase the mix of secondary reflected sounds from adjacent walls and surfaces vs direct sounds from the speakers. If the speakers have inherently good lateral dispersion, then it will widen the apparent soundstage from your listening position.
You might try borrowing a duplicate CD and connect both your combo player and your new CD player, switching between both players instantaneously to see if the soundstage is truly narrower with the new player.
I'm deeply suspicious of some British design when it comes to the analog electronics; I've measured several brands from England that don't begin to meet their specifications of output power and distortion (mainly amplifiers and NOT Musical Fidelity). It's a remote possibility that the new CD player might have so-so separation figures because of eccentric design in the analog output section.
Try the experiment above first.
Regards,
