What Does Holographic Sound Like?


And how do you get there? This is an interesting question. I have finally arrived at a very satisfying level of holography in my system. But it has taken a lot of time, effort and money to get there. I wish there had been a faster, easier and less expensive way to get there. But I never found one.

Can you get to a high level of holography in your system with one pair of interconnects and one pair of speaker wires? I don't believe so. I run cables in series. I never found one pair of interconnects and speaker wires that would achieve what has taken a heck of a lot of wires and "tweaks" to achieve. Let alone all the power cords that I run in series. Although I have found one special cable that has enabled the system to reach a very high level of holography -- HiDiamond -- I still need to run cables in series for the sound to be at its holographic best.

There are many levels of holography. Each level is built incrementally with the addition of one more wire and one more "tweak". I have a lot of wires and "tweaks" in my system. Each cable and each "tweak" has added another level to the holography. Just when I thought things could not get any better -- which has happened many times -- the addition of one more cable or "tweak" enabled the system to reach a higher level yet.

Will one "loom" do the job. I never found that special "loom". To achieve the best effects I have combined cables from Synergistic Research, Bybee, ASI Liveline, Cardas, Supra and HiDiamond -- with "tweaks" too numerous to mention but featuring Bybee products and a variety of other products, many of which have the word "quantum" in their description.

The effort to arrive at this point with my system has been two-fold. Firstly, finding the right cables and "tweaks" for the system. Secondly, finding where to place them in the system for the best effects -- a process of trial and error. A lot of cables and "tweaks" had to be sold off in the process. I put "tweaks" in quotation marks because the best "tweaks" in my system have had as profound effect as the components on the sound. The same for the best of the cables, as well. For me, cables and "tweaks" are components.

Have I finally "arrived"? I have just about arrived at the best level that I can expect within my budget -- there are a couple of items on the way. In any case, I assume there are many levels beyond what my system has arrived at. But since I'll never get there I am sitting back and enjoying the music in the blissful recognition that I don't know what I am missing.

I should mention that there are many elements that are as important as holography for the sound to be satisfying, IMO. They include detail, transparency, coherence, tonality, and dynamics, among others. My system has all of these elements in good measure.

Have you had success with holographic sound in your system? If so, how did you get there?
sabai
Geoffkait,
Sorry if I ascribed this to you in error. No worries. This is not a "problem area" for me -- for whoever wants to go there.
There is a way of using the six available channels of a DVDA or SACD which generates a real 3-dimensional sound field (as apposed to an imagined one) It is called 2 2 2. There are four front spealers, Left high, Left low, Right high, Right low, Left rear and Right rear. This system was demo'd in Europe to great aclaim, but very few discs have been issued using this configuration. I have a couple, but never really made the appropriate speaker setup to evaluate it. Too bad.
For the ultimate in out of the box holography (for a price), audition an mbl omni system properly set up. That is the best I have ever heard overall, but pricey and in a large showroom with many feet distance from rear and side walls.

The OHM Walshes I use do nice job as well for much more reasonable cost, but I do not think they can deliver the soundstage depth that the full omni mbls can with their default configuration, which attenuates sound levels in wall facing directions to accommodate placement closer to walls than is desirable with true full omnis like mbl.
I have also heard some small monitors do holography very well in smaller rooms. My Triangle Titus monitors do it very well even when I used to run them off very modest vintage Tandberg or Carver amplification (even with no Carver holography engaged).

My Dynaudio monitors with right setup are no slouches currently in the holography department in my small 12X12 office room.

I've heard Magico minis running off very high end electronics and wires do it very well also (for a price).

Other quality systems can do it to varying degrees as well although room size, acoustics and associated limitations are often more of a limiting factor with many larger speaker designs.

Cleaner power definitely helps as well from my experience to-date.