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,
I am not familiar with the Audio Pulse Model One. But you stated, "It was later on that I discovered how much information is actually buried in recordings, that even very large and expensive systems fail to reproduce, and what was required to extract that buried information for 2 channel stereo. The real ambient information was there all along, we just couldn't hear it!"

My system extracts an amazing amount of the ambient information you are referring to. The more I make changes that improve the system the more information is extracted and the more life-like and holographic the sound becomes. This is what has been so astonishing through this whole process.

Mapman,
I am using Joseph Audio Pulsar monitors. They are about 8 feet apart and my listening position is about 9 feet from each speaker. They are slightly toed-in. My ears are at tweeter level but I have them fired well to the outside of my ears.

Mapman,
Bybees products are the best bang for the buck in my system -- by far. They are absolutely phenomenal. I picked them all up for reasonable prices on Audiogon. I would highly recommend looking out for them. Be patient because they don't come up very often anymore -- and do a bit of research, in the meantime, on various forums where Bybee users have posted their observations. I have never heard of anyone who was disappointed with Bybee products.

I have upwards of 20 Bybee products in my system and upwards of 20 other "tweaks" in my system. My system would not exist without Bybee products. I recently added a pair of Combak Harmonix MIC Enacoms to the system and they are a wonderful product. But there is nothing I know of that could substitute for most of the Bybee products that I have in my system.

Douglas_schroeder,
I am also thankful to God every day for the blessings he has bestowed on me and my wife -- most importantly saving a life that was "hopelessly lost", according to modern medicine. The fact that he has enabled me to assemble an audio system that I never dreamed even existed is icing on the cake.

I am not familiar with the King Tower. I will Google it and have a look. What products are you referring to with transducer technology?
Douglas_schroeder and Mapman,
I agree completely that speakers are the most vital component when one is trying to create a "holographic system". I have owned many different brands but only the Joseph Audio Pulars have enabled the sound to reach this level. I am sure there are many other brands that would allow for the same level or an even higher level.
I believe most people who use single wiring throughout their system are unaware that holographic sound has virtually limitless gradations -- unless they have visited a showroom or listened to a friend's system where exceptional sound opened their ears and mind to something unimagined. In fact, most of the very high end showrooms I have had the pleasure to visit had a rather simple front end and rather simple cabling that undervalued the components they were displaying.

Most people build the cabling in their system by purchasing cables from one company or by mixing and matching cables from different companies. This is a process of adding a cable here, subtracting a cable there, a rather simple process where, if the audiophile is lucky, he or she may discover a really good addition to their system, for example, any of the HiDiamond cables or a Synergistic Research Hologram D power cord.

But few audiophiles that I know get into "tweaking" with inline products. None that I know do cabling in series and only two that I know do parallel cabling. Very few audiophiles daisy chain isolation transformers, power regenerators and power conditioners. So, it is understandable that the reaction of many to an unconventional approach to building a system using components and cables in series would be scratching the head and a good measure of disbelief.
Mapman,
You stated, "Tweaks are what they are...tweaks." All tweaks are not created equal. If you had the pleasure of having Bybee "tweaks" in your system I think you would agree.