Holographic imaging

In a buddy's listening room a set up consisting of Marten Design loudspeakers, Krell pre- and power amplifier (KSA 150) the sound was flat and not musical, while in the same listening room the sound through the Marten Design speakers with CAT preamplifier and Gruensch power amplifier was holographic, natural and dynamic. Which combination was the most "objective"/truthful? Should one disregard units that sound more holographic than most?

Chris

Chris,
This, to my mind, is an excellent question. But is there such a thing as too much holography? In a natural event, say a string quartet, which I listen to often live, and I drift away from the music and switch on the "audiophile ear", I can of course aurally walk right around the players. I have quite a number of recorded string quartets, where I can almost get the same result in front of my rig at home. There are a few recordings where the space between and around the players is even bigger. That may be very impressive but for the trained ear completely unnatural. So thinking along those lines, had I not been to many concerts I would be proud of how good my stereo is, but since I have, all this exaggereated three dimensionality makes me uncomfortable.

What happens if the hcat overheats and goes into a 4th dimension mode?

Is it a fire and brimstone thing or do you look for a parking space alongside Marty McFly's DeLorean?

Heavy stuff.

09-15-08: Pubul57
My impression is that my equipment is much more "holographic" than what I hear in live music (jazz, chamber), and live music is much more dynamic than what I can get out of my system.

Basically I agree!