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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
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
I had the original version of Carver's Sonic Hologram, in his C-4000 preamp (ca. 1979), and later the revised version, in the C-9 Sonic Hologram Generator. The revised version had a slightly less critical sweet spot, and somewhat better sound quality. Both had audible side-effects, though, that could be immediately perceived on high quality recordings, in a good quality system, by switching the hologram function on and off. Mainly a general reduction in clarity, across the spectrum, and on the first version some problems in the bass region. On mediocre recordings those issues tended to be less bothersome than on high quality recordings.

When I eventually moved from solid state to tube-based power amplification I found that the increased dimensionality that tube power amps commonly provide (I have no idea why) resulted in imaging that approached what the Sonic Hologram accomplished, at least on most recordings, while avoiding its side-effects and providing better sound quality. During the 1990s I therefore removed the C-9 from my system, the C-4000 having been sold many years earlier.

Regards,
-- Al
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
Almarg,
This is an interesting observation about tube amps. I am thinking seriously about moving to a tube amp sometime in the future -- if and when I can afford it.
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
I should clarify that you are not lowering distortion by running cable in series, per se, unless you splice in special "tweaks" from Bybee, Combak, Oyaide, etc. This is what I have done all along the line -- two or three cables with "tweaks" spliced in between. You need to do a lot of experimenting to see what combinations work best. Some combinations will actually degrade the sound rather than improve it. If you change the order of the cables and "tweaks" you may come up with a combination that gives you a pleasant surprise.
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
Ebm,
I agree, of course. It's very interesting because the common wisdom is that you buy a pair of interconnects and a pair of speaker cables, you connect your power conditioner and components with a single power cord, and away you go. The common wisdom is that if you want to improve the sound you change to a different cable brand or you mix and match brands and you try tweaking a bit.

My experience is that this approach may improve the sound somewhat but it will never get you to a much higher level -- a level that you may be able to attain if you think differently about your system and start to experiment with putting your cabling in series.

The way I came upon this idea was when I had two pair of excellent interconnects from two different companies -- each with a set of excellent non-identical attributes -- and I was trying to figure out which pair of interconnects to sell off. Then it came to me. Maybe I did not need to compromise. Maybe I could combine the sonic attributes of both cables by figuring out a way to connect both of them to my system.

Since both pairs were balanced cables I simply plugged one into the other and connected them to the system. The sound was awful. Then I reversed the two cables and BINGO!! I hit the jackpot. This is easy to experiment with if you have two good-quality XLR interconnects at home with one in the closet. Connect them and see what happens. It may work, but it may not. This is a story of trial and error. There is no way of telling what the results will sound like with any two or three cables in series until you connect them and power up. Give it a go. You may be pleasantly surprised.
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
Mapman,
This is the key, I believe. Distortion in the AC ruins the sound. With each incremental cleansing of the AC the CD can reveal more of what's there but is otherwise hidden. In my experience, you cannot clean the AC in one stage or even in a handful of stages. It takes a heck of a lot of stages to make significant inroads.
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