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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
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
Almarg,
Since you have no experience with this and since you have not heard my system -- which would certainly convince you -- there is only one thing you can do, and that is to speculate. This is totally understandable. There is no way for anyone to understand this process unless they start to experiment personally with series and parallel cabling. And it is understandable that this will not be a viable option for most people. It takes a lot of work and a lot of money to do this -- and the inclination to do something completely different.
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
Geoffkait,
You stated, "... the velocity of electrons through audio cables, the drift velocity, is actually extremely slow ...". Of course, you are completely correct. My later post where I correct my misstatement was not allowed -- or is just late in being posted here.

You also stated, "On the other hand, the electromagnetic wave - the musical signal travelling through audio cables - travels at a high percentage of the speed of light." You are completely correct. Close to the speed of light. This is what I was referring to -- the signal, not the electrons themselves, which my later post explains (not yet appearing here).

You stated "I honestly don't know where Sabai falls." Frankly, I don't care where I "fall". Whoever wants to pigeon-hole me can go right ahead.
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
Almarg,
You stated, "FWIW, the OP’s path is not one that I would personally follow. It suggests the possibility that a multitude of small inaccuracies were both originally present and subsequently introduced, which after a great deal of time and experimentation have been made to essentially cancel each other out. If I were not satisfied with the imaging/dimensionality/holography of my system, consistent with some of Onhwy61’s comments I would focus on speaker placement ..."

There were no "inaccuracies" present or introduced that "cancelled" each other out. With all due respect, frankly, I find this a very odd statement. Especially the idea of introducing inaccuracies and cancelling out. I have a problem wrapping my head around this one. It is a complete misconception. I am not talking about inaccuracies. I am talking about improving the holographic imaging and other parameters. There was nothing "inaccurate" about the sound before these improvements were made. The sound was as accurate as it could be at that time given the nature of the system that was then in place.

When you introduce a second power cord in series with a Bybee AC Purifier, for example, you do not introduce an "inaccuracy" into the system. If anything, the sound becomes more "accurate", if you care to put it that way, because some of the AC has been cleaned up. The end result of all the improvements is a much more "accurate" sound. If anything has been cancelled by this process it is only one thing -- the lack of earlier "accuracy" due to distortion caused by dirty AC.

Off-axis listening in the "new improved" system is phenomenal. You can sit or stand virtually anywhere in the room and hear the same holographic image.
orpheus10
8,668 posts
 

Sabai, I will be more than happy to tell you everything I know about holography. First, Carver was not true holography. I've owned and tried almost every gimic under the Sun, none of them worked.

Let us compare obtaining holography to cooking a good recipe; you begin with the best products you can buy. I suggest perusing an old library of "Stereophile" magazines and selecting from the components rated "Class-A". You also may need advice in regard to "synergy". Kevin at Upscale Audio is always in a talkative mood. Although I have custom speakers I'm partial to Von Schweikerts.

A dedicated listening room is also essential. There must be space between the back wall and the side wall in regard to the speakers. The only area you can make a substantial savings, is on interconnects and speaker wire. Since high quality wire is a must, you'll have to get it from a speaker store or "Vampire Wire", but you can get it in bulk and terminate your own.

Once you get it altogether, you'll still need advice from your "guru" of choice to make it click; but when it does, you're in "audiophile heaven".
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
Geoffkait,
To keep things simple, when referring to "in the signal path" I am talking about whatever is actually connected to the circuitry of the system.

Regarding electrons, of course I misstated this. I should have said the audio signal travels awfully fast through cables -- not the electrons. To clarify, the electrons themselves are not actually "flowing" at lightning speed when we talk about the flow of electricity. It is the energy flow via the electrons that creates the audio signal. While the actual speed of the electrons themselves is slow and their movement is characterized by more than one form of movement, the sound we hear actually travels very fast via the energy flow through the electrons. If we had to wait for the electrons themselves to arrive with that signal we would be very disappointed. Each modification of the signal path via cables and "tweaks" changes the signal flow via the electrons. I hope this clarifies how I see signal modification happening.
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