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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
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,429 posts
 
The controversial: Some folks claim that longer power cables can result in better SQ. The explanation typically offered attributes the improvement to reduced "reflections." That may be nonsense

It is nonsense for audio cables. I'm not sure about power cables but home wiring is so long that any difference shouldn't matter. I don't know why longer cable should reduce reflections and if it does it wouldn't be a good thing, since we're talking about high frequency energy, that is far better to dissipate in cable on multiple reflections than to enter power supply.

The system specific: On a few occasions I've had cables that were so short that they created a "nest" of criss-crossing behind components. In those cases, I have sometimes opted for a longer cable to provide wider spacing between cables, which at least in theory, could result in less interference and therefore better SQ.

True, but I'm only talking about "sound" of the cable alone. Speaker wires 1ft long will most likely sound better than 10 footers but speakers 2 feet apart will not. Longer IC might allow to separate interacting components benefiting overall sound but it doesn't change the fact that shorter IC causes less of transparency loss itself.

The semantic: The generalization that "Shorter cables are always better" might give a false impression that shorter cables are always AUDIBLY better than longer ones of otherwise equivalent design. I suspect that, for any specific design, there is a range of lengths which are sonically indistinguishable.

True, but if you believe that particular cable has any affect on the sound then half of the cable will have half of the effect.
bryoncunningham
890 posts
 
Kijanki - We are in agreement.

bc
csontos
1,311 posts
 
There's also a big difference between artificial effects vs. what's actually going on in the recording studio. Not a lot being said about that here. But there is a lot of hysterics going on considering what is actually achievable with cables.
orpheus10
8,668 posts
 

Sabai, I should be asking you the questions, as opposed to you asking me. My "holography" does not follow me around the room. When I leave the sweet spot, I leave the holography, maybe I can train it to follow me around the room.

But laying all jokes aside, "how do you do that"?
sabai OP
2,027 posts
 
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?
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