How important is it for you to attain a holographic image?

You don’t like the term holograph.  Fine.
You finally got the point.
As you rightly say: “...imaging and soundstaging is an artificial creation.”
I’d say it’s impossible to be otherwise, unless you can place yourself where the microphones are.
I guess you can regard holography is an extreme case of imaging and soundstaging, in which case you can understand my initial post.

Ok, we are talking about imaging.  (And soundstaging)

I don’t know what I should consider an "extreme" case of imaging and soundstaging, as the imaging/soundstage of my system changes with the source.  One minute I’m listening to a singer in a tiny dry space, intimately placed between the speakers with little ambience. The next I’m listening to a classical recording of a singer in the far distance with the sense of hearing in to a big hall. I don’t see which one should I consider "extreme" and why. The system simply reproduces the imaging/soundstaging encoded on the source, so by nature it changes "by extremes" when listening to extremely different recordings.

Anyway, I hope you got some decent answers to what you meant to ask.

Inches vs. feet.  Hence the use of the binaural recording head.

"hanging in front of the speakers".  Are we talking about a "forward" presentation, with the soundstage starting in front of the plane of the drivers?  I'm actually a fan of the opposite (laid back).

Has anyone mentioned Bob Carver's C9 Sonic Hologram? 

Newbee mentioned Bob Carver . . . that he tried it and was initially impressed but found it distracting over time.