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

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.

I  believe the achievement of the "holographic" image you refer to is fully a function of the manor in which the music was recorded. There is a passage at the very end of season two Game of Thrones program where all of a sudden a crow calls out from high to the right of my room and sounds as if it flies right in front of my face. The first time I heard this I about jumped out of my chair. It is an amazing effect. But that's what it is, an effect. Most music is recorded in a studio with close mikes and then reverb and other signal processing is added. This can effect the holographic image you mention. In a live situation where acoustic instruments are played in a concert hall venue, the image is based on how the venue is recorded since a sense of space is naturally present vs. say a studio setting.

I guess my point is that a decent system should reproduce whatever effect  is inherent in the recording. A good example of imaging in my mind vs. "holography" is found on the track "Down to the Waterline" on the debut release from Dire Straits. Knopfler's guitar is positioned far left of the rest of the instruments which creates a very impactful effect. This is an example of a recording technique vs. room acoustics which, as stated, more naturally lends itself to the "holographic" effect mentioned.