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

Re Carver,
I grew up listening to my Dad's set up, which consisted of the Kef 105.2 speakers, driven by Carver's M-400t Magnetic Field Power Amplifier Cube, and the Carver C-1 Sonic Holography preamplifier.

It was incredible sound and certainly introduced me to the magic of imaging.

Though I found over time playing with the sonic holography that I often turned it off, as it sounded just a bit more artificial to me, and slightly altered the tone of the speakers (which imaged amazingly on their own).

I’m not clear on the nuances of sound stage vs holographic vs imaging. So based on that here is my uneducated experience in the matter:

Recent live rock show, small venue, speakers all over the place. No real sound stage or holography that I could perceive.

I hear people describe listening to their system and saying they can hear the distinct position of every musician. I can’t say I’ve had that experience with my system very often. At first that disappointed me. It doesn’t anymore.

With my system the sound stage has a shape. It is no higher than 8 feet. It sounds slightly wider than the room. Drums andback up singers often sound like they are at or slightly behind the speakers. Singers and lead instruments usually are out in front and between the speakers but usually not dead in the middle. This projects out into mid-room but not right up to my listening position which is of necessity a little farther from the speakers than I'd like. Sometimes there are sounds that sound like they are behind me but not regularly. All of this varies tremendously with the recording. With all 'good' recordings I hear separation between instruments regardless of where they seem to be in the room (my room).

It can all be re-shaped to some extent by speaker placement.

But at no time and with almost no recording does it sound like individual sounds are coming directly ’from’ or out of one of the speakers. The sound may be distinctly left of right but does not sound like it is piped out of the speaker.

That’s all I really need. When I sit and concentrate on where something is within the sound stage I find that I’m not enjoying the music. So I don’t do it since that is the opposite of the reason that I listen to music.

n80, I totally agree with you. Everything you said regarding the size of the soundstage and placement of singers and instruments is identical to what I hear with my systems, although my systems components are totally different than your system. I also agree it all varies with the recording. Like you, I enjoy the music and don't concentrate where things are within the soundstage.

When I was 16 I figured out how to place stereo systems to generate a stereo image. Now at 53 I have met a few who had crazy amounts of $ in audio but only heard imaging in my systems. I could spend $200 at parts express on a system and it would image wonderfully after a easy set up. Its really not that hard or costly to generate a stereo image. And while I would say its important I could easily live with one large horn playing in mono. But to honestly answer this question about producing holographic images that are 3d visuals I dont have a holographic imaging set up conected to my audiosystems. Maybe in the future when such tech exists I will adopt it so at this time its not important in the future when it can render a 3d lynda carter it may become very important

Most decent speakers and systems are capable of making a reasonably good stage, on plain and slightly wider than the plain of the speakers. To each their own, but, after several years as lead guitar in a 60s rock band and many more years of attending live performances of every genre of live music, I'm to the point that I simply can't handle up front and in your face music. Live acoustic jazz, small venue folk and live chamber, where I could enjoy 5th row center, without a 90-100db battering and the agony of a three day headache, eventually became my favorite venues of live performances.
I'll happily stick with ribbons and stats that put the performance behind and well extended beyond the bounds of the speakers - placing the performers and instruments each in their own space, on a stage behind the speakers and not in my face, ....Jim