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

I’ve seen it said before in the forum that Audiophiles enjoy listening to the way their equipment sounds more than listening to music. . . Just look at all the discussions on synergizing equipment. I have been happy to see more threads pop up speaking to excellent recordings etc. I’ve worked 20 years now to get my system where it is but I’m not a trader like many. I research, listen, and save and buy my next piece. I know I’m close and would agree with the note above how important low level detail is. I have almost as much money in my subs as my 20.1 Magnepans. It is worth every penny when the tympani pounds and you can feel the reverberations perfectly accurate as if you were in the first few rows of the orchestra. While I can place all instruments in their locations on good recordings and the orchestra feels like it is there, big smiles from guests, it doesn’t make my hair stand up like I’ve heard on three occasions, all with different equipment. My father has heard it with me once at AXPONA, if you can believe it, and how the magic was broken moving just one seat over which still had great imaging and sound but it wasn’t magical. He’s visiting for the holidays and says that the system sounds better than anything he’s heard (very close to the AXPONA experience) and he’s correct . . . The difference in experience is almost life changing and my goal is to have it, all the time.

One moment for me was playing on humble Sansui speakers in my home under construction listening to a recording processed through the BACCH filters. After reading extensively on their research site with tests they made on various speaker brands I was happy to see that their tests aligned with the system I wanted to create and hoped that someday I could incorporate BACCH into my dream system and get that magic back at an even higher level with better equipment. We will see this spring when I get my bonus from work and I can add it. 

Again what I speak to is not creepy or ethereal but transporting you to the event at such a level that all of your senses are overwhelmed. It may not be what others here want but it’s what I want and that’s all that’s important. 

@orpheus10 said "You guys are funny; while you're enjoying what you have, your subconscious is reaching for the grapes; "I wonder how I can get better bass", or some other refinement."

No incongruity there at all. I never claimed that I don't wonder about things. I never claimed that I had the best system in the world. I never claimed my system had no flaws. I never said that I wouldn't seek any sort of improvement. What I'm saying is that some of us have the ability to be satisfied with what we have and to control impulses that will likely only account for small, incremental improvements as well as enough risk aversion to avoid spending money on 'improvements' that might end up being detrimental. 

And again, this is about sound stage. Spending money to get improvements other than sound stage means sound stage isn't my addiction of choice. That's all.

Again, I'm not knocking anyone for whom that .01% improvement is worth a week's vacation some place nice. That is their business not mine. Its all entertainment after all.

@orpheus10 said "N80, mentally, I will never settle; it's just that my bank account has put the brakes on."

In the end that's still settling. And if you're not willing to eat Ramen seven days a week and walk to work for your hobby....well, what can I say?  ;-)

The point is that we all have reasons for how far we push things. And it really isn't our position to question someone else's.....especially when they have the real prize, the best grapes of all: great music and contentment.

To me, precise holographic soundstage is the holy grail of hifi.
The totem hawk i am listening to are phenomenal in this regard... Comes to mind magnepan and ls50s that i have owned previously.

Soundstage is important. Air is more important. Dynamic range is a must. You always want what you can’t have.

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls; a "holographic image" is what "everyone" in high end audio is striving for; it's not a separate entity, but what "automatically" occurs when you have it altogether, but not before.

it only occurs when you have top notch high end equipment. I'll give you an example of this; me and the fellows; me being the resident customer, and they being the salesmen, were grooving mightily to Santana "Abraxas", on a lineup of top of the line ARC electronics, that even included the CD player, plus, the best Thiel speakers, when a real customer came in and requested to audition a Rotel amplifier.

Before that occurred, I was focusing on the organ; it was isolated like I've never heard it before or since; this was on the cut "Incident at Neshabur";


  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-s2uFgMRjA


Can you dig it?


We were all seated in the small auditioning theater just grooving; that's when not a word is spoken, and each person is off in his own private inner sanctum; that holographic image with the individual instruments right in front of you will do it; put you out there where you want to be.

"And then the doorbell rang"; it was a customer who wanted to audition a Rotel Amp; when his request was honored, the soundstage collapsed. Nothing else had changed, but no more holographic soundstage; a chain is no stronger than it's weakest link.

That sums up a "holographic soundstage".