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

"I like what sounds good to me". That seems to be a reasonable comment. Let me tell you where it leads. In the late 70's, "graphic equalizers" were the rage; my preamp had "turnover tone controls"; they doubled your ability to control bass and treble, plus I had a "dynamic range expander", that flashed a tiny red led when it was operating.

Has anyone visited a fun house with the funny mirrors? You know the one's where you're tall and skinny in one, short and fat in another, watermelon head in the next one, and on and on....

We did this with our music; not enough bass; no problem, slide them sliders, flip that turnover tone control switch; don't quit until it "sounds good to me".

What was the artist trying to say? "I didn't know that was important; what I want to hear is more important; after all, I'm paying the cost to be the boss."

Without realizing it, we were distorting the music to such an extent that it would have been unrecognizable to the artist who created it.

Back to the music and the artist; he or she spent their entire lives in an effort to learn music, and say what they wanted to say with music, the same as a writer. Would you buy a book and rewrite it? But it's OK to mess with what someone considers their work of art.

"To be, or not to be, that is the question"?

Now that I have described what I don't want, I'll get to what I do want;
 
—- “Without a shadow of a doubt, the most desirable aspect of high end audio is "The Holographic sound stage",”

I stand by that statement 100%, because if you're trying to get to the bottom of the pool you have to pass through the first three feet. If you're trying to get to the top of the building, you have to travel past the first three floors. (but not if the pool is only two feet deep, or it's only a two story building)

Since whether you know it or not; it is 100% impossible to get holography without having the other desirable elements of audio; just as it is impossible to get to the bottom of a 10 foot deep pool without going through the first three feet, or get to the top of a tall building without going past the first three floors.

Newbee,  you are absolutely correct.  I simply listen to music (all of it has depth and air, the fringe benefit of having sought "holography"), and revel in it when the recording reveals such.

When I hear this revealed to the extent of being able to visualize the artist in three dimensional space, I will make a note of it, and post it on this thread; it might take a few days.

@newbee  Hence my belief that full-scale orchestral recordings are the toughest--and to some extent, impossible--test of systems and the rooms they're installed in.

@orpheus10

—-“I stand by that statement 100%, “

Suite yourself. Doesn’t make it a jot more reasonable to keep standing by it.

If I declared “Without a shadow of a doubt the most desirable car is the 68 corvette”
everyone would understand I am talking for MYSELF since I used the word “desirable” which is a subjective value statement.

No matter how many times I stand by that claim, that will remain the case. To think otherwise is to be confused about the nature of subjectivity and objectivity.

—-“Since whether you know it or not; it is 100% impossible to get holography without having the other desirable elements of audio; “

So you claim. I hope you won’t be insulted if we don’t automatically take everything you claim as Gospel Truth. I haven’t seen reason yet to presume we are in the presence of an enlightened audio guru - writing style aside :).

My own experience suggests your claim is incorrect. I have heard plenty of systems do some incredible dimensionality and soundstaging while sounding to my ears bereft of convincing instrumental timbre, or dynamics, or other traits.

There is no perfect audio reproduction system. All have compromised to one degree or another - something that some other system may do better, or that is preferred by other listeners.

Therefore someone who chooses a system that does not do everything exactly as YOU want it is not by default desiring some coloration akin to a smiley faced eq. It may simply be that they have chosen their own set of compromises where the system has better fidelity either to some aspect of the source or to the qualities of live music that another system doesn’t do as well.

I played in a large funk band for many years. If my main criteria were to reproduce that type of live sound as closely as possible any number of pro PA speakers would kick the crap out of the typical audiophile system no matter how “holographic” their image. Holography wouldn’t even come in to the picture as the live sound never had such a quality to begin with.

So there is no “one size fits all” criteria or claim that can be made as you seem to want to make.