Holographic imaging

Mapman, what horns have you heard that are omni-like? I find that very surprising.

Dave

DC, I haven't heard any horns recently at all.

But I've heard murmurings that designs like the larger Avantgardes, for example, when properly set up, can totally vanish and present the illusion that the performers are in your room.

I tend to believe that it is true but haven't actually heard it with my own ears.

I can say for a fact that this does happen with the Ohms.

Horns and omnis like MBL or German Physiks and even the Ohms are clearly two ends of the spectrum in regards to design, but I'm thinking they can achieve similar effects in regards to holographic imaging through different means.

DC,

Horns would achieve their "life like" tendencies more via exceptional dynamics I would suppose than necessarily via "holography".

I have this vision that the exceptional dynamics of a very good horn system with just even average holography would be a stunning combination. I am not so certain though that any horn design would blaze the trail though in regards to pure "holography". Also, most horn designs that I see that I think might be able to cut it are too large for me to even consider putting into practice in my house.

Horns are one of those areas in audio that I have not experienced to-date very much, but it is an area that I do have a lot of interest in exploring someday in greater detail when the right opportunity presents itself.

Mapman, I owned the Avantgarde Duos and Trios. They do not disappear, in fact, unless you are quite far back from them they do not have integrated sound. Nor are they anywhere near as dynamic as the Altec VOTs with their compression drivers or the Klipschorns. I also had the now discontinued Beauhorns using Lowther drivers. They were dynamic and used a single driver, meaning they were blessedly free of a crossover. They also imaged quite well and mated well with the H-Cat electronics.

I do agree that a quick sound is essential to realism, but it is necessary not sufficient. My LaCampanellas are horns above 700 Hz and have four small and quick drivers below that.

I have once heard the MBLs sound okay and have been interested in their development for at least the last twenty years. They are omni only in the top frequencies and while open sounding are not at all holographic. German Physiks in my opinion are not worth discussing.

It has been many years since I heard Ohms.

I think until you hear the H-Cat line stage and amp, you will not have any idea what I am talking about.

I've never heard MBL or German Physiks. I would expect to hear "holographic" imaging from these if set up properly, though my understanding is this can be hard.

Its interesting how peoples opinions of omni designs vary so widely.

I think it is a combination of these systems perhaps often not being set up properly combined perhaps with people having a hard time getting used to listening to them when there ears are trained to listen using more directional designs.

I know when I first received my Ohm series 3, I missed the sound that was being produced entirely despite having owned original Ohm Walsh 2's for years, along with several other makes and designs including Magnepan, B&W and Dynaudio.

I shook my head and asked myself whats going on, I must be missing something? It sounded like there was a stereo balance problem as well. The left side seemed to be producing more sound than the right, even though everything checked out and the system was properly balanced.

What I was missing was that I was expecting the sound to be emanating largely from the location of the speakers, as had been the case with the older Walsh 2s that sat in the exact location prior.

But in fact , the sound was totally disassociated from the speaker location.

In the L shaped room they were in, the speaker location was skewed completely to the right of center of an approximately 20' long wall, about 5 feet apart (in order to fire into the length of the L shaped room).

But the soundstage was in fact evenly extended from wall to wall despite this. And the individual instruments and recording elements were clearly located within the sound stage from left to right with height from ceiling to floor and considerable variability of depth. Mono recordings emanate actually from the left of the left side speaker, located dead center along the wall but entirely to the left of both speakers.

That is how I've had it set up and listen since. I am not exaggerating this. If that ain't holographic, I don't know what is.

My point is that the sound was so holographically disjointed from what I was expecting that I missed it completely at first. Once I figured it out and tuned in, it has been my live concert hall ever since.

The thing that threw me for a loop is that no speakers I had ever placed in that room similarly before, including the original Walsh 2s ever had this degree of disassociation between speakers and sound.

I used to be able to get it in my old house that had a large rectangular family room with my old Maggies. Could never get it in the new house...until I tried the series 3 Ohms. Now I own two pair.