Holographic imaging

Hcat apparently sounds interesting to the untrained ear.

Let the guy go; he's championed other suspect products as well. Most of them flavor of the month products like this one.

Check the posting history. It's all there.

I have been strongly considering trying a real tube pre on my system.

I prefer the tube voiced output on my SS Carver pre to the SS one on my system currently. I'm thinking it could add a useful ingredient to my audio soup, maybe just a small pinch of additional "bloom". I've considered Acoustic Research, CJ, Unison, VTL, and DeHavilland.

Classe is one brand of SS pre that I would also consider trying from what I've heard.

I'm open for suggestions on this if anybody has some.

Not to beat this thread to death (probably too late for that ;-) ) but to me, soundstage and imaging are what happen between and sometimes to the right and left of right and left speakers, respectively (as in, "Those speakers throw a huge soundstage)" whereas "holographic" refers to the sense that sounds and instruments are "out in the room" closer to you than the plane of the speakers.

How much of this is about the speaker and how much is about deliberate or inadvertent artifacts of the recording process I don't know.

I just picked up a copy of "When I Look Into Your Eyes" by Diana Krall. On one of the first two cuts (can't remember right now) there's a piano entrance that eerily seems to envelop the listener all around the listening position. I don't know if it's "realistic," but it's impressive and in my book, "holographic."

YMMV, as they say.

Rebbi, Regarding your comments about the frontal plane of the sound v the frontal plane of the speakers, and Tvad re your view supporting Rebbi's definition of 'holography', in my limited experience I have found that putting sound out in front of the plane of the speakers is more related to speaker design (I have only experienced this phenom with a horn/cone hybrid and it a general soundfield attached to most recordings. But it was facinating especially with that old Carver 9 holograpy machine in the loop).

But I have only heard 'holography' (my version) with cones and a few recordings, but I haven't heard horns in many years - certainly not since I developed a lot more sophistication about this process. Wish I had those old horns back so I could listen to see if they would sound better than cone drivers in this respect.

Oh well, too much too doo about seeing rare birds. :-)