'Holographic Sound Stage?'

that is why I went back in time...all my stereo is from late 50's early 60ties....Have fun!

I've been at this hobby seriously for 45 years, and owned hundreds of components, and I had not heard a system that produced what I would call holographic imaging until a couple of years ago. By holographic I mean images that are completely divorced from the speakers, spread left-right and front-rear as live, in front of and behind the speakers. Frankly I had believed that reports of this phenomenon were marketing hype.
A few years ago I met a fellow 'phile through a local group that owned a system built around Shindo electronics and cables and Devore Gibbon Super 8 speakers. His listening/ living room seems unexceptional, with some treatment, but the sound was truly holographic, as I've described. Vocalists seemed to be 3-4 feet in front of the speakers, with instruments spread out, some seeming to be as much as 10 feet behind them, with a similar left-right spread, well outside of the speakers. I was shocked and stunned. I had never heard the like. I would have thought that it would take a high end multi-channel system to created this illusion, but I'd never actually heard anything like this. I've since heard this system a number of times. A couple of years ago he changed to Daedalus Athena speakers, which improved the sound greatly overall, and maintained or enhanced the illusion.
I've pondered this system for several years, trying to understand what is responsible for this and how I could reproduce it. The room has some peculiar properties, I think (although I don't understand what they are), and the owner has gone to great lengths to get his speaker positioning right, down to 1/4", using laser measuring and a positioning scheme he has embraced. I've not heard other electronics there, but the Shindo gear is at least partly responsible.
So- it is possible to achieve this, but I believe equipment alone won't do it. The room dimensions, treatments and positioning are major contributors; a major rabbit hole, should you choose to go down it.

Jmbatkh, nailed it. it happens. Years ago I met a local seller who was selling a granite slab. He lived in a fairly small apartment with an odd shaped room. His room was tweaked out, however. He played an Annie Lenox CD, the track "why?". It was like I was in the middle of the performance. Images were captured within proper space.

Years later, I purchased his speakers he was using. He is now a writer for Stereophile. Even with those speakers, I have not yet been able to reproduce that sound he had in my house. I have been what they say "chasing the dragon" since then.

The one and only time I heard a holographic presentation was at Elliot Midwood's place (the owner of Acoutic Image). It was at his house and he demo'd some entry level Audio Phyisics (?) speakers on an all tube set up. The speakers were rather far apart since looking straight ahead afforded me only a peripheral view of them. Also, the speakers were next to the walls, just inside, which opened onto another room behind them.

To say my jaw dropped was an understatement. Each and every musician had his and her own space, front to back, side to side, with specific boundaries, enough to qualify as ghostly. At first, I resisted the urge to get up and walk around the phantom images but then submitted and proceeded to walk around the players. As I neared them, they somewhat collapsed and reformed as I returned to my seat.

Quite the parlor trick and I've yet to experience it again.

The room holds all the cards should you want to recreate this effect and from what I've seen and read, no one uses this approach when designing a listening room. I'm sure there are other ways to do it but this is the only one I've witnessed.

All the best,
Nonoise

I think the most holographic sound stage I've ever heard was on the Infinity IRS. If you'd heard it you'd know exactly why people refer to it as holographic -- it's as if you could walk between the instruments, so precisely are the delineated in three dimensional space.

Is it realistic? That's another question entirely. Most of the live acoustical music I've heard didn't image that way. The locations of the instruments are more diffuse, more a cloud than a point, and there was no sense of space between them. And sometimes instruments don't even come from where they should, e.g., if you close your eyes at Carnegie Hall it can sound as if some instruments are coming from the proscenium arch (depending on seating angles).