'Holographic Sound Stage?'

I attend classical concerts about five or six times a season. A holographic sound stage is not what I first notice or enjoy about the sound of a live orchestra.

A few years ago I read a book which attempts to describe sound in the home and how to make it more like a real musical event. The adjectives used to describe the sound in successful systems were: Tone, Dynamics, and Presence.

This fairly closely describes what it is that I hear at the symphony and what I now value and try to recreate in my home system. Soundstaging is nice and it does exist to some extent, but it is not what I focus on when listening to live music or to my system.

The book is Jim Smith's "Get Better Sound."

It is an interesting phenomenon or paradox. Holographic soundstaging is not part of a live musical event. Nevertheless, it seems to be one of the things that makes play back of recorded music seem more alive.

My modest little headphone system has quite good holographic soundstaging, you know, considering that it's a HEADPHONE system.

Peterayer,

I have Jim Smith's "Get Better Sound." He describes sound staging, imaging and so forth somewhat dismissively as "audiophile sound effects." I know his expertise far exceeds my own, but as I said, I'm not so sure I agree on this point.

Funny,

The setup I heard years ago in Jim Smith's old Audition store in Birmingham Alabama with Magnepans was one of the best ever, including holographic soundstage. Speakers were well out into the middle of the room, well away from walls.

Maybe the thing is that often best placement for holography and soundstage (generally away from walls) negatively affects bass levels/tonal balance and dynamics. Reconciling the two is often constrained by speaker design/type used and may require tweaks to room acoustics as well. Speakers that are designed to work full range well away from walls might have an advantage, though certainly very good results can still be achieved with speakers closer to walls, as long as sound smearing early reflections can be avoided.