Has anyone in Mi.acheived holographic imaging?


I'm talking about a system that appears as though you could stand
behind the singers.I have been to several hi-end audio stores in metro Detroit and none of them even know it exist.
I saw this once at a guy's house in Bloomfied while tagging along with a friend.I'm not sure what type of budget you need to acheive this.(I've been trying 20 years off and on).
I would travel to "see" it at a home or store.My system is posted here on opinions please living room audio.
jfg

Showing 5 responses by mapman

Once one has good quailty gear matched well and the proper recording then it mostly comes down to room acoustics and how that affects the sound you hear directly from the speakers versus the reflected sound. It's a geometric puzzle unique to each room. That takes some time and a lot of tweaking to solve optimally. Some rooms will be much easier than others to solve.
There is only one instance I recall over the years where I heard multiple sets of speakers set up in teh same room in different spots concurrently all do "holography" to the nth degree. That was at a local Tweeter store a few years back. One pair were midrange Martin Logan Electrostats and the other two a pair of FOcal PRofile 918s and 928s. Source and amplification was midrange Krell.

I doubt these were set up with any great precision or that the gear was inherently superior, though all were very good. More likely the large rectangular lively room with untreated walls and a lot of reflection coming from a lot of wall area behind the listening location were the primary reasons.

The other singular most holographic demo I have ever heard was an mbl 111 demo at United Home Audio in Annapolis junction. Again the key here I think was the large showroom with ample space both behind the speakers and the listener combined with a really optimized setup. The area behind the speakers was heavily treated, side walls not parallel, and a good 20 feet or more deep with similar space behind the listener.

With omni directional speakers like mbl or even bipolar speakers like Magnepan, a lot of distance to the rear wall is usually required. Speakers may be 1/3 or more well into the room from teh front wall, and the setup is optimized based upon how the relative sound pattern radiates and is dispersed.

Once you a have a room and speakers and high quality low distortion gear suited to the task, tweaking to get things just right will generally take some time and yes small differences in placement are significant.

So its no easy task to get all of that just right which helps explain why it is not that common.
Mesh, yes you reminded me the first time I heard a truly holographic demo was also with Dynaudio monitors set up very wide apart yet still with lots of space to front wall and modest space to side walls. I have been a huge Dynaudio fan ever since.
Actually, here are the most notable ones I have heard over the years at dealers:

-Magnepan (SS amp) at Audition Audio in Birmingham AL (~1987)
-Dynaudio (SS amp) at now defunct dealer in Ownings Mills MD (~1993)
-Martin Logan/Focal (Krell SS amp) at Tweeter, OWings Mills MD (~2008)
-Magico (VAC tube amp) at Sound By Singer, New York City (smallest room) (~2010)
-mbl (mbl SS amp)at United Home Audio, Annapolis Junction MD (~2010)
- PSB (ARC tube amp) at Listening Room, Pikesville MD (~2010)

- YG Acoustics and Magico (unknown amp) at Capital Audiofest (~2011)
Sure thing. Those are the things I have heard over the years that has probably most influenced my buying decisions.