How important is it for you to attain a holographic image?

Hearing a live performance through speakers has always been the goal and what attracted me to the hobby when I first heard a high end system at the Sony Center in Berlin as a kid. I played second bassoon in the Wisconsin Youth Orchestra for awhile, sung in the Madison Boys Choir and my father played a number of two hour piano concerts practicing hours a day. I know what live music sounds like, just as many of you do. What I want to hear when a good recording is played is exactly what was played. In my opinion it is holographic meaning that I can close my eyes and feel like I’m in the concert hall and place each instrument that is played in space. The Tympany is far left rear, the bassoon and oboe middle right center, the flutist front left. Yes the speakers need to also produce the dynamics and hold a properly sized image of the instruments  . . . I just played Peter Hurford playing Bach Organ music this weekend and I felt like I was in the church, organ 200 ft in front of me. That’s not a parlor trick. That is a great performance meshing with a great recording on a high end system that is dialed into the space that it exists. Yes there are many poor recordings and I actually usually prefer studio produced rock albums because live performances are usually poorly recorded from a badly set up PA system. It can be engaging being a part of the crowd but if I want to hear the music I go for the studio album. As mentioned above I find most holographic recordings are those jazz and classical recordings miked correctly. . . 

No one wants a strange disembodied image. The goal is to be transported to the venue. . . Yes this is very much affected by sound engineers and the way they mic and mix the music. This is why you will find that recordings made and mixed by a person you like will give you more of the same. It is challenging to find sound engineers who are true artists at their craft and can deliver the dynamics we all look for and the imaging/staging that we want to hear. 

Binaural recording is one technique of many to record music by sound engineers using stereo pairs of microphones recording in a mannequin head so that the venue is recorded as it would be heard by a person sitting there. . . The playback has always been limited to headphones to hear the true 3D imaging of the music and environment. Huge strides have been made by Dr. Choueiri at his Prinston Lab to make this happen on our speakers.

Adding BACCH to my system is actually the next evolution of my stereo I am saving up for. The BACCH filters adjust in real time to eliminate comb filtering which is what ruins the 3D affect of true stereo reproduction and hearing the venue as if you were actually there. They have just offered the ability to execute it with a Mac mini. This is the next level in sound reproduction in my opinion and a very exciting time to be part of the audio world.

Newbee mentioned Bob Carver . . . that he tried it and was initially impressed but found it distracting over time.

I’ve seen it said before in the forum that Audiophiles enjoy listening to the way their equipment sounds more than listening to music. . . Just look at all the discussions on synergizing equipment. I have been happy to see more threads pop up speaking to excellent recordings etc. I’ve worked 20 years now to get my system where it is but I’m not a trader like many. I research, listen, and save and buy my next piece. I know I’m close and would agree with the note above how important low level detail is. I have almost as much money in my subs as my 20.1 Magnepans. It is worth every penny when the tympani pounds and you can feel the reverberations perfectly accurate as if you were in the first few rows of the orchestra. While I can place all instruments in their locations on good recordings and the orchestra feels like it is there, big smiles from guests, it doesn’t make my hair stand up like I’ve heard on three occasions, all with different equipment. My father has heard it with me once at AXPONA, if you can believe it, and how the magic was broken moving just one seat over which still had great imaging and sound but it wasn’t magical. He’s visiting for the holidays and says that the system sounds better than anything he’s heard (very close to the AXPONA experience) and he’s correct . . . The difference in experience is almost life changing and my goal is to have it, all the time.

One moment for me was playing on humble Sansui speakers in my home under construction listening to a recording processed through the BACCH filters. After reading extensively on their research site with tests they made on various speaker brands I was happy to see that their tests aligned with the system I wanted to create and hoped that someday I could incorporate BACCH into my dream system and get that magic back at an even higher level with better equipment. We will see this spring when I get my bonus from work and I can add it. 

Again what I speak to is not creepy or ethereal but transporting you to the event at such a level that all of your senses are overwhelmed. It may not be what others here want but it’s what I want and that’s all that’s important.