shatki holographs

Yes, yes, no, better

Yes, they can be done DIY. Quite easily if you have the woodworking tools and appropriate skills. Others have made them DIY and they reported very good results.

Tbg,

I trust that you are not in any way related to Shakti innovations or Bob Piazza! Could you elaborate on your experince with the Halograph? I do appreciate your honest input. Thanks.

Fiddler,

I have been following a thread about the Halograph on the audio circle were they talk about DIY. But it appears as though none of the participants have actually tried them or possibly seen them in person to understand if there is anything special about them that must be known for effective duplication. Also, they talk about using different materials ( MDF,etc) that would take you ~80% of the way to the Halograph. Well isn't our goal on the pursiut of the highest quality sound to get from the 80'ish% that can be relatively easily achieved to closer to that elusive "nirvana" of perfect harmony. In any case, these discussions are great and the only way to do justice to either product would be a side-by-side comparison.Thanks.

Rafael

For a DIY sketch:

http://members.aol.com/bvirgil311/hallosketch.jpg

I have no relationship with Ben or Shakti. I first heard them in a demo at CES. Had I not heard that demo I probably would have also remained in disbelief. My first pair in my room were not enough. I now have two pair and must say I keep experimenting as the effect of the second pair is so different depending on where you place them.

I fully expect that you could somewhat duplicate them DIY, but not very closely. I do not know if the particular wood, the particular shape, the particular length of the two types of wood, or the particular cavity behind the woods affect the sound, but they would be difficult and expensive to duplicate.

The link didn't work Gordus. Do you have any other links?

These things do work! I have had them now for 9 days and just yesterday while trying Jena Labs and Synergistic Research sp. cables on my system with another audiophile friend we listened to my system with and w/o the Shatki Hallographs and it was not subtle. The hallographs expanded the soundstage and brought increased air and definition to the instruments evenly throughout the audible spectrum. I am keeping mine.

Tbg

Can you give me more feedback on how the additional pair is helping and if its a significant improvement. Thanks.

Rafael

Aponter, yes I will try. The effect is not any less significant than the first pair, but the second pair is much more frustrating. With the first pair you put them on the speaker wall in the corners and experiment with toe in. In my case since I had subwoofers in those corners, I had to try three positions before settling on the best. With the second pair Ben recommends the first reflection point on the side wall but also recommend trying them in the back. Basically you have an infinite number of locations. I have repeatedly thought I had found the best point only to do further testing and ending up elsewhere.

Behind you yields a great sense of surround and ambience and can greatly affect how forward the music sounds. On the side walls yields great music attack and can make the speakers vanish. Ben's solution to this is to get a third pair! I have no regrets about getting the second pair but am not likely soon to get the third pair.