What Does Holographic Sound Like?

I'm somewhat at a loss to understand what exactly the OP means when he refers to 'sonic holography' and wonder if perhaps he is confusing that term with 'stereo image'. IMHO the later refers to a sense of height, width and depth, all of which are relative depending on equipment set up and of course source.

IMHO 'sonic holography' represents the optimum achievement in 'stereo image' something which does not appear in most rooms under any conditions and even with the appropriate room, set up, equipment and source, it takes a lot of time and patience, as well as listening skills. It usually helps a lot if one has actually ever heard it. FWIW, I've been doing this for a while and I have only heard it once in a commercial 'high end' setting (Dealer listen rooms). Once! And not again.

When I read that the OP believes that he has created what I refer to as 'sonic holography' by optimizing his wires but not optimizing his set up, which it is obvious he has not, I believe he is engaging in a bit of hyperbole.

Taken to the next level, he also claims that now with the wires optimized he has optimized 'sonic holography' without regard to where one listens, that there no longer is a sweet spot seating requirement, off axis is fine, while using dynamic speakers, challenges my imagination, and suggests to me that he is experiencing varying levels of 'stereo imaging'.

Perhaps we need to explore what exactly is 'sonic holography' and how, or if, it can be differentiated from the traditional, if more pedestrian, 'stereo imaging' concept.

Perhaps I am the only one who differentiates the two phrases. If so just ignore this.

Mapman, I agree that either dynamic speakers or omni's can meet someone's expectations of holography.

But to get there one needs to thoroughly understand how the speaker propogates its sound and how the room will react to the sound. IMHO this is the most difficult aspect of audio and the one, which when absent, will most often keep folks from achieving anything much more than a pedestrian sense of 'soundstaging' certainly not anything aproaching holography as very well described by Sabai in his response to me. Clearly he understands how I define holography.

At the risk of being a pedant, or sounding pedestrian in this group, Omni's are very difficult to set up because one has to deal actively with the back wave, albeit there is much less problem with first reflections points.

Dynamic speakers (not dipole ones) are on one hand easier to set up and achieve an adequate sound stage (thought by many to be excellent) but which are handicapped by the user's lack of understanding of all of the set up issues. They know that they are lacking something but don't know what that might be so they fuel the tweak industry seeking the holy grail when all they really had to do was move the speakers a bit to deal with first reflections, including toe in which, by the way, is far more important than many think - folks seem to do this only to adjust tonal balance, not realizing the effect of first reflections off side walls and ceiling.

For example, many manufacturers recommend that speakers be set up so that they fire straight down the room. Why do they do this? Apart from possibly reflecting consideration for the speakers response on and off axis, because the first reflections off the adjacent walls will make an 'apparent' wider sound stage.

In the real world (mine anyway) i.e. our typical room, what this means is that the speakers have to be placed quite a few feet from the side walls resulting an adequate space between them to keep from rendering a congested center image, especially considering when the sweet spot is set up, but hey its wide! Consider that the only sound that should appear outside the speakers is out of phase sounds!

In that same room, you can place a dynamic speaker very close to the side walls (so long as it is not near a second room boundry (corner/back wall) IF you toe the speaker in so it crosses in front of the listener in his sweet spot and if necessary deaden the side wall surface adjacent to the speaker. That can easily create an uncongested stereo image which is as wide as the room behind the speakers, and incidentially because of the sound arrival time of each speaker create a much wider 'sweet' spot. It can also diffuse ceiling reflections as well which can be beneficial depending on height and surface. It can also produce a great sense of depth dependent on the space behind the speaker, the quality of the drivers and electronics, and lastly, IMHO, the effectiveness of any tweaks.

So, IMHO, as a practical matter it isn't nearly as important which type of speaker one selects as it is how well he understands them and how to use them in his room. Actually this is fairly scientific and predictible for those with the energy to research and learn.

FWIW.

When this thread comes up now all it does is remind me of Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby. Forgive me for LMAO, I know some don't think this is funny. Dull day I guess. :-)