Holographic sound

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Infiniteloop

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Timpd said:
Thanks for the input. It may be an illusion but when the music hangs in the air so I feel I can touch it ,it seems pretty real to me. I have heard very expensive systems that sound good but it's just a 2D wall of sound not an immersive 3D experience. When I auditioned my current system at a local dealer it was engrossing particularly with a Talking Heads CD. The demo room was much brighter acoustically than my room which has carpets ,rugs ,heavy curtains and sofas to kill the sound. I may have a look at some valve amps but I feel ,probably wrongly , its like buying a classic car, need continual tweaking and care.

I use my Valve Amp pretty much every day and hardly ever feel the need to tweak it. It's self-biasing, only has its PreAmp tubes changed when I fancy a slightly different sound, or when the power tubes need replacing (about every three years). It's hardly onerous.
 

rainsoothe

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Fwiw, I don't think you'll be able to get the desired effect out of the scm 11s. They are neutral and very good sounding indeed, but they don't do euphony, nor perform a vanishing act.

Try a pair of Piega Premium 3.2 or Martin Logan Ethos (the Ethos sound unbelievable, but they have a pretty limiting sweetspot).
 

matthewpiano

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Geddy Lee said:
Headphones. For a cost effective immersive sound, for me, you can't do better than get a decent source, DAC/headphone amp and some headphones.
Yes. I've used my Beyers quite a bit recently from the (excellent) headphone output on the Rotel, and it has been a very immersive experience.
 

Gaz37

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Now we're lead to believe that correct speaker positioning is essential for an accurate so called 3-D soundstage, correct?

That being the case would anybody put their speakers two feet apart facing each other and sit between them?

Assuming the answers to those are yes and no, how can you possibly get any soundstage from headphones?
 

MajorFubar

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Gaz37 said:
Assuming the answers to those are yes and no, how can you possibly get any soundstage from headphones?

If you could somehow ensure each speaker was heard buy only its approprite ear, it sort of would work. But it doesn't work like that, and generally you can't do that. You hear a mixture of the output from both speakers with both ears. So the process is different.
 

Rethep

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MajorFubar said:
Gaz37 said:
Assuming the answers to those are yes and no, how can you possibly get any soundstage from headphones?

If you could somehow ensure each speaker was heard buy only its approprite ear, it sort of would work. But it doesn't work like that, and generally you can't do that. You hear a mixture of the output from both speakers with both ears. So the process is different.

The fact THAT you hear BOTH speakers with BOTH ears gives you the soundstage(depth) exactly !!
 

Gaz37

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The point I was trying to make regarding headphones v speakers is that (usually) the best stereo image/soundstage is achieved by sitting at the point of a triangle from your speakers where the sound from each speaker "overlaps"

So lets say that the recording has been made so that the bass guitar sounds as though it is to the left of, and slightly in front of, the drummer. As the speakers are (for example) 3m apart and 3m away from you this gives a large area in which you can visualise the instruments most importantly regarding the distance between you and the speakers in the case of "3D soundsatge" With headphones you are effectively listening in only two dimensions as there is no distance between you and the speakers therefore any "3D soundstage" is competely impossibe due to the lack of the 3rd dimension - that being depth.
 

Rethep

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Ok, i understand!

Sometimes people tell me to use headphones while listening late in the evening/night. Then i always tell them that gives less than half 'the picture' of what it does by speakers. So mostly a 'no go area' for me!
 

MajorFubar

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The perception of depth is entirely created by your brain, for both vision and sound. I can't really at all relate to the inferrence that headphones 'miss half the picture' or only give some combination of left and right. Providing you're not mutton in one ear, a pair of headphones is very capable of creating the illusion of depth, often better than speakers, whose ability to 'project' an image is too influenced by the listening environment, their position in it, and your position in relation to their sweet spot.

If you've never listened to something on a pair of headphones and been blown away by the perception of space and depth you either have poor headphones or you're just not listening to the 'right' type of music. If you want to hear the effect at its extreme, put on a decent pair of headphones and search YouTube for binaural videos or binaural music. Or listen to a live radio 3 concert: usually they are miked impeccably, and through good headphones you feel you're there.
 

Gaz37

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MajorFubar said:
The perception of depth is entirely created by your brain, for both vision and sound. I can't really at all relate to the inferrence that headphones 'miss half the picture' or only give some combination of left and right. Providing you're not mutton in one ear, a pair of headphones is very capable of creating the illusion of depth, often better than speakers, whose ability to 'project' an image is too influenced by the listening environment, their position in it, and your position in relation to their sweet spot.

If you've never listened to something on a pair of headphones and been blown away by the perception of space and depth you either have poor headphones or you're just not listening to the 'right' type of music. If you want to hear the effect at its extreme, put on a decent pair of headphones and search YouTube for binaural videos or binaural music. Or listen to a live radio 3 concert: usually they are miked impeccably, and through good headphones you feel you're there.

How is it possible for the same "illusion" to be created when the sources of the sound are effectively rotated 90 degrees?

The "illusion" is created at the recording stage by the studio engineer so how can the different levels that create the "image" work in the same way for both forward and sideways facing speakers?
 

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