How to get the impact of a live concert?

Hi Wolf, sure:

You need an amplifier of any type, a speaker, a VU meter and a sine/squarewave generator.

Run the sine through the amp and speaker. Put the VU meter on the amp/speaker terminals and set the level for 0VU.

Now cover up the meter, turn the volume down and set to squarewave. Turn up the volume until you hear the same level. Uncover the meter. You will see it reading a lot less, typical is -25 to -20 db.

Squarewaves are composed of odd ordered harmonics. You can see from this simple test that we are a lot more sensitive to them than the actual fundamental tone!

Wait...I don't have a sine wave generator, or a VU meter other than an SPL meter. Now I'm REALLY testy.

Everyone has an opinion, some not as good as some others, but I have been doing this a very long time, (40 years), and I would ask first: what city do you live in? If you are in St. Louis I would invite you over to my house to hear my system:It takes me to a place where all I do is enjoy the music, whether I'm playing acoustic or electronic jazz, rock, or trip-hop, (Pandora Radio gets it done!),. I would suggest you: 1) Talk to someone you already know about building you a pair of his 15" 3-way speakers w/o the mid and high frequency horns (approx. $750.00), these would then become your sub-woofers. 2) Then order an XM-9 3-way cross-over from Marchand Electronics (Approx. $750.00),
Hopefully, your amp has pre-out, amp-in connections, if so then you can insert the cross-over between them and send 100hz and above to your Fortes, and everything below 100 hz to the subs. Use the amp in the integrated to power the Fortes, and use another (VERY, VERY, CLEAN) amp to power the subs. The Marchand crossover has adjustments to smooth out the transitions between frequencies, and even though it a 3-way cross-over, you can use it as a two way ,(Phil Marchand will tell you how when you order it), and you won't have to buy another unit when you get the itch to upgrade!
You can get inter-connects and speaker wire, (Canare), from that store in New York, (what's the name of that place?)Canare is used by studios to wire their mikes when they record music, as it is extremely open and neutral, and will transmit the detail you have paid all that money to hear. You should not need to buy any more monitors as some think that the Fortes out perform the Heresys in the bass. So, Give all the components at least a couple of months to start breaking in and call me, I will gladly and humbly accept your thanks. Concerts are generally bi-amped because monitors sound much better when they don't have to swing low bass notes, and the Fortes should give you great detail through their horns and woofers. This is how I have my system set up, and I am in concert every time I turn it on, (again, Pandora Internet Radio gets it done, kid!)I hope you have a good cd player or streamer, I use my computer for Pandora, but I still spin cd's . Hit me back, I would be interested to know what you think of my suggestions.
My system:
Audio Alchemy ACD-II cd player
Lite Dac-AH D-A converter
Jolida 3000-B preamp: tube
Musical Design SP-1 preamp: prototype,tube
Marchand Electronics XM-9: 3way cross-over
Crown Straight-Line Two preamp: solid state
Jolida 3000A power amp, 200 watt/ch:tube (monitor amps)
Musical Design D-75 amp:solid state, (sub amp)
Sound Dynamics 300Ti: monitors 8 in. 3way
Custom 15" subs from your friend (who shall remain nameless: when I asked him to build mine he replied "I hate I ever started building speakers!"); so under no circumstances use his name ON THIS SITE, or NO HI-FI FOR YOU!!!(LOLOLOLOL)
I cross my system over @ 80 hz, you may or may not prefer 100 hz.

Wolf, the SPL meter would probably work fine, just place it near the speaker so you don't have to run huge volumes. If you are really intent in this borrowing a sine/square generator should not be that tricky.

BTW, a sine generator does not do this test nearly so well as a low-distortion sine oscillator. Sine generators don't put out a perfect sine wave.

I went to a guy’s house to listen to his speakers a couple of months ago. He had some old Jensen pro speakers. When we played my Salk demo disk the first half of the songs sounded a lot like a live concert. There was little image, boomy bass and a live music sound. The sound was arguably better than my Salks. When we played the last half of the disk the sound just fell apart. The first half was mostly amplified music that sounded a lot like the amps used on a stage. The second half was mostly natural music that could be listened to with little amplification. You can imagine what would happen if you put a live symphony orchestra on stage amps. LOL

Bob