What will it take to have live music for everyone?

Yes, education on this stuf is what keeps most people out of it.
Most people never get the chance to hear true hi-fi or even mid-fi. Once they have been placed in front of a true high end system they have a new point of reference.
If you have ever tasted a great bottle of wine or driven a well built sportscar you will have a new appreciation for the possibilities.

Just like with wine though, there is an intimidation factor for the uninitiated. When either audiophiles or wine enthusiasts start talking about their passion those who are not familiar get that glazzed look in their eyes.

Because most have not had the chance to hear what they are missing they will question the cost/reward for a $5K stereo. "Does it get louder? Well my Kenwood has 550 watts which is more than your ____'s 100." Do these same people say "Wow! A $100 bottle of wine. That must get you really drunk."? No. They understand quality over quantity in that instance.

Oh well.

I've placed a couple of folks in front of my system which, is quite good, and they didn't get it, and really had no interest in trying to. You really have to know how to critically listen to both live and reproduced music to first realize what is missing in a given situation, and then to be able to hear when it is present. To most people music is a flat directionless wash used for background(unless their system referance is an explosion coming from some back wall of a home theater) and things like sound stage placement and size, instrument space, cymbal decay characteristics etc have zero meaning for them. They don't even know they are missing anything and they don't know it when it's hitting them in the ears

Hey, haven't there been a few previous posts stating that many musicians own really crappy home audio systems? Go figure?!!

A miracle. When did one last occur?

I might be off base on this, but I think a lot of getting people into hi-end audio begins with exposing them to live unamplified music at a young age. Doing so I feel essentially hardwires people's auditory memory, gives them a true reference for sound as they grow older, and instills in them a need to hear music reproduced the right way. I also feel that people who view music as a way of living (as many view food or religion) are driven (dare I say possessed) to seek out ways to get closer to the sound. And, too, let's face the fact that music does not play a primary place in the lives of most people, hence the fact that Best Buy is good enough for them.