How do you get the "real" feel of music?

Always start by getting the most out of the system you have. When you can afford to upgrade components, then you still want to get the most out of them.

For the most part, I believe that "grunge" and noise are additive. It comes from all parts of the signal chain, starting of course with the components of the recording system (some recordings are much cleaner, more dynamic and musical than others) continuing with your source, cables, power, electronics, speakers and room. Faults, flaws and especially non-linearities, along the way add "grunge" which obscures the otherwise dark and spatious background into which musical notes decay.

My point is this: improvements can be made even with imperfect equipment. You may be able to make significant improvements in percieved dynamics by removing some of that "grunge."

There have been some good suggestions in this thread regarding room issues and speaker placement. Another very import potential improvement is in the area of vibration control. The idea is to prevent vibration from your speakers from getting into your room through the floor or wall shelf, etc. Keeping the floors and walls from vibrating can yield impressive gains in the depth, dynamics and "PRAT" of the music. So experiment with some stans, or other concepts for speaker vibration isolation. More refined improvements can be made be keeping that vibration away from your components, even cables. So give it a try, and see what you can do for free.

Charlie

PS: BTW, when it comes to vibration of components, there was a great design for component stands contributed in a different thread ("Here's How I Make My Equipment Racks") by Caterham1700 *Thankyou Caterham1700* which you might try.

Play an instrument! Or sing! Really.

Go to the Dynavector website and look up Super Stereo. It explains why the most expensive stereo equipment still does not have the real "feel" of music. It also shows why audiophiles are forever pouring more money into their systems, but still not being satisfied with what they hear. Stereo equipment has come close to technical perfection. Unfortunately stereo companies have totally missed the point concerning what makes music realistic and satisfying. The great thing about this concept is that inexpensive speakers can produce results as good as larger more expensive ones.

there is a simple answer to your question.

the reason it's not like a live concert is because the stereo you have can not evoke the emotionality of the live performance. there is only one type of amplifier that can do this and that is a set.

I'm usually passive, but this time I must say something, sounds like you just want a real sounding system, and your getting the run-around from these audio_amateurs, and I like to help. Today's audio world gets 98% of the audio signal accurately, what is missing in the best systems is a realistic dynamic range and presence (ammount of energy in every frequency) the rest has been solved, like resolving power, timbre, sommothness while having enough detail, even most off the speed is there. In fact the industry hit a brick wall about 10 years ago, and the only thing that has improved is speaker quality but at a premium though!
BUT to achieve the MAGIC you seek at home, you must have some magic there to work with, that 1 or 2 magic things that bring your system together, find that magic, it might be a rare electrostatic speaker, a great open tube amp, tube pre-amp, a killer 6 foot tall dedicated power conditioner, or WIRES (I'll give you hints- without the right wire not one system will sound real, and there is almost no good wire other then MIT, HARMONIC TECH. MONSTER SIGMA, CARDAS, TARA LABS, maybe 1 or 2 more, sorry, I heard them all, and owned them all, and we are not talking about the cheap stuff here, but then there is EBAY) I have no problem hooking up a 800.00 used interconnect, to a consumer grade unit, as long as I get the desired results. Stay away from direct advice, and use your common sence. I built plenty of systems under 3 grand, that sound almost as good as my 50.000.00 reference rig that sounds 95% LIVE, and I have compared, but it took me 10 years to assemble it. All equipment is good, all high end is great, the rest is taste and SYMMETRY, and that overkill that will drive the system to the point where you want it, that magic that will break the barrier to the other side, which too me seems , very few have reached here. Is it accustics, power line, speakers, all of the above, I don't know each system is as unique as their owner, for me it was WIRES, without my wire collection, or the substitution of even 1 interconnect, robs my system of that resolving power, and the magic is gone, sounds like any other rack system, clean, but not real.
Me, I'm no one, I love music, I've been doing this all my life, I work in the industry, for probably the biggest retailer in the world, my job is simple, I set up stereo systems for the rich and famous, and make them sound REAL.
My customers worship me, and that's more satisfaction then any financial gain in this world. ENJOY THE MUSIC.