Does Your System Sound Like the Real Thing?

It is an interesting set of responses -- great reading. In a nutshell, my answer is "sometimes". The soundstage simply can't be wide enough and the overall dynamics just can't be replicated. However, it really does sound like Sara McLaughlin is there in front of me. It really does sound like a symphonic kettle drum. It really does sound like an acoustic guitar ... well, you get the idea. Is the entire symphony or band there stretched out in front of me? No. Do individual voices or instruments sound like they are there? Often, yes. Often enough, I guess ;-)

The greatest disappointment I experience with my system is following a concert, especially a classical symphonic. The action of the instruments, the delicacy of the strings and brute force of the timpanis is so distant from my system that I often wait a day or two for any serious listening. Occassionally, I have pulled out a recording of a concert I just attended, only to discover nearly everything of my system's presentation was wrong.

The closest I've heard to "live" was years ago at Peter Mcgrath's audio shop in Miami. He had a fabulous setup geared around Wilson Watt/Puppies with a Wilson sub-woofer. Not until Mr. McGrath offered up a sampling of his master recordings did the magic occur. The small combos and vocals were astonishing. Most life-like I have had the pleasure to hear.

One last thouht. I cannot recall ever feeling bass as of that experienced live.

Definitely not and I really don't believe it is possible for many of the above reasons. I am basing no on symphonic music. Rock and small scale acoustic doesn't either but it is less evident than an orchestra or even a chamber ensemble live. In addition to the obvious things, dynamics in particular, it is the harmonic detail, overtones and timbres that an audio system doesn't capture, definitely not the way live instruments do. The quality and engineering of the recording is the single biggest factor that brings it closer in my estimation, then the system itself that extracts what is there. I feel it is less important for some types of music over others but for those that think they are close, if you believe it that's all that matters :)

Reiterating my point, last night I hosted my choir party at my home, and we had a number of musical performances, vocal, piano and cello, in my living room, as well as the master tapes from our choir's spring concert we played on my system, also in that room. The tapes sounded very good, but were nowhere close to what the live music sounded like. There is a vitality and presence to a live performance that I've never heard a system match, and I'm sure a lot of it is the recording process as well as the playback system. Part of it is scale, part dynamics, part sheer loudness, but the real thing is instantly recognizable as such.

No and no.

I will say that nothing floors me more than the number of serious audiophiles who have no concept of what live music actually sounds like. The most glaring thing are the volumes and percussive dynamics of live music, which is rarely, if ever, encountered in a stereo system.