The reason I brought up musicians, Bill, was solely to illustrate the point that
the "goal of audio" can have different meanings to different
people. Obtaining a "life-like" presentation may be one that is
quite exciting to many of us, but not necessarily to everyone. Folks get
enjoyment from this stuff at all different levels, and to elevate one above all
the rest seems a bit silly to me. I do like a life-like presentation as well. I've
heard it done on different levels, but have not had the experience you've
described where the whole thing comes together in all ways to yield a "
live" music experience. The conflicting factions I've experienced seem
to be that either the music has tremendous impact, dynamics, and detail, yet
lacks the delicacy, dimension and airiness that I somehow associate with
'presence'...or, it has the latter in spades, as in the case of the SET/horn
systems I've enjoyed the most, yet lacks the chest-pounding impact of more
powerful systems. That's perhaps a simplistic observation on my part, but it
may help to understand where I'm coming from. Yes, in both cases, I can
close my eyes and Louis would seem to be there in front of me, but in neither
case is the illusion complete. Ultimately, the more powerful solutions have
always occured to me as an amplified version (I am more conscious of the
intervening technology), while the solutions I prefer are more convincing to
me, yet still do not convey the 'impact' of live music somehow, yet render the
parts of the equation I am most fond of.
Marco