The simplest answer to the original question is: It can't be done. The impact of a live performance can't be duplicated in the home; no playback equipment is good enough to replicate it faithfully. You may get close (although, "close" means different things to different people), but I think Swampwalker and Ryder got it right.
As the OP reminds us, it's not the volume he is after, and some keep telling him that yes you need the volume. Sure, if you are talking about rock music you need a healthy volume. But the impact of what sheer volume brings to the "impact table" can't be separated from the volume (size) of the space that the music is being played, or played back, in; that's always going to be a limiting factor. How 92db FEELS from a middle of the hall seat in a concert arena is going to be very different from the way 92db feels in a listening room at home. IMO, what gives music impact is the speed of the transients, the micro dynamics, not simple loudness. I've heard plenty of stereo systems that can play at "concert levels" and that sound dead and unexciting, and simply made me run out of the room. I have heard fewer systems that at moderate volumes get a lot closer to the feeling created (for example) by a live kick drum and snare, and which as a result allow the bass playing on the music to be much more realistically in synch (groove) with the drummer, and not just a stodgy mess. That's what creates impact and excitement in playback.
As the OP reminds us, it's not the volume he is after, and some keep telling him that yes you need the volume. Sure, if you are talking about rock music you need a healthy volume. But the impact of what sheer volume brings to the "impact table" can't be separated from the volume (size) of the space that the music is being played, or played back, in; that's always going to be a limiting factor. How 92db FEELS from a middle of the hall seat in a concert arena is going to be very different from the way 92db feels in a listening room at home. IMO, what gives music impact is the speed of the transients, the micro dynamics, not simple loudness. I've heard plenty of stereo systems that can play at "concert levels" and that sound dead and unexciting, and simply made me run out of the room. I have heard fewer systems that at moderate volumes get a lot closer to the feeling created (for example) by a live kick drum and snare, and which as a result allow the bass playing on the music to be much more realistically in synch (groove) with the drummer, and not just a stodgy mess. That's what creates impact and excitement in playback.
