Sat front row at the symphony...

My understanding of symphony halls is that the conductor needs to visually communicate with the orchestra, and this is the primary reason why the podium is positioned where it is on the stage. Sound at the podium is secondary, although important, and possibly, the best sounding position. Halls are acoustically designed, for the audience’s enjoyment. This has been my understanding throughout all my years in the music business, and I am not to disagree with anyone. All interesting and welcoming comments above. Enjoy......My best, MrD.

terraplane8bob,

Another point to consider.  Trumpets project the most of all the brass.  They project in a very directional manner, maximum straight to the audience.  The conductor may be off axis and may not get the full beamy energy of the trumpet.  That's the reason the podium could be softer than the direct beam to a significant audience distance.  It is the loudest instrument, esp in the upper midrange 3-4 kHz where the human ear is most sensitive.  When I heard the trumpet beaming to me at midhall center, it was loud and brilliant.  But softer instruments like strings and woodwinds are lost in midhall compared to the stage or 1st row.  Even the other brass instruments are way softer than the trumpet--the trombone projects at a lower angle than the trumpet, the French horn projects behind to the floor, and the tuba vertically.  All these softer instruments get diffused away the more distance their sound has to travel.  But the trumpet is like a directional megaphone.

My Audiostatic 240 electrostatic panel is straight and highly directional.  Heard straight on axis, it transmits the purest sound that way, without HF rolloff.  I don't mind keeping my head aligned straight, to get the beamed sound from the left and right with full toe-in.  All other electrostatics have curved panels, and give flawed off axis sound in a multitude of directions, with resultant time smearing.  This is what happens with all distant seats in the hall.  Only the trumpet survives the distance-induced time smearing.

What was most interesting to me was the Shostakovich 10th.  There were some sections in that piece that were so loud, that it was like I turned up my system as loud as it could go.  I had no idea that an orchestra could play that loud.  I guess the term I am looking for is dynamics.  It can also play extremely soft and quiet.  This is what makes listening to an orchestra live so captivating, IMHO.

Dynamics, both micro and macro, are truly an important and major characteristic of music reproduction, live, and through an audio rig. I am not speaking of rock concert loud ( which can be distorted to the ears ).......As the op says, to be able to go from soft and quiet, to loud, shows more of the passion of the work, by the composer, conveyed through the conductor and the orchestra. Without it, realism is lost.....This has been my continued experience for over 50 years, and without deviating from the purpose of this thread, my tweaked and modified Lascalas, allows these characteristics to shine through, with any and all amplifiers. Captivating, for sure...and with all types of music. It is wonderful that the op experienced this, and a welcome to the Audiogon community, to share in this excitement. Bravo ! I am yet to hear an audio system, that captures what the op ( as well as myself and others ) has experienced, as the recordings themselves are a major limiting factor. Enjoy, and my best....always, MrD.

I once saw Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in New York, just before he died.  He used dynamics in his band, the only time I've ever heard a jazz ensemble play soft and loud.