You are there-they are here

I prefer they are here, in front of me, space permitting. I say this as I can never get over the fact that large scale performances can never fit into my room and I can never get that fact out of my head unless, after a while, I'm able to suspend belief and lull myself to audio nirvana. Then they are here.

All the best,
Nonoise

For Tom6897,

It is "disbelief" that you want to suspend.

Shakey

Samuel Coleridge coined the phrase "suspension of disbelief" as it related to literature. Human elements or truths were injected into fantastical tales so as to make them believable. The same goes for movies like "The Matrix".

I don't see that as the same thing in audio since we are starting with the premise that what we are hearing is close the real thing, or as close as we're going to get, and we then use our minds to cement it into reality. We believe that what we are looking at and listening to is a well intentioned artifice and it is that belief we reject (suspend) in order to believe the illusion of actually being there or that they are here.

I think. :-)

All the best,
Nonoise

That we know it is an artifice is, itself, a disbelief (of its reality). That is what is suspended.

"They are here" only applies if the recording was done in a room very similar to yours. I prefer a room/system interface that is neutral enough to let the actual recorded soundspace come through. Should be able to accurately portray opera house,stadium,small club,etc,etc. Even multi-tracked pop or rock mixes should present accurately. So in short, I prefer "you are there"