You are there-they are here

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"

You say potato,....... I say spud:>}

If you have an accurate system working properly everything you hear sounds a little, or a lot, dissimilar relative to soundstaging. Acoustic pianos ALL sound different, engineers can make drummers sound properly in a nice area or 67 feet wide (did he have his girlfriend play that tom fill on que from a restroom stall?), orchestras might as well be on different planets, etc. I try not to care too much and enjoy the fidelity and the musical ideas with some people right in front of me, surrounding me, stuck to the walls, or in a mono mix piled on top of each other...it can all be good, but it's all different.