My system can be reviewed in the "System" part of this site under Ray's stuff, along with my in field recording equipment. Therefore, judging the concerts I attend and record, at home on this system, I would rate it an 80 percent. I would say the first 85% is not so difficult. It is the last 15% that is hard.
I can actually listen to my masters and reference it with the concert and venue sound. Now, that is the only way to actually measure how close your system is getting. Otherwise, you are referencing a sound that often times is artificial and just a simulation of reality. You know, studio and or multi mic'ed stuff.
IMO, most people would be unhappy with a real recording of a concert. What seems to satisfy people are recordings that are more than real. Extra, extra real! Kodachrome real. We tend to be satisfied with hyper real.
IMO, there are only a few good seats at any venue. The more you deviant from them the less real the sound is. Too many other variables get in the way, i.e, reflection, defraction, absorbtion, people talking, scratching, ect. Throw in a P.A. system and guess what, goodbye real timbres and soundstage.
Now, I not saying I can't be drawn into a P.A. system's sound. Yes I can. But, that is not "real" instruments in "real" space. It something else.
I attend a majority of these type of concerts and I try to balance the P.A. with the stage. When I am fortunate I get "real like" results. However, sometimes that is not the case and you get what you get.
Also, we only listen to sound at home and our brain can focus most of it's processes on the "sound". At a concert our other senses are operating which adds to our paradigm of "real". Thus, our brain is processing lots of information, therefore it maybe only using 60-70 percent on the actual sound. The rest on touch, smell and sight, ect.
I don't think we can be fully fooled into virtual reality until we can satisfy all of our senses. And, TV is a far cry from visual reality.
So, one way that I attempt understanding how close my recordings are is to shut my eyes during the concert and create a sonic finger print, file it and pull it up later when referencing my recordings at home.
Therefore, in summary I would say that many systems do more right than wrong. (As long as they are set up properly.) However, that last "real" element is still out there and I don't know if we would know or like it if we actually heard it just by its self.
