How close to the real thing?

My reference is also the BSO and Symphony Hall. I have had seats 4th row center for several years, and prefer them to sitting further back. Comparing live to my Harbeths is a bit of an apples and oranges proposition, but I have some recordings that are clearly beyond 5% of live. It may sound like heresy, but sometimes recorded can be more enjoyable than live.

I have a neighbor who is a pianist and has a baby grand piano in his living room. I go over to his house from time to time to hear him play. I can tell you the sound from my audio system does not even come close to the incredible beauty of live piano sound, especialy when sitting up close. And get this, I have already spent close to $100K on my entire 2-channel/AV system, and the sound is not even close. I don't know whether the reason is due to the fact that no recording can ever capture closely the real sound, or that no audio hardware can ever reproduce the fullness and naturalness of real sound. I have an audiophile friend who is a bigger audio nut than I am. I estimate that his audio system must cost at least $500K (I'm not kidding), with 2 pairs of Wilson Audio Whamm speakers (one pair for front and one pair for surround), FM Acoustics, etc. Sad to say that I have heard his system, and again, not even close to the real thing. All in all, hard to put a percentage on it, but even the best sytem I have heard is really not even close to reproducing real live sound and the associated acoustics!

AVguy - Maybe its time to look at system synergy.

I have had professional piano players in my home when I was selling My magnepan MG3.6s and through my system with a telarc record they were able to tell the make of the piano and commented on the quality air, lifelike, definition and presentation of the music. (And I only have a measly 30k system)

My opnion on % effective = 20 to 85% depending on the source

Almost forgot; Let me continue -

I went to see Tchaikovsky on the Hudson at Avery fisher hall in NYC and when I came home and listened to my telark 1812 and closed my eyes. I was right in the concert hall. The only major difference was I herd and Felt the cannons in my home; where live it was just a 12 foot drum…..

It all comes down to system synergy and your room.

Avguy, in order to do a valid test you would have to record your friend's piano in his room, and play it back in a similar venue. Most commercial recordings are made in much larger rooms than nearly any home will have. How big is your neighbor's room with the piano in it? Unless the room is at least 20x30 feet it's like a whale in a swimming pool compared to how most recordings with a grand piano are made.

For those of you comparing reproduction of an orchestra in a home to a live concert, no contest. You can't accurately reproduce 70 or so musicians in your listening room. The proportions are all wrong. The room will overload before you'll get loud enough, and the moving areas of the speakers are too small.

I've found most people are surprised by the accuracy of recordings of instruments reproduced in similar venues, where the instruments are played at volumes appropriate for those venues, and reproduced over a very good audio system.

I agree with the previous comment made about a small jazz band (usually keyboard or upright piano, sax, small drum kit, bass, and a singer). We have a local resturant that features acoustic jazz groups that play at very reasonable levels, and my wife and I usually comment about how similar the sound is to my audio system. Sometimes I think the expectations for live music are blown out of proportion in the high-end community.