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How close to the real thing?

Recently a friend of mine heard a Chopin concert in a Baptist church. I had told him that I had gone out to RMAF this year and heard some of the latest gear. His comment was that he thinks the best audio systems are only about 5% close to the real thing, especially the sound of a piano, though he admitted he hasn't heard the best of the latest equipment.

That got me thinking as I have been going to the BSO a lot this fall and comparing the sound of my system to live orchestral music. It's hard to put a hard percentage on this kind of thing, but I think the best systems capture a lot more than just 5% of the sound of live music.

What do you think? Are we making progress and how close are we?
peterayer
weseixas
519 posts
 
Live musician in my House?

Yes, my daughter plays, my friends play and teach music. A mini grand being played in your house cannot be matched by an hi-fi system, IMO not even close.

There are many errors in playback (HI-FI) reproduction, the ones with the least amount of errors tend to get the highest marks, but it is nothing like live music.
tbg
5,263 posts
 
Irvrobinson, I had a jazz band in my kitchen but the only musician playing music has been a guitarist. He liked the room and said he liked classical guitar played on my system. I asked him if it sounded real. He hesitated but said no. I fully agreed with him.
phaelon
1,052 posts
 
"A mini grand being played in your house cannot be matched by an hi-fi system, IMO not even close."

Weseixas, Isn't it amazing though; just how much a great system can fool you into thinking it can reproduce the sound of a piano, until you actually have one in the room? Then, you're right, not even close.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,389 posts
 
'Isn't it amazing though; just how much a great system can fool you into thinking it can reproduce the sound of a piano, until you actually have one in the room? Then, you're right, not even close."

I wonder if a properly miked recording played over a good pair of omni speakers would push the edge for this?

I think it might in that the sound dispersion pattern of the omnis in the room would be more like that of the piano.

BTW, does anybody with a nice piano in their house do wall treatments the way some audiphiles do to keep the room from mucking with the sound?
pubul57
3,712 posts
 
"Isn't it amazing though; just how much a great system can fool you into thinking it can reproduce the sound of a piano, until you actually have one in the room? Then, you're right, not even close." Precisely -- on all counts. What %, who knows, the thing is you know it's not a baby grand in your room (or horn, or drums, or voice....), if you could compare them in the same space. Close? Not close? I don't know, but almost always a discernable difference that you could pick "real" almost 100% of time, unlike figuring out if it is a tube or SS amp you are listening to.
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