How close to the real thing?

I'll go out on a limb and say I think my system is up to the task about as well as anything I have heard in a home system.

Anybody have a grand piano I can borrow to check for sure?

I feel about as good about it as I can having heard a lot of pianos over the years but not actually owning one currently to compare.

"Also, have you used a sound meter at a given distance to see if you're playing the recording at a similar volume? If you haven't you'd be shocked at how loud a live piano is." IrvRobinson

"Agreed - very few home audio speakers can do a grand piano realistically. This is a very loud and dynamic instrument. Ditto a drum set, trumpet or trombone. Most non-musicians have no idea how loud these things go." Shadorne

From 90+ percent of the systems I've heard, higher volumes, (read real-world sound pressure levels) prove more challenging than reproducing the dynamics and timbre of most instruments, and certainly symphonic scale performance. Piano, cello, dulcimer and mandolin are stand-out exceptions, in part, I believe, due to the complexity of their harmonics.

What's an audiophile to do?

Go to more live performances, play an instrument and accept the challenge, and the present-moment fact, that reproduced music is just that. Nothing more, but also nothing less. Being satisfied with the options we have is the road to [audio] nirvana.

Peter, I had to tweak you with a percentage.

David

I think quite a bit has been accomplished here... By sharing experiences, each of us has put that together and at least have a much better idea of what it takes to come closest to reproduce live as closely as possible.
I have come to believe that only recordings done in a venue of a small scale can be reproduced fairly faithfully in most homes, unless you have a very large room I have come to believe that it takes a reasonable amount of cone area to come close to faithfully reproducing some instruments, as mentioned above, large piano and drums. I believe that the recording is critical in reproduction.
I disagree with a few statements, I've been around alot of live productions and I've have heard recorded piano that came very close to live... We were using alot of cone area (Legacy Focus), Big tube amps, etc, etc. But in general, I feel like if we all put together our experiences that this has been a beneficial thread and I have enjoyed and appreciated hearing from everyone. Good Listening, Tim

Comparing sound pressure from a live instrument in your room,at home,is not accurate for this comparison.Sure these instruments have a lot of volume,but when you listen to them live,figure the room volume of the building,and compare it to your listening room volume.The volume difference is huge.Who would want the actual drums in your home?The smart drummers use headphones,when performing.A lot of the other musicians wear ear plugs too.My neighbors Baby Grand gets to loud,in an(approx),40x25x12ft high room.A violin gets extremely loud.These live instruments do cause hearing damage.At home,we can control this.Another plus, for listening at home.Correct what you can,that's wrong with your system. Anything that draws attention to itself, especially anything offensive.The weak link I mostly find now is,the quality of the recording,not the system.After you've done corrections,get some good recordings,sit back and enjoy.

I agree cone area in addition to overall driver quality and build, optimal power delivery, and ability to pressurize air as a result is key to getting dynamics out of a playback system that can compete with the original instrument(s) in a similar room configuration.

This is one of the reasons I am a big fan of Walsh drivers. Drivers applied using the Walsh principles where sound is emitted from the rear of teh cone omnidirectionally benefit from effective application of available driver surface area, and the omnidirectional aspect results is a sound dispersion pattern more like that of a real, un-amplified, acoustic instrument. To get similar results with conventional driver technology generally require much larger designs and drivers that bump up the cost to deliver substantially.