Is "live" music sound possible for under $1K

If you reform your idea toward headphones than for $1,000 you can achieve something not acheivable even with 10x spendings for speakers and amps.

Here is the simple system:
-->>>AKG K501 $250 new
-->>>Headroom Supreme $449 new
-->>>Cambridge D500 demo $300
-->>>interconnects extra but not over $20(sorry for overbudget!)

Take a look at my setup that I put together for under $1k. It incorporates some of the comments above...

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vdone&1052281924&read&3&4&

Yes! Buy season tickets to your local favorites.

Season tickets are out of question.
The best thing is to send your son/daughter to play an instrument or sing!:-)

Thanks Timwat, Justin and all--I really appreciate your suggestions--even the ones pointing me to season tickets-very clever.

I had to start somewhere--I guess what seemed possible intuitively with my limited knowledge has been clarified. I had not considered the Maggie's. Thanks.

If I persist in obtaining a tube preamp such as a used bottlehead foreplay or a model by YS Audio ($200-400), can I achieve relatively good sound with an older Forte or Sumo amp($400-500)? Are there any cautions with this type of matching or am I totally clueless. I realize I have to broaden my parameters somewhat to $1200. Thanks in advance for your helpful and generous comments.