How do you get the "real" feel of music?


There is a certain "real" feeling that I get when I go to a live concert. It's more of "feeling" the music instead of "hearing" it. That feeling, I think, comes from percussion instruments. I'd like to get that feel in my home stereo but it's not there. In my home, snare drums don't pop, I don't feel the bass drum in my chest, and rim shots don't exist. Is there a way to get that presence in a small system?

I'm not rich, and I don't want to hear, "Scrap all your sorry equipment and get a Krell, Bryston and HSU..." so with that in mind, I've got a 12x16 room with:

Sony DVP-NS500 DVD
JVC HR-S5900 VCR
Harman Kardon AVR80 II as a pre-amp
Parasound HCA-1205 power amp

I have used
Definitive Technologies BP-6
Polk Audio R40, CS-175, and PSW-250
Bose Accoustimass 5
Bose R-41

Is there any hope?
beetle63
Zaike, I respect your opinion greatly and I grant you, that Sasha's post can be read and interpreted exactly as you indeed did, but I preferred to concentrate on the points he stressed to listen for, which possibly, as you stated, is "stock stuff", which however I find rarely mentioned here with the emphasis I feel they should have. I rather doubt, that many people realise, that their systems, good as they may be, simply cannot faithfully reproduce the dynamics within the entire musical spectrum of a given piece of music and I agree with Sasha, that only if you get that more or less right, apart from the other things he mentions, your rig will begin to sound musical in the sense of live music played in a real space. Not identical to, of course, but coming closer......
I did also wonder about Sasha's choice of wires, although I would agree with him, that cables are important to get your system to sing. It is probably also "stock stuff" that there are some people around, steeped in the experience of live music, who are able to set up a 5k system and make it sound better that stereos 20 times its cost. I've heard that happen more than once and I don't doubt, that you would agree with me in that point as well. So I wonder, what really irked you and tickled your sarcasm. Sasha's narcissism? His pride in his customer's "love"? Come on, Zaike, these pages are full of that sort of thing in one way or another. His point, that apart from speaker design, there has not been a real breakthrough in electronic design? Whatever, although I do see your argument, I still wonder, what was it that got your back up and I still contend, that Sasha's points are well made and although stock stuff indeed, they should be mentioned again and again, because they are so important. What I still find beautiful in his post is his obvious love for music, so I forgave him that little bit of selflove, because sometimes I'm tempted to think, that music lovers are a rare breed amongst audiophiles.....
Cheers,
Actually Detlof, I had to get halfway through your congratulatory post about Sasha's commentary before I realized it wasn't going to end up being sarcastic! :-) (And yes, I'll grant that anybody can screw up a $50K system as easily as a $3K system - maybe more.)

Anyway, no secrets here: I thought many of the other posts above were more perceptive - *and* more directly addressing of the question - than Sasha's. There was no need to come in with that deus-ex-machina attitude, and then contribute nothing beyond some worn-out warhorses and a passel of unsupportable claims. For the put-down, at least give us something more perceptive than "WIRES"!

Even so, there was one thing he said which I will fully get behind - "Stay away from direct advice, and use your common sense" (to which I'll add, 'And your ears'). He could have been addressing this to Rosypup or a few others, and I couldn't agree more. In one form or another, this is basically what I've been saying around here for two years.

[And just for the record - once more - I've never equated audiophilism with being a truer music-lover. Some are, a heck of a lot aren't. Sasha may be a better audiophile than me, but who's to say when it comes to caring about music...for any of us?]
Thanks Zaikesman for again stating your points. I now understand better and I do agree with your statement about S's deus ex machina attitude. That was indeed uncalled for. For the rest I still beg to differ somewhat, for the simple reason that those "wornout warhorses", which indeed they are for the cognoscenti, still belong to the category of unknown species to many students of our hobby. By the way, what do you think makes for a "good" audiophile and where would you put the emphasis? Technical savvy? Golden ears? An inventive, experimentative attitude?
"Melomanie"? An open mind, ready to learn? Probably all of it and then some....Cheers,