What are the specs of a full range speaker?

Muralman1, I can't dispute what you've heard. Certainly I've not duplicated your experience. FWIW, and not a real comparison, but I'm sure you've heard a stereo system playing 'upstairs'. For those of us who have lived in flats or apartments/condo's etc, that would be common. Well when I lived in a flat in SF the upstairs unit had a grand piano - it never, ever, sounded like a stereo system. Especially transmitted thru the floor above. You knew what it was instantly - there is a whole lot of 'vibrations' going on with a live piano at all frequencies that just seem to elude (most?) audio systems abilities to reproduce with the same degree of dynamics as a live piano.
BTW I assume you meant by 'in the distance' that the sound seemed a bit compressed as compared to 'live' and that certainly would be one of my points of comparison. :-)

My best friend just finished a feature film, and he was present when the Seattle Symphony recorded the score. In the church where they recorded, the composer and sound engineers set up a playback system identical to the one in the studio (which I heard on a recent trip to LA), so they could hear the recording immediately after each piece was played. Back and forth they went, live symphony to recorded symphony, for nearly a week. Very quickly, he said, the difference between live and recorded was so dramatic that the two sounded completely unrelated to one another, irrespective of whether they listened to the playback via the speakers or headphones. Didn't matter. Go to a studio and listen to the musicians play, and then listen to the recording. They are completely different events, always. Even the person at the helm has a huge effect on the resulting sound, so much so that we can recognize a recording produced by Daniel Lanois, or Butch Vig, for example. We might convince ourselves that a recording sounds 'so realistic', but it isn't. Never will be. A piano strike does not sound the same once passed through microphone, cord, processors, compression, gating, mixing, mastering, and the various components and cables that are assembled by nothing more than a personal preference. And we haven't even begun to consider the effects of comparing the recording space to the room where our system resides! Live and recorded, they are not even close to being the same, no matter how many times we attempt to convince ourselves that they are.

Newbee, In the distance was all any amp could do in the 80s. The point is, the instant visualization was for a person playing a grand, although at some distance.

I hear you on the, "Lot of 'vibrations' going on with a live piano." That is the magic I am finding with the amps, preamps, and front end I am using. The sympathetic second, third an on harmonics, reverberations from the piano's surfaces, and nearby walls all add to the realness factor.

A next door neighbor asked me if I had a piano in the house, or could it be my stereo. I just answered yes.

Are you in the Bay area now?

Hi Boa, how are you doing? You have a phone message.

There are no two piano makes that sound the same either. I have no idea what transposes in the studio, when I listen to a cut. There are recordings that are pretty darn good. I just have to be fooled, as you say, to feel sublimely satisfied.

I have one particular Royer ribbon microphone disc that, for sake of fidelity, does their best to minimize all the crap you list above.

I'm now in the process of trying new front ends. I hope you can find a bit of time to critique.

I just have to be fooled, as you say, to feel sublimely satisfied.

I ought be the first person to offer miles of leeway (sp?) for that one. I like to say that if our perspectives are delusional, why shouldn't they at least be fulfilling? Unfortunately, I'm not always so good at keeping the cynicism at bay.

Thanks for the invite. We're in pretty heavy with our business stuff, but I may have time later in the week.