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Do we ask too much of our audio systems?

In high school, I taught myself to play guitar and later started playing in rock bands for about 10 years. I used a low powered mono tube record player in my bedroom to study Clapton, BB  King, Page, Hendrix, Beck and all guitar heros of the time and learn how to play. In those years, I never bothered to upgrade my system, mostly because nothing seemed to be able to replay what I experienced playing live in a band, with a Les Paul in hand and a screaming tube guitar amp. As the years went by I built half dozen speakers and had a decent Pioneer front end, using a Philips TT. My system sounded better, but never equalled the emotion and involvement of playing live. So, I guess I grew into Audiophilia thinking nothing is as good as live music. Now I have heard some very good systems and speakers, but still wonder..."am I chasing something un-attainable?" Do we ask too much from our audio systems?
dtapo
hilde45's avatar
hilde45
5,005 posts
 
For a long time, people thought that it was central to the purpose of paintings that they to capture reality. But painting moved past that. It is interesting that audio is still questing after the kind of realism which painting realized it didn’t need. Maybe audio doesn’t need it either. 
roxy54's avatar
roxy54
8,040 posts
 
I’m pretty much satisfied as long as it sounds fairly organic and lifelike, and the system itself doesn’t distract me from the music. I no longer think in terms of "perfection", because I don’t believe in that concept.
jond's avatar
jond
5,874 posts
 
A live performance in my room would be too damned loud! I'll take warm rich natural sound that I can connect with and that's what I have. Works for me, no grails here holy or otherwise.
edcyn
1,876 posts
 
A skilled, hands-off audio recreation of an actual event is indeed nirvana.  But you can also find nirvana  in recordings rendered by skilled knob-twisters working with inspired musicians & composers guided by visionary, golden-eared producers.  For example, my Rhino Records vinyl reissue of classic Roy Orbison recordings is sometimes startling in its beauty.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,868 posts
 
Agreed @edcyn! Recordings can be magnificent on their own terms. In addition to the Monument recordings of Orbison, the Barnaby and Warner Brothers’ recordings of The Everly Brothers are sublime (the Rhino LP’s are very good, the UK Ace LP’s even better). The Classic Records LP pressing of the 1950’s RCA recordings of Elvis are startling in their "in-the-room" immediacy and presence, of his voice and the instrumental accompaniment. When those recordings were made (late-50’s/early-60’s), electronic manipulation was relatively minimal. Those recordings played back on a quality hi-fi create sound far superior to that heard at most live Rock ’n’ Roll shows.
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