At This Time Can We Recreate Full Range Live Music In The Home?


I read on this web site some members claim they go to the symphony orchestra and are "convinced" their system reproduces the experience. I agree with vocals, light percussion, acoustic music, light jazz, the best systems come very close. My experience comes from being a semi professional drummer for 40+ years. I currently have acoustic and electronic drums in my home. I play in a huge open space with 20 foot cathedral ceilings. I think I can state that I know what live drums sound like. Can even the six figure systems reproduce the attack and decay of a 20 inch crash cymbal? I say "maybe" in the future but not now! What makes me laugh is we audiophiles myself included will spend many, many thousands of dollars trying to reproduce the sound of a $20 triangle or a $15 woodblock or a $10 shaker. Play the song Aja by Steely Dan. I can play on my system the drum solo by the great Steve Gadd at realistic volume levels-if you dare -but it is not the same as real drums!! I don’t know if I can’t convince people that are not musicians. Not putting non-musicians down. Quoting my dad, "You don’t have to be a horse to be a horse doctor." Another quote by John Lennon. Someone asked him what he was listening to. He responded, "Dripping water."  It would be interesting to know how many of the greatest producers/engineers are or are not musicians or vocalists.
Some statistics: Soft drums 105dB, hard drums up to 130dB, kick drum/timpani 106-111dB, ride cymbal 101dB, toms 110dB, ride bell 115dB, crash 113dB, snare 120dB, rimshot 125dB. I have a system that could produce 125dB, would I -NO WAY I value my #1 instrument -my ears. So the drums are playing at 125dB peaks, now add in the other 80+ members of the symphony orchestra-how loud now? I ask again, can we at this time reproduce accurately the power of a symphony orchestra in the home? For many of us this is the Holy Grail of being an audiophile - Keep Searching!
wweiss
@mglik , Studio recording is a crap shoot. Artists like Kate Bush use it as art. Others have no idea what they are doing. Painfully few studio recordings make me feel like I am at a live event. This does not mean they are not enjoyable. It is just a different experience like Herbie Hancock's Sextant. I prefer recordings where all the musicians are playing together and not spliced in here and there. I find the discontinuities bothersome. 

JBL-4345, it is not just about volume. It is very easy to make a system that goes loud. It is much more difficult to make a system that presents the music as an array of individual instruments and voices in space, each with its own special characteristics. 
jwillox, what you have to get is the first three Mahavishnu Orchestra Records, The Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire and Visions of the Emerald Beyond as well as Billy's first solo album, Spectrum. These predate Warning by at least a decade when Billy was young and explosive. The George Duke, Billy Cobham Band Live in Europe is another good one.
Hire the damn band, and the 'recreation' is easy.

Until then, and always....all one can accomplish is 'an illusion of...'

Just looked over this:

https://www.openculture.com/2021/05/one-mans-quest-to-build-the-best-stereo-system-in-the-world.html...

...and it's Still creating 'an illusion'....likely a damn fine one, but still 'unreal'.  Lots of objects and tech between the source and the space listened within.

Much like 24 fps in film, even a digital video is not reality.  The same can be said for an LP, tape, CD, or streaming.

Even as close as you think you're getting, it's an illusion.

And we can ignore for the moment those that claim the actual Reality is an illusion, since what you see is really not what it really IS.

That just drives one off for another drink...as long as you ignore that illusion, and what it does to you. ;)

Enjoy it anyway, J *LOL*