How much reality do you really need?

Mglik - The "more" I'm referring to has to do with the listener, not the system hardware. If you are a regular concert goer or have attended many in your lifetime, you have a larger knowledge-base at your disposal.
When you say "this sounds real", it carries more weight because you have a clearer idea of what real sounds like.

How do you know if your system sounds like the sound room where it was recorded or how it sounded live?  I think a sound system alters the sound in order to hear what sounds most pleasing to your ear.  The next step is how much are you willing to spend or how much will your spouse allow you to spend.

I think it is fun to do things in stages and to improve the sound.  This gives you something to look forward to.  Problem is, the equipment depreciates rapidly.

Many young people have no choice but to start somewhere, but they are at least starting.

What amazes me is to look at real estate listings and not see a single home with a pair of speakers in any room of their house.  For example they might have a $5,000 piece of furniture with a wide screen TV and they are listening to their TV speakers.  I would estimate 70% of viewing a movie is based on sound. People living in a $800,000 house listening to their TV speakers.  Yikes!

Reality? that's live music.

A stereo can get you only so much. If you have a nicely recorded, produced and manufactured live album, you can get a good rendition of it.

The sickness of the audiophile (which unfortunately is me) is the willingness to continue to pay more and more for less and less perceived improvement in SQ. The poorest to the wealthiest audiophiles have the same sickness, just some will pay a lot more, and get a little more.

Anytime I change anything in my system and it sounds better to me, I get a rush. That's the addictive drug of the hobby. Nothing else.

rvpiano, listening to the sound is not dysfunctional. It is what we audiophiles do. Can I listen to the sound and enjoy the music at the same time? You bet. Does the sound ever keep me from enjoying the music? Never, unless it is bad music and there is more of that than ever. I have to say that good sound lets me enjoy the music more. What I think is dysfunctional is letting frustration with the sound quality ruin your enjoyment of the music. There have been plenty of times I have been less than happy with the sound of my system but that never stopped me from listening to music. 

What the music sounded like when it was recorded is not the point. It is what it sounds like when it is played back. If you can close your eyes and imagine you at a live event you are in business. That is my definition of the absolute sound. 

Epistemology 101: the coffee table may be a figment of my imagination, or it may be a bunch of subatomic particles or even electromagnetic waves, but it sure hurts when I knock my shin against it.