I once had the experience of hearing a modestly skilled sax player perform in my listening room, standing between my pair of Sound Lab 845PX speakers. Now THAT was a real lesson in comparing live sound to reproduced sound in my system. I was actually quite pleased with the degree to which my system could sound "live" next to the real thing. But single instruments in free space are easiest to replicate. I don't pretend my system could do as well with a full orchestra, if that was possible to demo in my listening space. One thing that always strikes me when I get to hear musicians live and unamplified is the dynamics. Live music is first of all more dynamic than most of us can achieve at home, or at least that is the biggest challenge to replicate. All that audiophile stuff about imaging and depth is nice to think about, and establishing those two senses is a worthy goal in stereo, but in real life one cannot always place the musicians in space with eyes closed, either side to side or front to back. What one can sense is the startling undistorted SPLs effortlessly achieved by live musicians.
With all due respect to fans of TOP (I am not one), I am thinking that a casino PA system is not likely to enchant me. But for all I know, the named venue is set up like a real concert hall.
With all due respect to fans of TOP (I am not one), I am thinking that a casino PA system is not likely to enchant me. But for all I know, the named venue is set up like a real concert hall.