How do you know when a stereo sounds good?

@cindyment 

Ah, OK, you said:

"I have a suite of measurements that ensures I am getting good sound, but I would need to slightly reword to "and enables me to achieve sound I enjoy"

That was my point exactly. The measurements do not define your ideal, or preference, for what "good" or "enjoyable" are, they are an objective means to adjust to get that sound, and to get it reliably.  Phrased the other way I think it says it somewhat backwards, and is interpreted by "pure subjectivists" as *only the measurements matter*. See it all the time. When in fact the opposite is true.

I spent a number of years running a metrology lab...I like measurements 😁

@mahgister 

You said:

"But now i know why my system is "good" because i had a comparison BEFORE and AFTER these embeddings controls installation WITH THE SAME GEAR...

Then thinking that our sound is "good" is not enough now for me generally speaking ... We must know why....Thinking that good gear will do is not enough...Because of  the huge impact  of electrical noise floor problem, vibrations, and acoustic..."

OK, I understand what you're saying, and I agree on the importance of maximizing the acoustic environment (although not all cohabitants may agree).  And certainly, unless you are immortal with plenty of time to kill, understanding the underlying principles is absolutely important. But I don't see that as being responsive to the OP's question, as I read it. You appear to be addressing improvement of any given system, versus whether the sound is good and enjoyable as-is, which I take to be the original question.

As you say, you had a system that sounded good to you, so I assume you enjoyed it, if you enjoy music (which I take as a given). It seems to me you are saying more that you were not *satisfied* with the system, even though it sounded good, or at some point you became dissatisfied with it, so you're enjoyment declined. But again, I would say that's a different question.

You appear to be satisfied, once again, and again love your system. I'm at that point as well - I could improve my system, without doubt, but that would come at an expense (not just money) that is higher than it's worth to me.  It's at the point now where I'm far more disappointed with quality of individual recordings than with any "fault" I find in my system performance. 

And to forestall @cindyment, yeah I could likely make many of those poor recordings sound a bit better with DSP, but dynamically squashed recordings are never going to sound wonderful - except in the car!

Enjoy the music...

This is one of my most important realization....

But it is interesting NOW to listen even bad recording because so bad they are they acoustically reveal some information and anyway they sound better in my audio controlled system...

And like you i am too much immersed in music now to bothered for costly improvement...

We know when our system is good when we make it happened by EXPERIMENTS not only by upgrading or buying gear....

It’s at the point now where I’m far more disappointed with quality of individual recordings than with any "fault" I find in my system performance.

For many years I have attended and listened to all sorts of events where live music has played. I regularly listened and danced to live Latin music.

Last night I attended a live un-miked event with live orchestra and voice. My wife asked me why they didn't use a microphones and I explained that there is nothing as authentic, natural and organic as directly from the source of the instruments, including the voice.

Recently having placed quadratic diffusers in my listening room, it sounded considerably better than before, last night however showed me more improvement is required to get closer to the truth.

I think for me, knowing when a stereo system is on point is largely based upon the closeness to the sense that there are real instruments, real singers presented in front of you.

I have the correct volume room for my speakers, getting the room to reveal what the speakers can faithfully produce, seems to be my next challenge.

Outside of measurements... it's all in your head.