Sat front row at the symphony...

Hey, there's a parade.  Let's rain on it. 😒

I've sat in every possible spot for various classical concerts over the decades and, yeah, I got to say that being in the front few rows in the center two-thirds of a hall is just wonderful. To heck with missing the proper synthesis/amalgamation of tone. You feel like a part of the orchestra. Inside the machine. You feel the individual efforts. You both forgive and appreciate the minor glitches. The occasional squeak of a chair. The cough. The turning of the pages. All in Super Technorama One Zillion. True, all told the sound is better several rows back. But I never turn down a chance at being at Ground Zero. It's even fun being being on the far left or right.

the origin of the symphony's layout is the Greek amphitheater. A pretty amazing and efficient design, with the aim for the best acoustics in every seat in the house. The main difference was that it was open air. So, the front row shouldn't be worse, if it was properly built.

Congradulations on the experience. I have been fortunate enough to have season tickets to the Oregon Syphony for a decade. The “best” seats in the house for sound are typically reported as the 7th row center. I found in this symphony hall it is 8th row center left, I have had both.

The exact seats depend on the hall. But in these seats when there is a soloist… for instance, a violinist, the sound hole will be pointed roughly at these seats… and the piano top will reflect sound to this area. You are far enough back to have the sound integrate well, when appropriate but keep individual instruments easily distinguishable in great detail.

Anyway, a really great system can come very close to reproducing the sound. One of the reasons I began attending regularly was to tune my ears to real acoustical sound. It worked, and over the ten years I completing changed the direction my system evolution was going and made two major upgrades. These have been the most important and substantial of my 50+ year pursuit of the high end.

Nice!

Did you measure spl? 120 db+ I’d bet. Impressive but bad for ears over time. Nice goal to shoot for being able to achieve at home if you can afford the luxury but just don’t actually do it too often.

Luckily, home systems capable of doing well what our ears can actually tolerate are way more practical.