Sat front row at the symphony...

Back in 1982 Richmond Colosseum, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. is incorrect the summer home for the CSO is Ravinia Festival in Highland Park Il, Glad you enjoyed the show they were probably in town for a few shows back then, But my cousin was the front of house sound tech for them there from 1976 thru 1988 then down at Symphony Center in Chicago,  Ravinia has a  wood dance floor stage with seating under a roofed pavilion which extends out to outdoor lawn seating with delay speakers placed all over the lawn. as i worked for them from 1976 thru 1999 while my father was the technical Director for the venue.

The following link gives the whole history of Ravinia Festival and the CSO's

history there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravinia_Festival

We are all kidding ourselves if we actually believe our systems even come close, no way....it's like comparing your hand to, well you know....😜

The best position in the hall for any ensemble is the conductor on the podium, front stage center.  That is, for maximum detail which is the basis of tone and other characteristics of music.  As an experienced performer in orchestra, chamber groups, I know the facts.  Next best is the 1st row center.  By the 2nd row, there is already significant loss of high freq detail.  Remember that microphones are very close, so an accurate audio system will approximate the close sound of the mikes.  More distant seats further away than the 2nd row will give more spatiality, of course, but at the big sacrifice of vocal/instrumental detail, esp HF rolloff.

There was an ignorant early 80's review of great concert halls in TAS.  #1 was the Musikverein in Vienna.  The author said that any seat in that hall was great.  Well, I went to Vienna shortly after.  I sat in the 25th row--utter garbage reverberant mud.  The 12th row was much better, but nothing like the 3rd row.  

Get a good, natural recording of a piece you want to hear at a concert hall.  Go to a student concert where there will be plenty of open seats so you can try different distances.  Then go home and listen to your audio system which is hopefully accurate, and devoid of euphonic electronics and sources.  My accurate electrostatics and components have the detail of the 1st row, although the live 1st row still has the ultimate naturalness.  By the 3rd row, the beauty of the live sound is still wonderful, but HF brilliance is already significantly gone.

It's not about the sound.  How can any equipment compete emotionally with experiencing incredibly talented, devoted musicians playing music they love as a member of a rapt audience devoting their full attention to the performance.  Listening to your audio system is not comparable, period.