Great Interview-

In an attempt to educate our ears, my wife and I have been going to live events and, recently, "music bars."  We have been quite disappointed.   At the jazz clubs we've been to the musicians invariably use amps of miserable quality, even when they don't need amplification.  We were recently at a pop-up sound bar on a 2-week gig from Japan.  That was laughing bad.  They played vintage 45's on a refurbished juke box.  The DJ assured my that they replaced the needle.

A local upscale restaurant outfitted a basement lounge with a nice Cayin amp, a turntable and - vintage Cerwin Vega's. At the sweet spot,, one was toed in to point directly at me while the other was pointed at the wall 10 feet to my right.  They had a total of five albums to choose from, not counting the Christmas albums.

I guess that if you want it done right you have to do it yourself.  We belong to a club in Chicago (the University Club) that has live music in a cozy bar lounge on Thursdays and Fridays.  We've decided to recommend that they outfit the bar with a decent streaming system for other nights.  I'm certainly no professional but I'm sure I could do a good job for modest $.

I love Joe Bonamassa's recordings,  especially those where he plays with Beth Hart. When he had a live performance near me,  I bought tickets and went to see him.  Boy, was I disappointed!! All of the instruments were over amplified well past the point of distortion,  and the acoustics were abominable. Lyrics were completely garbled. Luckily,  I  had brought a pair of ear plugs and ended up using them or I would have suffered hearing damage.  I  was with three other people and all felt the same.

As to appreciating audiophile level equipment,  how many people actually put on a recording,  and then sit down and listen to it? In my experience,  not many.  Most simply use music as background.  If one is going to put on music and then go do dishes in the kitchen, or dust the house,  an audiophile system is pretty much a waste.  If that's how you listen to music (and there's nothing wrong about that if that's your style) then an entry level system from Best Buy is perfectly sufficient. In short,  this is a rather esoteric hobby that just doesn't interest most people, and that's okay! When I start holding forth about sound stage,  imaging,  tight bass, and room reflections,  most of my friends eyes begin to glaze over and I just shut up. 

I had a recording studio where I recorded bands in the Portland, OR area for about 10 years. I got to know a lot of musicians. Many if not most of them wanted to hear my big reference system but not a single one of them said, "Wow, how could I set up a nice system like that?" They thought it sounded good but it just didn't seem to register as something they were interested in owning. However, they really appreciated when I would introduce them to older music that was an obvious influence on what they were playing. The two best blues/rock guitar players I ever recorded had never listened to the Allman Brothers. Another excellent guitar player was clearly influenced by Joe Walsh but it turns out he had never listend to Walsh. I wish I could tell you that was unusual but it happened over and over again. But I digress.

An additional +1 @hilde45 . I've been to exactly one concert that sounded better than my stereo system. Grateful Dead at Missoula in the mid 70's. Crystal clear and not punishingly loud. Otherwise, a well recorded album sounds light years better than any live music event I have been to. And yes, I've been to several classical concerts. Maybe I just had bad seats or whatever but a well recorded classical album (either vinyl or digital) played through my system has much better fidelity to my ears. Blasphemy, I know.

I have always thought that Harry Pearson was right in looking for the absolute sound not in amplified sound from electronics but from the "sound of actual acoustic instruments playing in a real space." 

@kmcong The only time I fire up my music rig is if I’m going to sit and listen to music. Having music in the background is distracting because I’ll find myself stopped and listening to it. When the last road band I was in broke up and I got a job in a retail store playing Muzak, that was a problem. 😳
 

Agreed, tho, that I can’t imagine why every musician isn’t a lover of great sound  For most musicians I think budget is a factor  I’ve sat any number of musicians in front of my rig and their jaws drop  But none have pursued a system of their own  One noted jazz pianist says she spends so much time hearing and playing live music she’s not really interested in playback at home  She listens to recording mixes on her computer and wonders why I waste $$ on stereo gear.

In terms of what I’m looking for in playback, I’d say I want it to sound Real  If it’s a close-mic studio recording I like the impact of the final mastered mix; like the mix station is my AV room. If it’s recorded in a live space, I want to be in that space with the band/orchestra  Or put another way, either they are in my room or I’m in theirs  A great recording on a great sounding rig - It can happen…