When did you ever hear a system sound so life-like


I am sure this has happened to so many of us, entering a room where the music sounds so damn close to live to discover it is an audio system.
What were the speakers and source?
If it's your own system mention the purchase that made the difference.
pedrillo
Well, this one time, I went to a bike shop in NJ where they had a NAD 3020 integrated amp playing into some Infinity 2-way bookshelf speakers (Model 2002 maybe; 8" woofer). The window was open and outside the shop it sounded like someone was playing a trumpet inside, but it was only the stereo system cranked up.

I'm pretty sure I have better gear than that now, but it just serves to show you how little it actually takes to fool the ear...
This is the effect I got everytime I played music through my former quad esl-63's driven by a vtl-85 tube amp.
I had been frequenting Keith Yate's brick audio show room for several weeks.
Each week Keith had one set of speakers in the large audition room. I had
heard a number of the best speakers of the day over my visits.

One day, when I entered, Keith wasn't there with his customary glass of red
wine. That turned out not to be the only thing out of the ordinary. This day, I
heard real music. Someone was playing a piano nearby. There was no
mistaking the sound with any hi-fi I had ever listened to.

Set on angle, some twelve feet apart, were two blonde cloth panels looking
like anything but a speaker. I walked up to one on perchance it was a
speaker. The piano concert sounded somewhere in the distance. I walked
behind, and the sound didn't change. No matter where I was in the room, I
heard the piano, always some distance away.

There was an open door. I went there, expecting to see Keith listening to a
piano recital in an adjoining room, but no. The sound went away.

Walking back into the sound room, I chanced upon Keith's prized Goldmund
turntable. It was spinning a record. I suddenly felt faint, realizing those
panels were indeed speakers. By some magical spell, they produced not a
sound, but a performance that remained real sounding from any listening
point.

Later I learned the speakers were Apogee Scintillas. I fell in love.
one time I walked by a house with the front door open and heard a violin that was so rich, vibrant and dynamic I could not believe it. Who knew a violin got so loud? Of course it was a real violin and I learned a big lesson, no stereo is even close to the real thing.

Yes I knew that before but not to this degree...

HUGE difference!