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

About 25 years back.At a dealer I heard Pacific Overtures being played on a Well Tempered turntable and tonearm with an original Benz cartridge.The electronics were all ARC and the speakers were the original B&W 801.
This was the closest to live that I have ever heard.
I've heard other Lps played in this same room with this same system and never felt the sound approached live.
So was it the recording....

The only time this has happened for me was upon first hearing a system comprised of a Shindo Garrard 301 TT, Shindo pre and Shindo monoblocks, and the larger Shindo Latours. That system nails lifelike for every type of music except for large scale, e.g., orchestral. And it is still awfully good for large scale music as well.

I've visited a lot of high end Hi-fi stores in my lifetime, and have heard very good playback systems that have come close... but ultimately no cigar awarded when compared to a live performance.

yes, a classe/Proac 4 system playing solo acoustic steel-string guitar in another room at an audio store almost fooled me, once. Its ability to reproduce the steely, ringing sound of such a guitar would not have worked so well on, say, a violin. I do not see how larger ensembles could even theoretically be reproduced realistically, as the acoustic space of the room itself is a limiting factor.

Goldeneraguy--That is an incredibly lifelike recording. One of the most realistic and convincing ones I have ever heard on my system over the years.