Disturbing "Sonic Trend" showing up on SOTA audio

Frogman, I feel it is incumbent upon one to show up and pay up when serious music artists that have given me countless hours of joy over the years show up in town. I have heard leaders say its a joy for them to perform for audiences that are both knowledgeable and attentive .
To me not go to is something like receiving a wonderful gift and throwing it back in the givers face.
Going to hear Kings College Cambridge Choir recently after decades of hearing the Christmas broadcast of "Nine Lessons and Carols" is about as good as it gets .

I agree with shubert. You can nitpick the details case by case all you want.
If you have the right setup and a good recording what you hear at home
should sound like the real thing playing in your room though not wherever it
was recorded.

If that is not the case then there are many possible reasons. But it's totally
ridiculous to say it's because it's not possible. Time to go back to the
drawing board maybe. Or maybe reassess what it is you think live music
really sounds like and why.

I feel you are giving vintage gear a tough time. I use some vintage gear and can assure you that it has all the air, attack, timbral color, and transparency you could ask for.

The sound of unamplified music playing in appropriate venues is of unparalleled value, if for no other it clearly illustrates how far short our audio systems fall short of its reproduction. You my disagree, but if you do think and consider what aspect of a live performance you are willing to sacrifice when you listen to a recording of one in your home. Home audio succeeds best when your system replicates those things which are important to you (not necessarily others).

For example, for folks who value 'detail and imaging' at home, might like to sit in rows D through E on the main floor, center. Go to your favorite hall and sit in that seat and listen to a Mahler symphony. For detail and imaging that is probably as good as it gets. But do you really think that you can even get a small measure of the dynamics you experience in your home. I think not, even if your set up is a well matched and set up SOTA system. Now you might feel different, in degrees as least, if your seats at the symphony are in the ear bleeding section.

Now consider live performance of a solo piano, i.e. the piano. Fantastic instrument but one which sounds so different when heard in a typical concert hall, or in a recital hall specifically made for solo instruments and small groups. Much of what I said in the lst paragraph applies, but seating is not nearly so important in recital halls because the acoustic itself allows for projection of small detail more uniformly. But the dynamic range and frequency range will all but overwhelm your home audio system.

So while I value the knowledge of the experience of listening to live, unamplified, performances of jazz and classical music, and I use this knowledge in setting up a listening room, I don't feel that my goal at home is ever more than to hear sounds that remind me of what I enjoy hearing live. Remind me!

I have no issue with using 'live sound' as a standard for home audio, but when suggested that it can be, or should be a goal of the serious audiophile, to replicate this experience I disagree. It can't be done! You might come close if you make some serious concessions, but when you do that its not really 'live' is it.

Very interesting thread. I think Schubert and Frogman have the best posts. Most people simply do not listen to live, unamplified music anymore. This does NOT invalidate that as the best standard, however, for the reasons they state.

IMO, the most distorted view is that of the bass. Many audiophiles demand what is a very overpowering bass compared to what live, un-amplified bass actually sounds like. This is because they are used to hearing cranked up, electronically produced, un-natural sounding bass, both at rock concerts and in their audio systems. This is quite easily proven at any audio show, which I have done several times, to the chagrin of someone pushing a subwoofer.....but I digress.

@Tgrisham - I would agree with most of what you said, with one huge exception. In this sentence - "the vast majority of music is studio recorded with the engineer's idea of what it should sound like live in person.", I would strike the last three words. Most recording engineers nowadays have absolutely no interest in having their result sound like live - they LOVE the control the dead studio gives them so they can make the music sound however they want, period, without being limited by a specific room.

@Newbee - Your last post is a good one, again with one correction. Rows D or E in a concert hall would be WAY too close to listen to an orchestra as large as that of a Mahler symphony!! A very great deal would be lost sitting that close! Even in the very best concert halls, sound travels back and also up. So the best floor seats are more like 2/3 to 3/4 of the way back - as long as they are not under the overhang of the balconies. The very best sets in the house for listening to a gigantic orchestra, however, would be center, higher up, on what is usually called a mezzanine level in many halls (not the very top level).