Sounds better at home

Unfortunately, most so-called "sound guys", particularly at rock or country events, but also jazz and even classical, have absolutely no clue what they are doing, especially if the music in question is electronically produced. Most of it is ridiculously over-miked and then mixed terribly, and played at ear-splitting volumes, so that it has absolutely no resemblance to what any self-respecting audiophile would call good sound. As blindjim says, many people, especially young people, now think that this is what music is supposed to sound like. I don't want to get started on this, I have ranted about that here before.

That said, however, it is also true that your home audio system should never be your reference point. Though it may sound better than the crap you hear at many live events, it will never capture the magic of live unamplified acoustic instruments in a really good space such as a great concert hall or jazz club. You will hear and enjoy so much more of the music than you can on your home system, I don't care how good it is.

I can ask a colleague from Pittsburgh if there are any good jazz clubs (sound-wise, I mean), if you want, but in the meantime, if you are at all a fan of classical music, you have one of the finest orchestras in the country right now in the Pittsburgh Symphony. I urge you to go check them out. I haven't heard their hall, so I can't comment on its acoustics, but I could ask my colleague about that as well.

It is a matter of acoustics and loudspeakers placement, why most of them lose the sound quality

Actually, singleendedsingle, it is more a matter of "sound engineers" ruining the natural acoustics with their mikes and mixing boards and loudspeaker placement. This even happens in very good concert halls, where pops concerts are almost always unnecessarily and very badly miked. It's never an improvement (assuming a good room, of course), and its downright criminal sometimes.

Learsfool, could you give an example of how you would mic a piano trio (piano, bass, drums)? What would be your preferred mics, how many would you use and approximately where would you try to place them? You've stated that sound engineers don't have a clue, so here's your opportunity to give them a clue.

Onhwy61, assuming you are serious, there is obviously no single answer to this question. It would depend very heavily on the location, and the acoustics of the space, and the type of music being performed. No good recording engineer ever sets up anything the same way every time - there are far too many variables. As for preferred equipment, again it depends on the type of sound wanted on the recording, or at the live event. I of course did not mean to imply that all recording/sound guys were bad - there are many great ones out there, all with different priorities and preferences. That said, you would be very surprised at how many that do this type of thing for live events have no real musical ears or priorities - they just set it up to be as loud as possible, assuming that this is what the audience wants. It is very rare and refreshing nowadays to find a good jazz venue, for instance, that is not over-miked, even when the musicians themselves complain, as we often do.