what is good sound ?

9rw, Gee, that sounds very simple. But, unless I was actually in the recording studio during the performance how will I ever know what the performance actually sounded like before it hit the mikes?

When referring to 'he or she knows how live instruments really sound' do you mean from within 2 feet, 20 feet, or 100 feet, seated or standing, in what kind of venue?

In one's own room it would seem that the distance between you and a vocalist, for example, would not be nearly the same as in a live performance. Even in a small club you're going to be 20 to 30 feet away from a vocalist and to make the judgment more difficult everyone has a mike in their mouth now to boot. But in your home you're going to be seated, maybe 10 feet away.

In fact most every small scale recording is multi miked so the recording engineer can give equal voice to each instrument in the mix, and or spot light one instrument, or vocalist, so I'm unsure where to even find the ideal recordings to begin with.

If the recording were made at 30 feet of an unamplified vocalist or instrument, and the recording was ideal, then over a 2 channel system I would imagine that you would have a very tiny voice coming from exactly between your speakers and it would be indistinct, recessed, and unlike anything that you would hear if you were just standing 10 feet away (assuming thats a typical distance in a well set up system in a medium sized room.It certainly wouldn't sound 'live'.

FWIW, the problem I have with your statement is that it's not simple to guage accuracy by using live music as a guide. IMHO, all that does is inintentionally create a lot of insecurity in audiophiles who rely on others opinions and results in their chasing gear which they think will bring them closer to the perfect sound. As you have admitted one can't recreate live music electronically in the home, one can't come close, and if one thinks he can he's set out on a very expensive and frustrating trip to no where. Thats why I'm satisfied to just accept the goal of reproducing accurately what I think is on the recording. That is a much more obtainable goal I think.

All IMHO, of course.

there is a simple but not perfect solution as indicated below:

take a single instrument, such as a cymbal.
obtain a decent digital recording device.
measure the distance between the cymbal and the microphone, and make a recording in your listening room.

you may make several recordings, each with a slightly different microphone placement. you will need an assistant for this procedure.

a cymbol could be struck with a wooden drum stick, for recording purposes. thereafter, compare the sound of the cymbal to the recording, fed through your stereo system. make sure the listener is sitting at a distance from the cymbal, equal to the distance between mike and cymbal. hopefully, mike would have been placed at listening position. thus, one has an opportunity to compare the sound of an instrument with the recreation of the sound of the instrument heard through one's stereo system. one can vary components, to try to come as close as possible to the sound of the cymbal.

yes, it is not perfect and it is just a cymbal, but its a start and provides an indication of the differences between live and recording. you could also do this experiment using an acoustic guitar. however, mike placement may be more significant than for a cymbal.

Newbee: Mrtennis has one solution, but it really isn't so complicated. You either know what a cello sounds like or you don't. Forget whether you're two feet away or two miles away. If you've been around live acoustic music and have paid attention you can tell if a system is coming remotely close to reproducing the sounds/textures/dynamics/nuances and invoking even a trace of the emotions you feel when you listen to a live event. The system is doing this or it isn't and no amount of rationalizing is going to change that fact.

9rw, Interesting summary - FWIW, I've actually heard a cello in my living room played by a friend, as well as a grand piano in his large living room, my daughter singing and playing an acoustic guitar, etc. I regularily attend concerts and performances.

I actually do know what live music sounds like and I've never heard it replicated, not even close, anywhere on any audio system! I certainly have never been able to do it in my home. Everything I have done has been a compromise of some sorts. The biggest compromise for me has been the loss of the natural dynamics of live instruments as heard in an appropriate space. Frankly, IMHO, everything without that is make believe on some level, no matter how you want to rationalize it.

Ain't this hobby fun? We've all got our points of view and we are all right, even Mr T if you just happen to own a quality professional digital recorder, mikes and a lot of expertise and have access to a cellist who will come to your home to make the recording, but then you must also have perfect memory of the live performance so you won't have to have the cellist back eact time to compare the component(s) sound to live music. Ah............:-)