[abomwell]

I'm curious about your preference.  Do you want your recordings and system to sound like the musicians are in your room, or do you want be transported to the venue in which the music is performed? I much prefer the latter but I'm curious about others here.

[consttraveler]

I suppose, the venue.  But I want air between the instruments so I can focus on each individually.  Having my cake and eating it too?

Dave

[Early B.]

I'm curious about your preference.  Do you want your recordings and system to sound like the musicians are in your room, or do you want be transported to the venue in which the music is performed? I much prefer the latter but I'm curious about others here.

Since most music is recorded in multiple studios, I'm unclear about what it means to be transported there. 

[abomwell]

I should have been more clear. I listen mostly to orchestral classical music which of course is primarily performed in a concert hall. Chamber music and jazz is often performed in smaller venues, sometimes even in one's living room so in that case that would be, both, they are here and you are there. But I'm mostly interested knowing about concert performances of any genre. Do you want to be transported there or feel like they are here in your room?

[Mr. Big]

We shall never know. None of us were at the recording session so we only know by what our system feeds us, and then over the years, we learn of a sound we like to our ear. The old myth as the artist intended is poopy gosh. Every type of gear tunes (tubes used) solid-state and then add the cables, power cords used, power conditioners if they are used, big coloration there alone, and then our room sonics all influence the sound we finally hear. There is no absolute sound, that was good marketing, nothing more. Some like it warm, some like it highly detailed, some like it laid back, some like it upfront. None matches what was heard in the recording studio on playback by the master tape, on their speakers in their studio and its acoustics. And today musicians are not even in the room together for the most parts and pieces are digitally put together for a final product all done by a producer, not the band or singers, for the most part, they did their thing and the producers take over, and all the compression added as needed to sound good on streaming and digital radio and then radio and they are done with it. It is a different ERA of recorded music, the better the system the worse it will sound when done without care of audio quality. 

[Early B.]

I should have been more clear. I listen mostly to orchestral classical music which of course is primarily performed in a concert hall. Chamber music and jazz is often performed in smaller venues, sometimes even in one's living room so in that case that would be, both, they are here and you are there. But I'm mostly interested knowing about concert performances of any genre. Do you want to be transported there or feel like they are here in your room?

Oh, that's much clearer. The latter for me. With a live concert CD, I don't ever envision wanting to be a part of the audience. However, occasionally, I consider what row I'd be seated based on the perceived distance of the band.