[Conmoto22]

In this case maybe would be interesting to you test a nice headphone as HifiMan Ananda or Arya, they will offer you a detailed POV of the musical performance that you may like and may be useful to your position as a conductor.

Ananda and Arya needs a amp to sound great, but will keep wife happy due no big speaker in the living room, since she dont know its prices

I would like to try something g from HifiMan. I recently took the plunge into headphones. Bought Emotiva's GR-1 and was happy. Then I gave into the hype on the GL2000s and I'm so happy I did. They sound amazing. It seems that some people dislike them, but thud people have probably heard the best. Anyway, I can appreciate good detail and response from speakers and headphones, but there's something about how the sound resonates and projects from the live instrument that I can't seem to reproduce. Consider this sound test...a live solo musician or ensemble in front of you and then the same music through the tiniest audio system out there. Do you really think it would be difficult to notice which is live vs recorded?

[FullRangeMan]

but there's something about how the sound resonates and projects from the live instrument that I can't seem to reproduce.

Do you really think it would be difficult to notice which is live vs recorded?

I cant say, as an audiophile who already made lots of mistakes when buying equipment, a few years ago after listening the Carver Amazing I completely abandoned the search for live music fidelity in a room in exchange for the reproduction of a beautiful music sound at home, I have not had anymore disappointments since then.

Assembling a system that reproduces a pleasant and beautiful music is much easier than chasing to reproduce all the live music in a room, the search for live music reproduction in home was never achieved until today for being impossible IMO.

[DannyBadorine]

I cant say, as an audiophile who already made lots of mistakes when buying equipment, a few years ago after listening the Carver Amazing I completely abandoned the search for live music fidelity in a room in exchange for the reproduction of a beautiful music sound at home, I have not had anymore disappointments since then.

Assembling a system that reproduces a pleasant and beautiful music is much easier than chasing to reproduce all the live music in a room, the search for live music reproduction in home was never achieved until today for being impossible IMO.

I second this response to that.  The problem with trying to reproduce live music in the home is that 99% of recordings don't sound anything like live music.  They are produced and altered to sound "better" or more pleasing to the ear.  Even live albums or songs are incredibly altered to sound better.  Live shows, which I have mixed hundreds of, do not sound the same as a band in a room.  They are meant to sound better.  If you went into a room with a band, the cymbals would be blaring, the kick drum would be punchy but not as bossy, the hi-hats would tear your ears off and the guitars would generally sound shrill.  The bass would likely be unbalanced.  Recording/mixing engineers get past this with different microphone and mixing techniques to smooth it all out.

That being said, some speakers and systems produce a more "accurate" sound.  So, for me, what I'm going for in a system is accuracy to the recording.  I want to hear what the artists are trying to put across to me.  I want to take the room problems out of the system.  I want a speaker that becomes almost invisible and I just hear what the recording does. 

[dflee]

Very well put Danny!

[twitch54]

another vote for piano yet the best I've heard to date was on a pair of Martin Logan CLX's in a super listening room @ Overture Audio, Wilmington, De. I firmly believe stats do piano best, YMMV

[mcmusicman]

Here are some of my favorite albums to test real holography with as if you are in the room.
Chesky Records...binaural.

https://chesky.com/collections/music/binaural

[Delta77]

I'm still a relatively new guy , to the Hi End audio groups ( about 5-6 years ) ..

I attended T.H.E. SHOW in L.A. a couple years back..
At THE SHOW, I found my way into the MBL room , where I was "Schooled" on how large a sweet spot can be, and just how accurate a system can sound..

When I got home and compared my system with the MBL system, I was very disappointed with how my system reproduced the same music..

Most notably would be the Cannon Blast..
The MBL system reproduced the Cannon blast extremely well , where as on my system the Cannon blast weren't even close to sounding "REAL"..

But, I believe the MBL system I was listening to had a price tag of some where’s around $250,000 to $300,000 ..?!?!

[rotarius]

Many speakers do a good job with solo I instruments, even piano. As one person here noted, massed strings are the most difficult for speakers to reproduce even when the recordings are great.  Small ensembles sound fine, Mahler and Bruckner symphonies never sound like the real thing (ir)regardless of the speaker brand.

[Tyson]

I'm still a relatively new guy , to the Hi End audio groups ( about 5-6 years ) ..

I attended T.H.E. SHOW in L.A. a couple years back..
At THE SHOW, I found my way into the MBL room , where I was "Schooled" on how large a sweet spot can be, and just how accurate a system can sound..

When I got home and compared my system with the MBL system, I was very disappointed with how my system reproduced the same music..

Most notably would be the Cannon Blast..
The MBL system reproduced the Cannon blast extremely well , where as on my system the Cannon blast weren't even close to sounding "REAL"..

But, I believe the MBL system I was listening to had a price tag of some where’s around $250,000 to $300,000 ..?!?!

Danny's OB designs (GR Research) and Clayton's OB designs (Spatial Audio) also give you that type of sound, and for a whole lot less money.

[bakufu]

> When I got home and compared my system with the MBL system, I was very disappointed with how my system reproduced the same music.

mbl is at the very high end of omnidirectional speakers.  you can spend a lot less for speakers taking this approach.  e.g. ohm acoustics or decware.

here are my ohm f5's.

[FullRangeMan]

Not a omni but a Dipole OB fullrange as the LII F15 or F18 maybe could please you at $520/pair, it dont need a xover so its very accurate>
https://www.lii-audio.com/product/one-pair-18-inch-full-range-speakers-superb-scale-soundstage-with-new-imaging-f-18/