[avahifi]

Years ago, I had a gentleman come in who was interested in the B&W DM6 speakers we were selling back then.

I gave him a nice demo and he seemed pleased.  But then he asked if I would play his own record for him.

I said sure.  It turned out was it was a record of him playing his violin.  It sounded really nice and realistic.

Then he asked for one more test and I said sure again.  He told me he needed to go out to his car for a minute.

He came back in with his violin!

We then had a duet, the recording of his violin along with him actually playing his violin.   

He bought the speakers!  Best comparison test we ever had.

Frank

[dB Cooper]

AudioNote had a cellist play in their room at a couple recent Capital AudioFest shows (not this year though). He played a recording of himself, and then live using the same cello. This is a gutsy move for an exhibitor at an audio show IMHO. It sure does show whether a system "walks the walk". The AudioNote speakers did pretty well. I've heard some really expensive systems that don't.

[Calypte]

Acoustic Research used to do "live" vs recorded demos, using AR-3a speakers.  Allegedly, listeners couldn't tell when the string quartet stopped and the recording began.  That was 50+ years ago.

[avahifi]

I heard some of those live vs recorded demos years ago.

It was obvious the musicians had been trained to turn the “live” music down to stay within the capability of the music system, especially in dynamic range and intensity.

Frank

[thunderbrick]

 I remember a dealer in Newport News, VA that did a "live vs. speaker" demo in the late 70s. Pretty sure it was MAC gear.

[G E]

Brian Cheney (RIP) of VMPS  did this several years at CES. Proud owner of their RM30 Series 2 speakers.

Those Music Matters Jazz Blue Note reissues sound stunning through them. Lee Morgan Tom Cat gets a special call out.