However, for those of us that aim for a more intimate musical experience, or are focused on acoustic instruments, moonlighting as a home theater is most likely out of the question.
I can agree with that.
Not everybody is into HT and audio.
Best way to test your system?
One of the best ways I've found to test my system is to hook up my dvd player to my DAC and watch a movie for a short time. Since so much music is hyper-produced in the studio, I think many people don't really know what an instrument actually sounds like in native sound. Unless of course they're around a musical instrument in the home or go to acoustic concerts. Yet, nearly everyone is interacting with people, hearing the everyday noises that occur in movies on a daily basis. The reference is fresh.
I find that to hear regular conversations/dialog over some of the systems I've owned really told me how accurate and realistic my system was in reproducing sounds. I've heard people say that music sounds great on their system but film sounds poor. They should both sound good if the system's good. Yes, movies use compression on the soundtrack but still I've had the same exact experience - music sounded great but normal dialog didn't.
I find that to hear regular conversations/dialog over some of the systems I've owned really told me how accurate and realistic my system was in reproducing sounds. I've heard people say that music sounds great on their system but film sounds poor. They should both sound good if the system's good. Yes, movies use compression on the soundtrack but still I've had the same exact experience - music sounded great but normal dialog didn't.