Does Your System Sound Like the Real Thing?

I agree with Tarsano and Gregm, among others--no and no. It's partially the limitations of the recording process and partially of the playback systems. However, a good recording and system can still convey a musical event and move you as a live performance can.

Reiterating my point, last night I hosted my choir party at my home, and we had a number of musical performances, vocal, piano and cello, in my living room, as well as the master tapes from our choir's spring concert we played on my system, also in that room. The tapes sounded very good, but were nowhere close to what the live music sounded like. There is a vitality and presence to a live performance that I've never heard a system match, and I'm sure a lot of it is the recording process as well as the playback system. Part of it is scale, part dynamics, part sheer loudness, but the real thing is instantly recognizable as such.