How close to the real thing?

For those comparing a theater movie to audio might get a different view if they see a good 3D movie done nowadays. It's been to long for me,but this is what I was told.They said you could see the audience jump or duck from an action seen in 3D.Our stereo does a good 3D illusion if you close your eyes.Pilots have come out of Flight Simulators sweating.

Memorex had the most hiss of all the tapes too.Maybe that's what broke the glass.

Lrsky,I know what you are talking about some speakers having treble glare or bright system characteristics.I won't have that in my system.I know what instruments sound like.I have musicians in my family.The conductor in an orchestra gets one of the best listening spots.I've stood there.They do get to hear a lot more than we can,in the audience.Mikes placed in the right spots get to hear a lot of what anyone sitting in the audience can't.Sitting in the audience can be like sitting in a room full of misplaced, room tuning,sound absorption devices.Just standing up improves what you can hear in an auditorium. I've been in quite a lot. Listening to a lot of live music still leaves me enjoying,nicely done,recorded music,at home. The musicians in my family enjoy recorded music also.

I wonder how anyone could put a percentage on recorded vs. live music either.I think the ones that have a problem with recorded music,may have a system that is not up doing what it should correctly.

Comparing sound pressure from a live instrument in your room,at home,is not accurate for this comparison.Sure these instruments have a lot of volume,but when you listen to them live,figure the room volume of the building,and compare it to your listening room volume.The volume difference is huge.Who would want the actual drums in your home?The smart drummers use headphones,when performing.A lot of the other musicians wear ear plugs too.My neighbors Baby Grand gets to loud,in an(approx),40x25x12ft high room.A violin gets extremely loud.These live instruments do cause hearing damage.At home,we can control this.Another plus, for listening at home.Correct what you can,that's wrong with your system. Anything that draws attention to itself, especially anything offensive.The weak link I mostly find now is,the quality of the recording,not the system.After you've done corrections,get some good recordings,sit back and enjoy.

Hi Timlub,A lot of musicians have been aware of themselves being at risk for hearing loss.Schools of music teach them about this also.The headphones and plugs I was referring to,were the passive ones that they can hear what they need to,without amplified headphones,or plugs.It depend on the situation as you most likely know dealing with recording,or mixing for amplified music.A violin can reach 110 db at their ear.Wind instruments can get high also,plus a lot of others.It depends on the instruments too.But instruments used for concerts are the ones that are chosen for volume, along with their sound quality.There are some that say some of the lesser wanted instruments,may sound better, but just can't produce any volume,to qualify for a concert quality piece do to this.Some wear those plugs with holes in them(I think),that claim to let enough frequencies through for them to perform correctly.A couple of links for sound pressures.I'm guessing the music schools might have accurate info on this,plus Google.I like live music,we need it for our recordings,but we can do fairly good at home listening,for great enjoyment also.The last one may be conservative for db ratings in certain cases.Links.[http://www.hear-it.org/page.dsp?page=1662][http://www.sengpielaudio.com/TableOfSoundPressureLevels.htm][http://www.gcaudio.com/resources/howtos/loudness.html]

Timlub,Only the one link shows 110 db for the violin.There's a lot for over 100 db.Maybe the players/owners of those pricey pieces don't want to be bothered with measuring it. Just playing them might be their priority.Still,over 100 db can be bad.I think it was a Michigan State band director that said they get over 120db at 100 foot during practice(I think).
I was Googling Musicians and hearing loss,plus decibels for instruments,when I ran across that one.

That was out of a talk forum like this one.Thats why I put the (?) there.[http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-476991.html]

Here it is.Post #11 "Bowler Hat"[http://www.maestronet.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=321036]

Michigan Technological University 300 person pep band conductor.Not Michigan State,but correct quote from the man.125db at over 100 foot away.Take it for what its worth.
Link.[http://www.maestronet.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=321036]

some recordings, I do get a soundstage extended a couple of feet past my speakers in width, But never can I take an orchestra that its natural width would be say 25 feet and get my system to reproduce this. Within these limits, I get Outstanding instrument placement on width as well as depth. If anyone has any ideas on how to improve...
I'm all ears.
Timlub (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

Try a different DAC,or CD player.I tried one DAC that made my soundstage that can go extremely wide at times,shrink down to about 3-5 feet.A friends budget(Teac?)CD player made his 8-10 foot speaker width sound like 50 feet apart.Sounded good on some music,like a reverb on other types of music, The equipment specs don't seem to mean much here.

I'm not the best one to recommend Classical music.The majority of mine was passed down to me from my family.I listen to it more to hear a full orchestra perform.That seems to be the best part I enjoy.