Very simple- it should sound real. There are times with great source material when my system sounds like I am at a live performance. Not only does the performance sound like it is in the room but my room is no longer my room but the space the recording was made in.
I too like it when a stereo’s sound field transcends the boundaries of my listening room. Tonal accuracy for me is not enough if the music sounds as if it’s coming out of the speakers, or with only a small envelope in between and perhaps slightly outside the speaker cabinets. My design criteria is always number one tonal accuracy, but number two is spatial accuracy and dynamics. I just can’t get excited about any system that throws a Lilliputian sound stage.
Yours in music,
Ted Denney III
Lead Designer/CEO Synergistic Research Inc.