what percentage of us really knows sound

All I know for sure is that in general we all have ears and a license to use them.

I try not to worry too much about what other people hear since I will never know.

Good luck with work this season.

I find that if the level of sound is not correct than the power of the recording will not be correct. I do not listen at that sweet level all the time (WAF) and my system sounds different. The sound stage smaller, the depth is not correct and instruments have less liquidity. At high levels it is as close to the real thing as my system can make it and more exciting.

I think it is impossible to reproduce live music considering most music is recorded in a studio and what we hear an approximation of live music. A lie from the get go if you will.

--Hi,Weseixas;
While I am near world class in the run-on sentence I feel you can never have to many commas---within a sentence.
Within my system I feel my "parts" get me just so far and cabling gets me the rest of the way.
With regards to what the conductor listens for: Jeez, if I were in Fritz's or Lenny's orchestras,it would require 14 Miltown's per session.---Hell, I'll bet ;these guys were much worse than their reputations; nuf.said.
Kinda back to topic: I figure it's all about how much enjoyment one gets from their system,(comma)along with how much they love music, no matter the financial outlay. I don't need someones approval;I'm not that insecure.

Boy, the OP is loaded.

Gotta read all the responses before i post my thoughts. But Kudos to bring the very sensitive topic that I (and am sure many here) was thinking about but afraid to expose the truth that 'audio emperor has indeed no cloths (and furniture)' ;-)

I do not think this is a very useful thread. Were we all to take auditory tests, I am sure we would see many nowhere near flat responses across the audible range of frequencies. It is not just a matter of the loss of high frequencies with age. Also, we know that many cannot sing on key or to recognize accurate timbre of instruments. We know that musical experience helps with all of this. Nevertheless many performers are off key and digital music helps to make their recording on key.

All of this means is that we cannot trust others to make recommendations for us. If a reviewer has a peak in frequencies where we have a valley, we probably won't like what he likes. Even a speaker with a perfectly flat frequency response and coherent phase, may not prove outstanding to everyone or to us personally.

I don't understand comments such as "taking advantage of the audio community." Who appoints these people as the scam police? There is no basis whatsoever for dismissing the benefits of audio components and tweaks based on "science." All designers also have ears and must design within the limits of what we know about nature's laws. No one yet has made a point source speaker with a frequency response, dynamics, and perfect phase of real music. Nor has anyone designed a "straight wire with gain."

Finally, I had a very interesting personal experience with a famous pianist who listened respectfully to my system and said he found it very enjoyable. Later when I visited his home, I asked to see and hear his system. Begrudgingly, he took me back to a small room where he listened. His system was a portable record player with outboard speakers. Seeing my reaction, he said, I know every piece by its music, I listen only to the interpretations of the individual performer while seeing and hearing the music in my head. He said that when he needs to hear music, he plays it.