Music playback elevated to a form of "theater?"


An idea struck me recently during a listening session.

It would seem that what we are doing is not simply just listening to recorded music, but rather elevating home reproduction to a form of theater.

One of the things that strikes me is the level of drama, realism and subtlety that current hi end rigs are capable of reproducing.

I often feel emotionally exhausted after listening to a particularly good side on an LP. I really look forward to the break required to take off the LP, return to it's jacket and prepare the next for playback. It gives my ears a chance to rest and allow the inspired performance to sink in, just as one might during an intermission of a theatrical event.

I often wrestle with the wisdom of the all-consuming, expensive and impractical aspects of this hobby, and how (and if) it is truly any different than the average person's stereo system (or different from other displays of techno-lust).

But perhaps at the heart of our hobby it is the quest for this form of musical theater that drives us to pursue increasingly higher levels of audio fidelity?
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Theater usually encompasses visual and the auditory but the crossover can be debated in terms of overall spine tingling.I would be feeling just the opposite after a killer song/side to an LP and dreading the sadness of reracking which is why I sometimes play the same side over 2-3 times if I'm so inclined....'Light my fire","Abbey Road"albums come to mind....I guess what is man but his passion????YMMV,Bob