How close to the real thing?

Irvrobinson, I was thinking the same thing. I noted above that I do sound quite often for live music. You think audiophiles are subjective, you should hear musicians talking about EVERYTHING changes the sound of their instruments. Stings, different brands of horns sound different, piano, piano strings, drums and different skins...... It does not have to be exact to sound live. I've had a celloist in and pianist seperately in my home, they both commented that they could have been fooled. I truly believe that if we are listening to excellent recordings where the scale of the venue is close to our living room that it is possible to come very close to the live experience, if any variables change we lose that live charm very quickly. My system doesn't fool anybody on larger scale music, but I still enjoy it. Somewhere in the above thread, it was mentioned of a live/recording comparison of a small group called Misty River. After I read that, I ordered this recording. On a couple of their songs (not all) you can hear the order of the girls placement when they sing, you can hear very specific intstrument placement and the tonal balance and mic work on this recording is quite good... Honestly, I would not be fooled on this recording, but It comes closer than I thought it would and as I made reference to before as single cello or piano can fool alot of people.
good listening, Tim

Agree in general with Timlub.

To build on what Timlub says about musicians preferring different strings, etc.

I know a luthier who flies around the world to choose all his own sustainable wood stock. He looks closely at different internal bracing for different sounds and player preferences. He might choose Honduran Mahogany or Cedar for a neck. Brazilian Rosewood is his preference for bridges. Saddles, soundboards, fingerboards all the more complex. Some of his finest guitars sell for 30k. So many details and such artistry.

Have to say I'm leaning more toward 40% when I really think about it. We are all blessed with the ability to even experiment with audio and I'm happy to have the ability to squabble about it.

Live musician in my House?

Yes, my daughter plays, my friends play and teach music. A mini grand being played in your house cannot be matched by an hi-fi system, IMO not even close.

There are many errors in playback (HI-FI) reproduction, the ones with the least amount of errors tend to get the highest marks, but it is nothing like live music.

Irvrobinson, I had a jazz band in my kitchen but the only musician playing music has been a guitarist. He liked the room and said he liked classical guitar played on my system. I asked him if it sounded real. He hesitated but said no. I fully agreed with him.