Very well. My post only covers location, not all the other things that a system has to do properly.
The following isn't by way of argumentation it is just more ramblings about locality or, better still NON-LOCALITY...
You mentioned that you were not conscious of locality at the concerts. That's exaclty what I'm striving to achieve with my system (as far as the recording will allow).
At the concert the music was 'just there', it 'just was.' There was no need to think about where it was coming from because it was completely natural sounding as are all sounds in the real world. I agree that knowing where it was coming from wouldn’t add anything to the appreciation of the music.
I submit that it is only when we try to artificially reproduce the sound of the real world that the location of sound calls attention to itself. It calls attention to itself because it doesn't sound natural; it sounds wrong. If a recording of the concert you attended was played back on most systems, each of three lutenists would scream "look, we're over here.” Even if the timbre of the instruments was perfectly replicated, in a ‘spatially poor’ system I would be jarred out of my full appreciation of the music. This is the key: I would have to MAKE THE EFFORT to GO TO the music that is coming from the sonic images that are OVER THERE. With a level 6 system the music comes to you and simply exists; no effort required. As I said in my original post, if you WANTED TO make the effort you could focus your mind and point to where the instrument. You could have done this at the concert buy why bother; as you say, who cares where it’s coming from. I couldn’t agree more.
The following isn't by way of argumentation it is just more ramblings about locality or, better still NON-LOCALITY...
You mentioned that you were not conscious of locality at the concerts. That's exaclty what I'm striving to achieve with my system (as far as the recording will allow).
At the concert the music was 'just there', it 'just was.' There was no need to think about where it was coming from because it was completely natural sounding as are all sounds in the real world. I agree that knowing where it was coming from wouldn’t add anything to the appreciation of the music.
I submit that it is only when we try to artificially reproduce the sound of the real world that the location of sound calls attention to itself. It calls attention to itself because it doesn't sound natural; it sounds wrong. If a recording of the concert you attended was played back on most systems, each of three lutenists would scream "look, we're over here.” Even if the timbre of the instruments was perfectly replicated, in a ‘spatially poor’ system I would be jarred out of my full appreciation of the music. This is the key: I would have to MAKE THE EFFORT to GO TO the music that is coming from the sonic images that are OVER THERE. With a level 6 system the music comes to you and simply exists; no effort required. As I said in my original post, if you WANTED TO make the effort you could focus your mind and point to where the instrument. You could have done this at the concert buy why bother; as you say, who cares where it’s coming from. I couldn’t agree more.