Realism in instruments how to achieve it?

Sure, sure, your kef brought the orchestra home somehow, did 3D n all... and all kinds of miracles whilst also dispensing glasses of wine. 

If you paid for it, it shall indeed deliver such psychological miracles, how else could it be....

OP will get some dinky li’l Harbeth soon enough and wow... it shall bring the orchestra home for sure.

(brouhaha indeed)

I had mid-7th row seats at the Houston Symphony for 15 years and my sister is a concert organist whom I’ve recorded many times.  I’ve been to too many concerts and events, large and small, to count, and I can tell you it doesn’t require huge bucks to get the sound of an instrument or ensemble into your listening space.  That is, provided you take care of it and appreciate its essence.  That doesn’t mean you can recreate the actual instrument or ensemble in your space.  You can’t.  No one can.  But you can still get the weight of an orchestra or the wood of a cello into your house.  It requires foresight and a willingness to find the right price point.  It also takes time.  I’ve had BAT stuff and it’s great.  I’ve built my own gear and it is too.  My open baffle speakers were lights out, but the KEF floorstanders I have now are clean and revealing and don’t cost megabucks.  A lot of this brouhaha is hype.  Really good equipment is out there, you can get a sense of the instruments in your own place, and it’s fun to get there.  As an afterthought, don’t minimize the importance of cleaning up your powerline.  That, and pay attention to manufacturers who’ve been responsible for decades.  Like I said, it’s fun.  Don’t make it into some sort of competition.  

@sheri2022 - may I ask if you live in a landed house, or an apartment? 

You should try room treatments.  Your equipment is great.  Treating your room is also important.

I listen for the "musicianship" and the "composition". These, are the essence of listening to music for me, and have been for over 60 years. Trying to capture the tone of instruments, the localization of the instruments and the recreation of a stage, is all well and good (my system does these things well), but convincingly portrays musicians "playing", for me. A "recorded" violin, ime, can never duplicate the essence of a violin being played live. I agree with some of the posters above, that hearing music played live, unamplified, is a learning experience for sure, and an enjoyable one, in most cases. I am not a negative person, but a realist. I wish you luck in your pursuit of audio nirvana. My best, MrD. 

I, too, think that achieving some level of realistic sound begins with speakers.  For one thing, they are a fairly "subjective" item in the chain, with different speakers having different tonal qualities.  Probably next would be the preamplifier; I went from a Rogue RP-1 to an RP-7, and there was a marked change/improvement in the quality of of the music reproduction.  Power amplifiers boost the signal to power the speakers, and I would think they would be less finluentional; HOWEVER, when I had a tube power amp with my tube preamp, I felt I had lost sound quality, even though both were well-respected units.  Switching back to solid state power amplifiers greatly improved sound reproduction quality, so the type of amplifier--and of course the quality of the build and components therein--do make a difference.  All of this assumes quality source material.  So, in my own experience, speakers, preamplifier, and then amplifier choices are the order of importance.