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Is Sound Stage an artifact of recording?

Yesterday had the opportunity to hear a fine chamber music concert featuring musicians from the NY Philharmonic in a small modern chapel with a slightly domed wooden roof. We sat about 15-20 feet from the musicians. The all acoustic sound was excellent. The Schubert Trout piano quintet  and Brahms piano quartet in G were the program. Afterwards while de-briefing at dinner with an audiophile friend who went with me and our wives, he made the point that despite the excellent acoustics and premier seating he could not close his eyes and see a "sound stage" during the concert. I had noticed the same thing. The locations of the instruments were diffuse. You could not pinpoint the location of the violin as you might expect you could on a good recording of the same work! We agreed that this was not the first time we had noticed this about live music. So I put the question to learned assembly here on Audiogon. Is sound stage something that is invented or perhaps just an artifact of the recording process to help us get the illusion of real musicians playing in front of us. Responses from those of you who have made recordings will be particularly appreciated.

bruce19
elliottbnewcombjr
7,695 posts
 

My friend was having a party. He is familiar with my system. His friend is a HUGE Billy Joel fan. 

Over they come, let’s put on An Innocent Man album.

His friend never wanted to leave, he said he had gone to ___ many live concerts, great seats, NEVER had it sounded so good!

Part of the Party moved over here, we had a grand old time.

That was my Onkyo Dx-7500 CD Player, Dual Matched Burr Brown Processors

"The Onkyo Integra DX-7500 is a high-end vintage Compact Disc player released in 1988, originally priced at $700.  It is renowned for its true linear 18-bit digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion technology, which Onkyo claimed provided superior amplitude resolution and lower distortion compared to standard 16-bit players of the era."

I love the sound of my current Sony xa5400es SACD player (painfully slow startup), but I will always miss that Onkyo. Damn drawer kept giving me trouble, fixed it half a dozen times, got fed up, gave it to someone: out damn spot!

bolong
962 posts
 

If you can't handle distortion, then you can't handle life.

elliottbnewcombjr
7,695 posts
 

Wall Of Sound Live, did you ever go to a Grateful Dead Show?

What did they call their tower of speakers? I once saw the amount of McIntosh Amps they needed for that.

I once saw the Stones, big stadium, I think Shea, anyway, walking in, huge towers of speakers, OH BOY, holy crap, we get in.

Living Color Opens. They sound like crap fried with .... 

I realized, they were not letting them use the full sound system.

The Stones hit it, you could feel the entire place shake, not as 'Full' as Grateful Dead, but More Powerful, I think the most powerful I ever experienced (Steel Wheels).

You gotta hear the Kinks at the Beacon. During Lola, every drunken guy gets up, shakes in unison, you can see the balcony above you moving, and there's another one above them moving.

If sober, you start to think about the collapse of that bridge at the Hallmark Building.

bruce19 OP
347 posts
 

@ronboco This applies to only those who enjoy the symphony and other live acoustic events. I never grew up with that so I could care less.

Neither did I. The best music player I was exposed to as a kid was the car radio. You can grow into these things. Learning more about music and trying to play it helps. The big jump for me came in my adult years when I began to find the ever changing lines of jazz more appealing than the ABAB structure of most pop and rock. Stay open and enjoy your journey.

sparksgja's avatar
sparksgja
64 posts
 

https://www.merlijnvanveen.nl/en/study-hall/216-mono-or-stereo

This article might explain why your missing soundstage/image?

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