[viperman69]

Hi Everyone,

I am just doing a poll to see what type of audio setup people think sounds better.

Live band setup... sound played through speakers

or

Your in home audio setup

For argument sake, lets just say we are comparing the 2 using the same songs/artist/band.

Thanks everyone for your consideration to chime in on this.

 

[murphythecat]

hifi cannot even come close to the real thing.

 

[viperman69]

I made an edit to my post... I meant live band setup played through speakers.

 

[yates7592]

Depends how well the live version is recorded. A live binaural recording with a good venue position and top drawer mics and pre's will be hard to beat on headphones.

 

[Dillan]

Yea I think it just depends on a lot of stuff..

 

[hoteltech]

I agree with what others said. Just like headphones, the music being played has a big influence on what 'sounds' better. I think it's also a function of what you're doing. For live music, I think headphones can much more easily/cheaply replicate the soundstage of being there live. For speakers, you also need to get your room geometry correct to maximize the listening experience. Perhaps with reference monitors you can enjoy it too, but near-field solutions are always problematic when you move around.

 

[yage]

I had to suffer through Wolf Trap's sound reinforcement system from the lawn. There was a piercing quality to the midrange that only subsided if I laid down flat on my back on the grass. I don't know how my wife (who winces nearly every time recorded piano is being played on the stereo at home) could stand it. Or maybe I'm just getting old and crotchety.
 
EDIT: Added a link to Wolf Trap.

 

[Dillan]

Maybe I am missing the comparison, but it is basically comparing live concert speakers versus home audio speakers?
 
In that case, if you compare the best of both.. concert speakers are made to fill stadiums and to be loud and usually has a "booming" sound to it.
 
Audiophile grade home systems will be more pleasant sounding and higher quality.
 
Just my opinion..

 

[hoteltech]

Not about listening to live speakers, about listening live in general. I would think playing live music through a PA system wouldn't sound anywhere near as good as a proper speaker setup.

 

[kendavis]

  I had to suffer through Wolf Trap's sound reinforcement system from the lawn. There was a piercing quality to the midrange that only subsided if I laid down flat on my back on the grass. I don't know how my wife (who winces nearly every time recorded piano is being played on the stereo at home) could stand it. Or maybe I'm just getting old and crotchety.
 
EDIT: Added a link to Wolf Trap.

I no longer go to Wolf Trap because of the sound. The last straw was when I was sitting right next to the sound board (the grey box at the front of the rear orchestra in this chart: http://www.wolftrap.org/tickets/ticketinfo/seating-charts.aspx)  for Elvis Costello and I couldn't understand a word he was singing. Beside, for some reason, most of the performers I really like are too old. One described himself as a tribute band for himself.

 

[edstrelow]

As I understand this question it is asking to compare concert/theater sound systems with home systems.
 
 Unfortunately there are a lot of parameters floating loose here.  Firstly, there are good and bad home systems as much as there are good and bad concert/theater systems.
 
 I heard terrible sound from our local theater in Riverside, in fact my wife and I walked out of a concert by Don McLean  because the sound was both too loud and of poor quality.
 
The sound at a recent show by Cirque du Soleil in Los Angeles was only ok.  
 
On the other hand I heard excellent sound at a performance of The Book of Mormon at the Pantages in Hollywood.  
 
Surprisingly I heard excellent playback outdoors at one of the casinos on the strip in Las Vegas, the Bellagio, I think, at a previous Christmas.  I was driving past  on the strip and stopped my car and opened the windows to listen to one of my favorites, a recording of Placido Domingo performing  O Holy Night. It was impressively detailed and powerful.  I though someone's put a lot of money and power into this system and really knows what they are doing.  To be able to generate something this high-fi sounding  over almost a city block was mind boggling, considering how much one struggles to get the sound right in a living room. 

 

[axle_69]

Live even if the home setup actually sounds better, and sometimes it does. We certainly think the live sound is better because the other senses play its part as well, e.g. we have more difficulty listening to what someone is saying when we cannot see the lips moving.

 

[Dillan]

  Live even if the home setup actually sounds better, and sometimes it does. We certainly think the live sound is better because the other senses play its part as well, e.g. we have more difficulty listening to what someone is saying when we cannot see the lips moving.

 
Yea a live band is an experience.
 
I think most people would choose to be right in front of the artist they want to hear, even if the loudspeaker system isn't as good of quality as some of the worlds best audiophile music room rigs.

 

[up late]

which looks better? the grand canyon or your hd video of it?

 

[Jim Hodgson]

Hi Everyone,

I am just doing a poll to see what type of audio setup people think sounds better.

Live band setup... sound played through speakers

or

Your in home audio setup

 
Note the (still somewhat underground?) movement of folks putting together "theater-esque" systems that feature loudspeakers that wouldn't be -- or wouldn't have been -- out of place in a professional (as opposed to a home) setting.  When I had much more space than I do now, I experimented (lots!) with loudspeakers cobbled together from vintage Altec and JBL components.  Paper cones, Alnico magnets, horn enclosures, simple crossovers (or no crossovers) ... these are the building blocks of high efficiency and a resulting quickness and transparency that can sound very "live."
 
You may enjoy that place in audio where pro and home start to converge -- especially when pro is of a vintage variety.  This may not be the last vestige of high-end audio as defined by the glossies, but it can be very satisfying nonetheless.  It's a much more holistic and thoroughly captivating way to listen IMO.  If I had the room, I would go back to my "live sound" experiments immediately.
 
Anyway!  I'm not sure that this is necessarily an answer to your question.  More directly:  my preference for a "home audio setup" looks a bit like a (miniature?) "live band setup."