I for one wanted to disagree which people who say a home stereo can't sound like live. I always made the arguement that with a good system played at the same decibel level of a 'live' event it could be very convincingly real. But last night after a 12 hour shift of work I listened to the stereo. My state of mind was very tired. In this condition it was obvious to me the directionality of the sound. I mean I could tell where the trumpet sound was coming from. The sound was accurate and good just the same. But a 'live' event would not be this directional. I suppose I would still be able to tell that the band was in front of me, just not sound restricted to a box.
But do we really want the real thing in our homes? No we don't, we want our privacy and not five band members in our home every night. Music is about conveying ideas and emotion, so its not critical to have the band in our homes. My cat simply cannot grasp the concept of music, she has no interest whatsoever. Music is not just sounds, something I believe animals can't grasp. Even so the more true to live sound gives me more satisfaction than listening to say a low resolution system.
O.K. I'm not making sense so I will stop here.