Ever wonder why you can never really get that “Live” sound at home that you enjoy when going to a concert? It’s got bugger all to do with a systems ability for accuracy and more to do with the  presentation. I just spent seven glorious days on the “Rock The Boat” cruise  which was like a seven day booze up at the local pub with  42 bands playing and in the rare moments of sobriety I pondered the meaning of life (42 - apologies to Monty Python) and Live Sound. The sound systems were superb thanks to the equipment and front of house engineers. As I said, it’s not the accuracy of the system but the way the sound is delivered. The main differences  between domestic and professional sound is - Overall output - many of these setups are using several thousand Watts driving speakers of 96dB plus (bloody loud) The Tweeters - Compression drivers are used for live work, these tend to cut through any ambient noise like a hot knife through butter. Domestic tweeters are more commonly dome or ribbon  as the compression drivers can be too harsh in some rooms. Subwoofers - No wimpy puppies used here - mainly 12, 15 or 18”  rivers using 1000 to 8000 Watts and for the wankers who judge subwoofer performance by how low the frequencies reproduced, the live units need not go below 41.2 Hz (open E on a bass guitar) and even that is not the frequency that matters so much, it’s the 60Hz Kick Drum thump that really defines that kick in the guts feeling (having said that, there are some professional music subs that go down to 25Hz at -3dB)

I love both types of sound (no you dummies, not “Country” and “Western”) I mean Studio music and Live Performance Sound. To get both experiences, I use two systems in my music room depending on the original recording (plus I use my “Live” rig for singing when playing my electric guitar loud). My music room is only 3 X 4 metres so there is not a lot of room for large stereo speakers hence my choice of one of the best bookshelf speakers I’ve experienced in this sized room - a pair of Paradigm 15B Bookshelf Speakers. Obviously smallish speakers can’t generate enough air movement for decent bass so I have one of my venerable Martin Logan Dynamo 700 subwoofers pumping away under my desk. Driving these is a Yamaha R-N602 which is an 80 Watt per channel Stereo receiver with built in streaming capabilities so I can access all my CD collection (ripped in ALAC) from my computer and managed via Yamaha’s excellent MusicCast App. Given the relatively modest RRP of $5000 (discount would be around $3500) I’d have to more than double the outlay to hear even a modest improvement. This system is fantastic for all types of music EXCEPT will never offer that Live sound. Hence my use of the Yamaha Stagepas 400i  this is a modestly powered PA System designed for live music sound re-enforcement in halls up to 200 people capacity (maybe more but the most I’ve tested it in was a 200 capacity venue and it was more than adequate). I feed this with a Yamaha WXC-50 Streamer which uses the same MusicCast app as my domestic stereo amp. This plays very LOUD and due to the built in EQ, I don’t need to run a sub in my small room to get that gut kick mentioned in the first paragraph - in any larger room a sub would be an advantage. So, that’s my music room (also contains a Vox AC30 CC guitar amp, Fender US Telecaster, Yamaha SA503 TVL Signature and a couple of other random guitars). Not to mention a couple of computers. Fun Times.