One thing that matters to me is that a system still sounds alive and in balance even at low volumes. You know the true noise floor and dynamic capability as you go down in volume. The lower you can go without it losing info, dynamics and tonal balance the better and more realistic a system is likely to sound. The better you can easily discern soft sounds in the presence of louder ones (what my friend Allen Wright called downward dynamic range) the more realistic the sound. A good example is the decay of a piano chord that you can keep hearing distinctly in the presence of the next notes. Most systems will simply lose this rather quickly but live you can hear those decays for a long time if not actively damped by the pianist.I Love horns right up until I don't lol. My room is bigger then that venue you were at .
I can agree to most of the original posting except where it's how it can be played back.
I had players at my place a few times man it's depressing.
But my setup far from perfect is much better then before.
I have thousands of watts ss all not kidding . For it to get close it must be played loud 80 to 95 db at this level there is far more detail , harmonics
The room must be alive but not shout back . A tricky objective to attain . At this level of loudness the sound scape varies greatly at seating
My couch is 9 feet back , but at 15 to 25 feet back the sound is very different . To have the live level of sound 9 feet is a must at this level n distance there here . Back further I'm there.
I do agree very few systems.can get close , I can't say tubes or ss watts needed. I think it comes to distance and size of room. A large room need large drivers how much power above my pay grade. But there are plenty of math needed to understand.
Loud in a room is not the same as loud right at you . A large room disepates the acoustic energy so it don't seem loud
Do this in a smaller room it's very different. Regarding the cart and cart . I can see your point a great phono pre is a must , but a combo of both all the better.
If you need to play moderately loud to get any sense of realism then you should take a critical look at your system because something (or somethings) is holding it back and restricting dynamics and raising the noise floor.