Double trouble

The vast majority of live music that isn't classical or opera is blasted through PA speakers or on stage amplifiers. Thus, if you really wanted to reproduce the sound of live music in your home why wouldn't you simply buy a pair of PA speakers or a Marshall amplifier stack? On first blush, it might seem logical to use the very transducers that made the sound in the first place. Doubling down on the mediums that shape sound is double trouble. PA speakers and guitar amplifiers have a very distinct sonic signature. One look at their truncated frequency response curves will tell you why. PA speakers have a very shouty curve rolled off quickly at both frequency extremes and the typical guitar amplifier/speaker stack wreaks havoc not only on frequencies but distortion characteristics as well—it's a sound a lot of rock musicians love and depend upon for their acts. The easiest way to reproduce what's on stage in a home environment is not found in using the same elements that crafted the sound in the first place unless you can bring the musicians along with it. No, the right way to faithfully reproduce what's on stage is for the system to add as little coloration as it possibly can because running captured sound through a sound modifying medium reshapes it into something quite different. Once through the sonic meat grinder is enough.