"Cossie" wrote in message news:5u4xb.234209$9E1.1272860@attbi_s52...
I have to wonder if this tendency isn't a way of compensating for the lack
of visual cues to go along with the music - we turn it up louder to make it
more "real", because we're subliminally missing the complete experience and
volume is the only tool at our disposal.

No doubt this has an effect. Another thing to consider is that a
significant fraction (and probably a large majority unless you're the
conductor) of sound you hear in a concert hall doesn't come from in
front of you, as it does with a pair of speakers. Depending on what
part of the hall sound you listen to (consciously or otherwise), you
may be turning up a stereo pair to try to hear something better heard
coming from the side instead of the front. A pair of speakers
compresses sound heard at a few points in space into a narrow angle in
front, mixing all spatial cues into one potentially confusing,
unnatural mush in front.

--Andre