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We have tested live recordings against live sound, a recording of a jazz singer was done on Reel tape on an Ampex ATR modded machine with Fluxmagnetics heads etc.  The microphone used was the legendary Telefunken stereo tube mic. no post production no compression etc.  The singer was crying when she heard the recording through the horn system. she said she had never listened to her real singing voice, she had also just spent a bunch of money in a "pro" studio and the results were crap.  The monitoring was done with the best vintage sony headphones.

Now the same recording played through minimonitors would have saturated immediately!  Listening to the very same "master tape" on a couple other horn systems was also very interesting,  they all sounded pretty much the same,  very good!  Up close it was like the girl was singing on your lap, far away it was like you were sitting at the concert,  just real!   Yes even Girl with guitar with these dynamics would be very hard for a "normal" system.

That being said, I dont really think a live recording is a good test for a system (no pun intended) it is just so good and so direct, that almost any fairly well set up system will do a great job!

Most of my set up tests I do on digital because it reveals the shortcomings of a system very fast!  If the system is not at its best, digital will be unbearable, but maybe vinyl will sound ok, and a good tape will sound great almost anyway you put it!

When we got the DCX digital xover (not DEQX)  the main idea was to use it to play around with Xover points and xover slopes to see what we could use better.
The system it was hooked to was multiamped,  we had Audio note P4 monoblocks for the mid horns with compression drivers, we had an 845 SET amp on the UBH, a First Watt F3 amps for tweeters, the Bass was linked to the UBH channels with a pair of sub amps with internal active xovers.  A lot of care was taken on the set up and a lot of time was consummed testing it.  We thought the sound was really good!  But indeed there was something missing,  thats when we would trimm here and add there and we would not miss the "thing" so much.  Everyone who listened to it was amazed!  On one meeting with very experienced listeners an idea appeared, we started commenting how we liked some things it used to do better without the DCX,  it actually came from a friend who was the strongest supporter of the digital xover.  So they asked me "how difficult would it be to hook the old xover back in?"  It would take a couple of minutes, but it wouldnt be a fair test since we would not be multiamping!  the xover is designed for using just one amp! 
So we went ahead, turned off all the amps, recconected just the 845 SET amp to the series xover, allowed it to warm up a few minutes and played the same track we were listening to:  There was no question, the xover brought back life to the system in every aspect! Even with just one amp!!!
The difference in sound was so huge, that all the "investigation" about xover points was useless!

I also tested a  few SS amps, my favorite is the Chord amp, which I believe has some sort of digital power supply, it is beautiful: clean transparent and very detailed, very! But when I listened to a well designed SET amp (diy by someone else) next to it, there was no comparison,  yes the Chord amp made no mistake, and everything was right there, but it was cold, mechanical.  The SET amp did the same detailing, the same dynamics but with better phrasing of the music, with a warmer touch,  the SS amp was like having the best sex in you life, the SET was like having the best sex in your life, with some one you love!
I am not against the use of good SS amps though!

Kerry, I think when you ever go back to a normal xover, you will be in for a good surprise!  Dump the DEQX and get a lot of money for it!

What RtR machine do you have?

It is all a trip, and your trip with DEQX is not over yet and your are having a lot of fun!  enjoy!

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