Acoustic conditions in a symphony orchestra on a concert hall stage are very different from those on an empty stage. Since inter-orchestral sound transmission and other acoustic conditions with the orchestra present are easier to simulate than to measure, a method for simulating orchestras in ODEON models of different rooms was developed by the author. This method was applied in the Grieghallen Renewal Project, which involved changes to the concert hall, orchestra pit, and rehearsal hall. Members of the resident orchestra provided overall ratings of the playing conditions in their home venues, as well as in a number of international venues. The acoustical conditions in the rated venues were simulated and compared with the subjective ratings. Several metrics were investigated, and their correlation with subjective ratings varied between r² = 0.09 and r² = 0.85. It turned out that the orchestra clearly preferred to play under conditions where the direct and reverberant components of the inter-orchestral sound transmission were, on average, equally strong; |D − R| = 0. Any deviation from this balance was associated with reduced preference, with a correlation coefficient of r = −0.92. Several interesting implications and interpretations of this result are discussed in the paper.