@donv69

You are correct with the cowbell being on 1,3,5 and 7. However, that instrument may not be prevalent in more ‘mambo-styled’ or ‘modern salsa’ songs. You will sometimes have to rely on the Piano or the ‘ti-ki-pah!’ sound, where the ‘ti’ is your 1 or 5. The best way to determine the beat for any song is to find the Conga slap (which requires serious training of your listening skills). Once you find the conga slap (which mark the 2 and 6), it is easy then to the clave. Since all other instruments in a song play relative to the clave, it because extremely easy to find any of the other beats.

To prevent some frustrations, you may also discover that songs between the 1960s - early 1980s will have rhythm changes , which will also throw you off. For example, you may have found the 1 and the 5 correctly, but in the middle of the song, there may be a rhythm change that will invert the location of the 1 and 5 for a short period of time. This is because a musician may want to play with the clave (switching it from 2-3 to 3-2 or vice versa) - however, this is a longer explanation than what I have here.

I’m not sure what you mean by reproducing the quality of music because it usually depends on the DJ on how they have their Equalizer set during the night.