"Referencing" loudspeakers - favorite album/track

pzaur

pzaur

Audioholic Samurai
Since I'm actually going through the process (prain-in-the-a**ess) of finding the set of speakers for me! I'm currently using my buddy, Talley, as a resource and his choice of cd to bring is a Don Henley album. I don't know which one exactly, but it's on a gold disc and has a nifty holding mechanism for the CD. The guitar and vocals are superb on it.

My choice...well...is still undecided. I like the classical genre immensely and have been going between recordings with Chicago Symphony doing Prokofiev's Scythian Suite and Lt. Kije and New York Philharmonic doing Scheherazade. Both superb and they push the spectrum for sound. I'm also contemplating using Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue or Shostakovich 15 (both with Chicago Symphony. Yes, I do have a bias for this group). MY other contemplations are San Francisco Symphony doing Stravinsky or Mahler 6 with Tilson Thomas. Not sure.

This should be as simple as ordering a burger: "How would like it cooked? Dark, mellow, bright, forward, clear, forgiving?"

-pat
 
hondajake

hondajake

Junior Audioholic
Mine are:

Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon
SRV and Albert King In Session
DMB Live at Red Rocks
Sarah McLaughlin Mirrorball
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
If you can, choose the best selections from the ones you mentioned, burn them to one CD and take them with you.

I like:
Fiona Apple Tidal
DMB Crash
Patricia Barber Cafe Blue
 
Jack Hammer

Jack Hammer

Audioholic Field Marshall
It's not a bad idea to throw a track or two in there that you like but you know are bad recordings. I've heard some stuff that sounds great on a good system and seems flat and poor sounding on crappy stuff. Then there's some stuff that sounds good on lower end systems, but a good system will bring the flaws out - show it for how it is. The more tools the better. Something to consider.

Jack
 
evilkat

evilkat

Senior Audioholic
I think the really important thing with reference sounds is to make sure you're intimately familiar with whatever material you're taking.
 
no. 5

no. 5

Audioholic Field Marshall
Jack Hammer said:
It's not a bad idea to throw a track or two in there that you like but you know are bad recordings. I've heard some stuff that sounds great on a good system and seems flat and poor sounding on crappy stuff. Then there's some stuff that sounds good on lower end systems, but a good system will bring the flaws out - show it for how it is. The more tools the better. Something to consider.

Jack
that is some good advice Jack. :)
 
pzaur

pzaur

Audioholic Samurai
Jack - Thanks for that advice. You're the first person I've seen who's mentioned to go the other route with the listening material. Knowing how the speaker will sound with good and bad is definitely a good thing to find out!

-pat
 
Z

zumbo

Audioholic Spartan
pzaur said:
Jack - Thanks for that advice. You're the first person I've seen who's mentioned to go the other route with the listening material. Knowing how the speaker will sound with good and bad is definitely a good thing to find out!

-pat
I agree with this as well.

One of my best quality is Pink Floyd "The Wall".

Worst, but my favorite of all time. Led Zeppelin "Physical Graffiti".

Best I have heard in a dealer showroom. Steely Dan "Gaucho".
 
jaxvon

jaxvon

Audioholic Ninja
zumbo said:
I agree with this as well.

One of my best quality is Pink Floyd "The Wall".

Worst, but my favorite of all time. Led Zeppelin "Physical Graffiti".

Best I have heard in a dealer showroom. Steely Dan "Gaucho".
The Steely Dan isn't surprising. They poured so much money into that album and spent so much time on SQ that it would be amazing if it wasn't good.
 
I

InTheIndustry

Senior Audioholic
It seems to me that female vocalists are really tough for a lot of speakers to do well. I always try....

Alicia Keys, Fallin'

Like her music or not, this song is GREAT for testing out a speaker and is tough to do well.

Eric Clapton's stuff is fantastic in general but I'm particularly fond of Bell Bottom Blues off of his live One More Rider One More Car album. Sheryl Crow and Joan Osborne are both good for testing out a speaker. And just to throw maybe my favorite band of all time in, I love to listen to The Who.
 
P

phillyguy

Enthusiast
My personal favorite album for demoing speakers- Joe Jackson, Body and Soul. Lots of great tracks for vocals, brass/woodwinds/violin, drums and piano.
 
highfihoney

highfihoney

Audioholic Samurai
When i demo speakers i like to take recordings that i know very well & have excellent sq,i also like to take material that will challenge the speaker every way i can think with complex,fast,& hard hitting passages .

I always take a steely dan cd with me depending on which album is my favorite that day but i also take the cd by Frank Zappa titled "Jazz from Hell" to beat the speaker down with,the sq on that album is as good as it gets & the material will seriously challenge a speaker system.
 
Johnny Canuck

Johnny Canuck

Banned
The Tragically Hip "Blow at High Dough". Not the crappy sounding "remastered" Greatest Hits version but the original "Up To Here" CD version. That bass drum kicks in and that awesome fuzzy guitar. Wow.
 
Sheep

Sheep

Audioholic Warlord
Audition the speakers with music you like. If they sound great with Norah Jones, but you barf at the site of her album, they might not the speakers for you. I bring my favorites.

SheepStar
 
no. 5

no. 5

Audioholic Field Marshall
Sheep said:
Audition the speakers with music you like. If they sound great with Norah Jones, but you barf at the site of her album, they might not the speakers for you. I bring my favorites.
good advice sheep, bring music you like, or it could get messy:

"what CD's do you have I could audition with?"

"well, we have the new Norah..."

"BALLLARRGGGGG!!"

"Dude! my floor!"

:p
 

baseman

Enthusiast
Steely Dan's Aja used to be popular for that purpose but what do I know, I'm old and that's what I used 25 years ago when I last auditioned speaks. Every audio store had a copy on VINYL back then. :cool:
 
Geno

Geno

Senior Audioholic
I've got a DVD-A Demo disc from Denon called "Sonic Boom" which contains some classical, Jazz, and big band. The first cut is a recording of "Also Sprach Zarathustra" that starts out with a bass note that'll dismember the structural supports of most buildings if you have a decent sub. Steely Dan's Gaucho DVD-A is my other favorite.
 
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dobyblue

dobyblue

Senior Audioholic
Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets - "The Dreaming Tree"

Great song to demo various elements as it contains percussion, drums, electric and acoustic guitar, chapman stick, flute, sax, violin.

Obviously taking something you like and are used to is the best thing to do, but definitely taking one or two different kinds of music is a good idea.

The last time I demo'd speakers I took DMB's Before These Crowded Street, Crystal Method's Trip Vegas and Tool's Undertow.
 
J

JaceTheAce

Audioholic
-Dire Straits "Money For Nothing"
-Toto "Pamela"
-Level 42 "Something About You"

...and various Mozart and Chopin albums
 
dave1490

dave1490

Audioholic
I think the really important thing with reference sounds is to make sure you're intimately familiar with whatever material you're taking.

in my opinon useing songs is to veriable.you need a pink noise genrater or at a cd with differnt tones all the same volume.
 
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