A Classical Sampler can be helpful.
papostol said:
What are some suggestions (favorites) of recordings for the following:
Imaging
Soundstaging
Depth
Midrange quality
High Freq. quality
Low freq. quality
Thanks
It's the midrange and upper midrange I emphasize most. No speaker is good without a good midrange, and a peaky upper midrange bothers me. The recordings I use usually have bass, treble and highs on them, too, of course. My initial listening is of full orchestra with massed upper strings, male and female vocals, mixed chorus, and piano. A few well chosen tracks can allow Most speakers don't make it past the first three . . .
The first thing I look for is a natural balance. A speaker with an even frequency response, wide even dispersion, and low distortion usually takes care of image and depth, not to mention transient response. Wide dispersion speakers tend to be room friendly, as well. As far as the image is concerned, I look for consistency and believability.
Classical samplers can be helpful as they usually include a wide variety of music. Having a variety of material on a disc can save a lot of bother for both you and the sales people. If you are a techie, I suppose you could burn your own sampler.
The sampler I use is an old one, the Denon 1985/1986 New Releases Classical Sampler, Denon GES-9079. I mostly use tracks 9, 10 and 11, which are the beginning of Schubert's 9th Symphony, a passage from Weber's opera, Der Freischuetz, and Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavlier. The recordings are pretty good and I keep on using it for consistency.
I've also used Beethoven's 9th Symphony with Leibowitz and the Royal Philharmonic on Chesky and with Suitner and the Staatskapelle Berlin on Denon.
For male vocal it's usually Roger Whittaker or Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits).
For female vocals I often try Diana Krall, Patricia Barber, or Angele Arsenault.
For mixed chorus there is always Mozart's Requiem (I use the Colin Davis recording), Handel's Messiah (Shaw on Telarc), and of course, the last movement of Beethoven's 9th.
Earl Wild, piano, Chopin's Ballades and Scherzos, on Chesky is very fine.
A speaker with a low frequency cut-off of 40 Hz (-3 dB) is adequate for most music, assuming it can reach the required out put levels, and will have useful bass somewhat below that. A double bass goes down to about 41 Hz, and Diana Krall's Love Scenes is good for that.
I rather prefer using a subwoofer for the deep bass because it can be placed where the bass response is best, which is not usually the best place for the main speakers.
The easiest material for bass is pipe organ. The World of the Organ on London has a recording of Wachet Auf which uses a 16 foot organ pedal (32 Hz). Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor with Michael Murray has a 32 foot organ pedal (16 Hz)--don't be disappointed if your main speakers don't do anything with that one! A lot of subwoofers won't, either, but it can give some idea of one of the low frequency limits of your the speakers.
