What music/movies are on your audition list?

[jcsprankle]

I am preparing to audition several brands of speakers this weekend (including B&W, Axiom, Paradigm and Energy) and I'm compiling the list of music/movies that I'll bring with me to use for each audition. I like most types of music (except country) but I lean most towards hard rock/alternative. Here's what I have so far:

Music:
- Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon (Tracks Breath and Money) for details
- Godsmack, Faceless (Track: Serenity) for cool bass groove and bongos
- Godsmack, Awake (Track: Spiral) for heavy guitar and picking
- Phish, Junta (Track: David Bowie) for detailed guitar picking
- Something slow and light like Mazzy Star for my wife

Movies:
- True Lies, Blowing up bridge scene for obvious reasons

Any suggestions of music/movies to add that would help me evaluate these excellent speakers? What's on your audition lists?

 

[BMO]

The Cd I used when auditioning speakers is
Shpongle: Tales of the Inexspressible. Lots of sonic layering
Ray Montford: Shed Your Skin; Acoustical guitar,very clear and powerful.

 

[j_garcia]

Try a search, this has been done a number of times. I don't think you can see the old contest threads, but this same question was a recent one and there were a LOT of replies. Sucks because I had all my most common ones in there...

From Godsmack, I use Other Side for auditioning. The SACD is very good, but even the redbook CD versions are well recorded.

Dave Mathews Band - Crash

Loreena McKennit - Live in Paris and Toronto

Patricia Barber - Cafe Blue or Companion (live)

 

[Pyrrho]

You should use all of the kinds of music to which you listen. I listen to a considerable amount of classical and acoustic jazz, and would therefore be concerned with how well the speakers reproduce such music. If you don't listen to such music, then it doesn't matter how well your speakers reproduce it. You should also use music with which you are familiar, so that you have some idea of how it should sound. Of course, certain kinds of music (e.g., synthesizers, etc.) and heavily processed materials (e.g., the Beatles Sgt. Pepper, etc.) are such that what it is "supposed" to sound like may be difficult to determine.

 

[jcsprankle]

Found it...

Thanks for the advice. Here is the contest link, in case you wanted to refer to it: here

 

[sjdgpt]

Movies:
- True Lies, Blowing up bridge scene for obvious reasons

Any suggestions of music/movies to add that would help me evaluate these excellent speakers? What's on your audition lists?

True Lies is great for other reasons .... human speech. Human speech can be as difficult to handle as instruments or song.

Pick a scene with more than one character. The hotel scene comes to mind. Are the vocal sounds properly located in the sound stage. Are male and female voices proper sounding. Can you turn down the volume and still distinguish the voices etc. (remember the scene is suppose to be "sexy" with low volume, hushed tones).

 

[furrycute]

Definitely bring along a bass heavy CD. And when you are listening to the main speakers, make sure the sub is off, that way you'll know how well the mains can reproduce the low frequencies.

For a stereo setup, there is just nothing that compares to the sound coming out of a pair of true full range mains.

 

[Sheep]

DVDs: King Kong - All thats needed.

CDs: What I listen to, NOT what is recorded through a gold microphone, in a diamond room. Whats the point of testing speakers with music you never listen to?

SheepStar

 

[Blundaar]

The one DVD I've always used is Disney's Dinosaur (DTS preferred).
It will tell you in the first 15 minutes everything you want to know about the speakers you're auditioning.

 

[BBrunner]

I have a couple mix CDs that I have compiled. They include tracks I am VERY familiar with. As far as movies, I don't use them to test speakers.

 

[jcsprankle]

I have a couple mix CDs that I have compiled. They include tracks I am VERY familiar with. As far as movies, I don't use them to test speakers.

What process do you use to mix CDs while maintaining the CD quality from the originals? I was going to do this but realized that I have only made CDs from MP3 files and I didn't want to risk degrading the audio quality.

 

[3db]

here's my list and the reason behind it.

For music;

Tchaikovsky violin Concerto in D. A real acid test of tweeters. If the tweeters are bright, this will bring it out like no other piece of music. Also when the whole orchestra is engaged, it will determine the speakers ability to resolve the instruments without sounding like a clusterf?ck of instruments making noise together.

Dave Matthews Band "Along these Crowded Streets" another good CD to see if the speakers are able to resolve the individual instruments

Phish Farmhouse. Good test of bass. Its not the deepest bass but its fast moving. Good way of checking to see how the speakers handle fast changes in bass pitch.


movies;

U571, Rivots popping and hittting steal.. Does it sound like that or some poor attempt. Depth charges and water splashes. Should hear good deep bass and realistic water spalshes. Does it sound real?

Master & Commander. Opening scene, IF you don't feel like your in the boat, then the system missed the boat. The attack on the boat. hearing the whipping sound of the cannon balls chained together to saw the mast down. Of course the deep sonic bass explosions.

Men in Black. When Jay drags the table across the floor whil etaking the test. If scratching the balckboard gives you the willies, then a good system will do the same here. It alwasy makes the back of my hair stand up when I hear that. *shudders*


Sheep makes a good point. If your not familiar with any of this, then your not going to be able to use the material evaluate a system because you have no idea what it should sound like in the 1st place.

 

[Kai]

I use an Annie Lennox cd for her vocals are clear and very strong. I use AC/DC Back in Black for guitar work and bass.

I like the Master and Commander movie for the gun battles and voices.

 

[Johnd]

The Ten Commandments 50th Anniversary Edition...released today, and en route.

I already have most of the other new classics...Master and Commander, Patriot, Gladiator, U-571, Predator, Star Wars 1, 2, & 3, Titanic, LOR, Apollo 13, etc., etc., etc. Happy viewing!

 

[Johnd]

As far as SACD:

Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Miles Davis/John Coltrane...

 

[indcrimdefense]

DVD:
Heat - gunfight in the street, if at sufficient volumes neighbors may call cops & report gunfire
U-571- depth charges, & other good scenes as well
Black Hawk Down- about 70% of the movie is a battle, take your pick
Drumline is not bad for drum effects, but movie is awful
Saving Private Ryan - like you have to ask which scene
Band of Brothers - the attack on a fixed position of 88's early in the series, but all the battle scenes are good
star wars III - at the very beginning of movie, just after the yellow type fades from screen & a space ship goes by - at sufficient volumes this will move furniture & i dont have a sub

CD
Sting - All This Time (live) - fields of gold for bass, entire cd for music
Rachel Yamagata - track 1, 3, 5 - vocals, music
Diana Krall - girl in the other room - sacd surround, vocals, piano, music
neenna freelon - shaking free sacd
ray brown trio - live at loa - summerwind sacd, piano, soundstage, imaging
patricia barber - take your pick
about any jazz recorded in the 50's - bill evans trio, dave brubeck for noise floor & piano
dvorak - 7th, 8th & 9th symphonies - if interested email me & will give the best cd's by company
most anything from telarc is very well recorded & make great demo discs
van cliburn on sacd - piano, imaging, soundstage, does the piano sound distinct or is it swallowed by the symphony

 

[Jim N.]

I rip CD's of familiar pieces specifically for testing when I shop for speakers. They usually contain:

1) nimbly played acoustic guitar. I use Leo Kottke's "Vaseline Machine Gun"
2) solo acoustic piano to check for "glare / excess brightness"
3) song with a lot of clear, prominent cymbals. Bill Bruford "Sample and Hold"
4) vocals that have lyrics that contain frequent "S" and "T" sounds to check for sibilance. Steely Dan "Babylon Sisters"
5) complex multi instrument passages
6) fast, bass heavy song. Pet Shop Boys "Domino Dancing"
7) solo cello
8) song with brass sections to see if I can differentiate instruments. Steely Dan "Deacon Blues"
9) harmony vocals to see if I can differentiate the individual voices
10) a good recording of Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" and it's loud kettle drums or "Also Sprach Zarathustra"
11) Fast electric ensemble piece. Liquid Tension Experiment "Paradigm Shift"
12) Acoustic ensemble piece. Return to Forever "The Romantic Warrior"
13) a very dymanic piece that shifts quickly between soft and loud passages