What music do you test your system with?

This question has probably been posed before.

What music do you use to test an audio system?

I can remember pretty well that in the late 70s to the early 80s, it was usually a Steely Dan record...Aja and/or Goucho.

Late 80s to early 90s it was the B-52s "Cosmic Thing" and Rush's "Hold You Fire"

Late 90s- 2000s Massive Attack's "Mezzanine"
Donald Fagen's "Morph The Cat"

I know that I'm leaving out some, but this is what I can remember and think of off the top of my head. I usually find some well recorded classical or symphonic stuff to play as well and whatever was my favorite tunes at the time. Oh, and about any Capitol era Frank Sinatra!

I can't even answer my own simple question very simply.

heh.

Thanks for reading.
 
If I'm shopping for new gear, I use a mix of music I listen to a lot. Becasue that's what i want a system to play the best. Generally, I like to use middle-of-the-road recordings. I want to give a system something to "do" (Here! Make THIS sound good!)

If I'm making changes (tweaks) at home, it's usually one of these:

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (lp)
Willie Nelson - Stardust (lp)
Thelonious Monk - Miseroso (Riverside lp/stereo)
Lambchop - Is a Woman* (cd or lp)
Traffic - Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (lp)
Smog - A River Aint Too Much to Love (cd)
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - Master and Everyone* (cd or lp)

**The Lambchop and Bonnie Prince Billy albums are both engineered by Mark Nevers. Can't go wrong with that guy!
 
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I have a very few.

But this one covers most everything.

Dead Can Dance - Into the Labyrinth.

Get yourself a serious recording of this album (whether vinyl or CD), crank up the volume a bit, and enjoy.

If this record doesn't test your system, I don't know what will.
 

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I test it with John Denver then I go straight to the organ music. Theatre and Classical. I try to find the good recordings of the 32s.
 
I've already named a bunch of stuff in past test music threads, but why the hell not...

One of the best recordings I've heard is Al DiMeola's "Kiss My Axe" (LP or CD... Both are fantastic). Pat Metheny's made some great jazz/jazz-fusion recordings as well (like the live one from the early '90's called "The Road To You" and also the old 1978 Pat Metheny Group debut, which is awesome on vinyl... CD's good, but the original LP blows it away).

Classical is usually a good choice. The old CBS Great Performances CD's from the mid '80's are worth grabbing. And Deutsche-Grammaphon released a ton of great classical LP's in the '60's that sound incredible on a good system. RCA had their Living Stereo LP's, which also sound incredible. I prefer analog recordings though. I've never been much for digital classical (Not the big orchestra stuff at least... I've heard some good digital quartet/quintet stuff that sounded good though).

Dire Straits' "Communique" and "Love Over Gold" sound great on a good setup. I never liked the way "Making Movies" sounded, and I wish "Brothers In Arms" was an analog recording (It could have sounded so-much-better IMO).

Basically, with CD's, the key is to look for well-recorded music on uncompressed CD pressings (A lot of remastered reissues were compressed to the gills, which has a HUGE impact on the sound... Do yourself a favor and download the Dynamic Range Meter... I use the one for Foobar, and I use it all the time to check the dynamic-range of CD pressings I have... Comes in handy, especially when I have multiple pressings of the same album/recording). And in general, the best-sounding stuff tends to be recordings with a small number of instruments and no overdubs. When you get into 16 and 24-track recordings (or even more tracks than that with today's music), the music tends to sound less and less three-dimensional (the more tracks there are), although there ARE many great-sounding 16 and 24-track recordings. The old, early-stereo recordings were usually done with a small number of microphones and without any overdubs, and that's why they sound so-alive and 3D. It depends on the style of music too. Jazz and classical usually sound better than pop and rock recordings, though every genre has it's exceptions. Get to know the best mastering engineers (Steve Hoffman, Kevin Gray, Barry Diament, Bob Ludwig, etc., although not Ludwig's post-millenium mastering work... He started brickwalling once the Loudness Wars got into full swing). The mastering engineer has as big an impact on the sound of an LP/CD as the producer does, and yet most people don't have a clue. I obsess about this stuff, but for damn-good reason.

I pretty-much listen to anything nowadays when it comes to showing off my system (like the vinyl-rip of AC/DC's "Powerage" that I'm playing right now). After 3 years of trying to find the right sound, I seem to have reached one of the higher summits of hi-fi synergy. EVERYTHING sounds great now, even the stuff I used to specifically-avoid in the past. I love it. I finally have a system that can make OTHER audiophiles go, "Damn, that sounds good"... I thought I did before, but now I can see/hear where things weren't quite up to par... especially in the upper-bass, which was a bit boomy with my old speakers (No more boom anymore... No more blur either). It's a great feeling.

Just stick with 1st-pressings (usually from the country of origin) and you'll do well, but it helps to learn as much as you can about LP and CD pressings. The Steve Hoffman forum is a great place to learn that stuff. There's also the mono vs stereo issue, but I won't get into that here. It depends on the recording as well as the individual tastes of the listener.

*EDIT* - I'll throw another one out there just in case the OP is a hard rock fan. The German LP of Accept's "Balls To The Wall" is one of the better hard rock pressings I've heard over the years (I assume the US LP is decent too, but I haven't heard it). Great bass. If your speakers have some hard-hitting bottom-end, this album will show it off well... AC/DC's "Back In Black" and "For Those About To..." (Wharf) are both fantastic on vinyl (For AC/DC on CD, the Japanese 2nd-pressings and the Australian 1st-pressings are both great). Classic Bob Ludwig mastering at it's best. He used to be THE GUY back in the day, but sadly he caved in to the pressure from the label execs to "punch things up a few notches").
 
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I test with trance music , to see if the bass is ok and the highs are accurate .
 
All of my truly exceptional sounding pressings are marked with a red sticker on cover ... indicates to me a "hot" pressing. I use those records to test my system ... variety of genre's & artists and record labels. These represents about 5% of the vinyl I own.

I don't have my vinyl specially-labelled, but I do have my hard drives organized into different folders based on the quality of the files. Vinyl-rips go in one folder while hi-res digital goes in another, plus I have my test CD folder where I have discs from Sheffield Labs, Chesky Records, and others (like the Ultimate Demonstration Disc and the Sheffield Jazz CD and Drum CD.. The drum disc is great). But I also have separate folders for my DCC stuff and another for my MoFi discs (Same goes for my Sony Mastersound CD's... I have yet to hear a Sony Mastersound CD that I didn't like a lot).

I do have certain LP's that are definitely hot pressings, but no red stickers. Strickly by memory...

Right now I'm listening to a Brilliant Classics Tchaikovsky CD box set of his complete symphonies (Riccardo Muti cond. Philharmonia and Philadelphia Orchestras). Great-sounding set. It's got the 1812 Overture with the canons and the bells, which is great on a system that can reproduce it with some degree of accuracy. BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! I dig it, man. That set's got some bass on it. The hardest thing to reproduce properly, outside of maybe cathedral choral stuff, is the heavy duty, super-dynamic, high-volume classical with a lot of loud brass in it. Big brass sections really give your system a workout. That's certainly gonna' factor into my next gear purchase. I love my 2000x, but I want just a bit more clarity in the mids and highs, but with the same kind of sound-signature (It's getting to be a fine line at this point though).
 
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I have a very few.

But this one covers most everything.

Dead Can Dance - Into the Labyrinth.

Get yourself a serious recording of this album (whether vinyl or CD), crank up the volume a bit, and enjoy.

If this record doesn't test your system, I don't know what will.

Great call and excellent album. :thmbsp:
 
Mine are pretty mundane choices.

1. Donald Fagen/ Pretty much anything just on the production value. Add all of
Steely Dan to this one.

2. Norah Jones/ "Come Away with Me"/ I've heard it so many times I
know just what her voice and the piano should sound like.

3. Diana Krall.....see above:D

4. Female jazz vocalists in general. I'm listening for the brushes on a drum, light cymbals, and whispered voices.


5. Sade/ Usually "Stronger Than Pride" or "Lovers Rock" Good strong
bass lines, the different layers sometimes added to her music,
dynamics.


Boring but they've served me well.

...r1
 
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Dire straits- brothers in arms
Pink Floyd Meddle
America- greatest hits
AC/DC back in black
Stanley Clarke -School Days
Miles Davis- Kind of blue
Sonny Rollins - Saxaphone Collosus
 
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