2. music
  3. 1168646635

best songs to discern a good system

I have been building an arsenal of music to test certain aspects of speakers for some time. Below is a list of what I use and why. I am interested to find out what others use and what they listen for in each selection.

Jennifer Warnes "Way down deep" off the cd "the Hunter". This is a great song and the lower bass is an african drum that is actually squeezed in order to get a unique sound. It is very tough for a subwoofer (the one note only kind) to reproduce this.

Vital Tech tones "VTT" this is a fantastic example of musical bass not just earth shattering low notes. Victor Wooten plays amazingly, even though this track is just to introduce the band it is one of my favorites.

Nine Inch Nails "into the void" I have heard this sound incredibly convincing on a pair of revel ultima studios. I use this track once I have found a system that has great imaging and soundstaging to test to make sure the kick drum sounds like a skin being struck and not a speaker.

Greg Brown "who killed **** Robin" great male vocals. The breathieness of the track is very lifelike on the correct system.

Diana Krall "Frim Fram Sauce" I use this track to see how liquid the system is. To determine if the instruments sound smooth and fluid from top to bottom.

Patricia Barber "Touch of trash" Mobile fidelity original master version. This is a great track to here image and sound stage of a small band and vocals.

The Eagles "Hotel California" from the JVC XRCD reissue. Great guitar to test the smoothness of the midrange.

The Sheffield Lab Drum and track Disc (JVC XRCD2 reissue). I try not to listen to test tracks even when auditioning new speakers, but tracks 1 and 2 speak volumes to how a good system can recreate a drum kit in your room.

Please let me know what you use. Thanks.
hahnzie

Showing 5 responses by hahnzie

hahnzie OP
19 posts
 
Warrenh,

Thanks for the input. I'll check the archives.
hahnzie OP
19 posts
 
Tim,

Glad to hear you liked it.
I just listened to "a nod to Bob" samples on Amazon. Sounds like they have some great artists on that one!
hahnzie OP
19 posts
 
The Greg Brown track is track 3 on "Honey in the Lions head". Even if your not a fan of Greg Brown you should definetly check that track out. On the right system it is "spooky real" how his sonorous voice resonates as if he is in the room right next to you.
hahnzie OP
19 posts
 
Tim,

Thanks for the response. I will check into these tracks to see if I can hear what you describe. Let me know how you like the Greg Brown track.
hahnzie OP
19 posts
 
The Billy Taylor is a good selection. I haven't heard of him before. I have been thinking about adding more piano to my aresonal. Someone was telling me a story about how they were at a big audio convention and they listened to some of the best speakers in the world. They went back to their rooms and then came back down to meet in the lobby. When the elevator door opened there was a live piano playing and everyone knew at an instant that it was a paiano and not a recording played through speakers. Regardless of how good the speakers are they typically loose some of the timber of a piano. With this story in mind, I was visiting in Montreal and went to a high end store where they sell Rockport speakers. They set up a demo for me and when they were tweaking the system beforeI entered the room I could already tell it would be hard to guess if it was a real piano in the next room or a recording. So far those are the only speakers I can say that about. I think this disk will be a great addition to the repritoir. Thanks for the post.
More to discover