I have a number of tracks that I use. I still use ELP's "Lucky Man" to see if I can shut an amp down and hear the low frequency stuff. Then Diana Krall "Garden in the Rain" to see if I can hear the noise suppression pumping in and out.
Three tracks? Of music???! Holy expectation bias, Batman! We would need to do a double-blind to be sure if they really can hear the difference between U2 and Bonnie Raitt. That is why I put on the XLO Test CD and give them the Radio Shack SPL meter. You should see the reaction! Jaw-dropping!
"I still use ELP's "Lucky Man" to see if I can shut an amp down and hear the low frequency stuff."
russ69-
I brought my copy of ELP to hear "Lucky Man" on the uber tables at a show. The room I entered was just ending a Classical piece with listeners really into it.
I gave my LP to the host(who was British) and he smiled and nodded with approval. He made an announcement he was going to play it. One guy dressed in a suit(he was British also)immediately made known his disgust of ELP & R&R. It was the highlight of the day to see that! The music selection cleared half the room, by the way.
The host then thanked me for bringing my LP. I think he was burned out on his show demo tunes.
Lucky Man will definitely show if a system is up to snuff, not just the dramatic ending with the killer low end, but the entire song.
Any of the stereo recordings from my Rhino Records Roy Orbison LP set. My old EMI, Blumlein-miked, Vittorio Gui-conducted "Marriage of Figaro" LP set. Bowie's Blackstar CD. For me, clarity, imaging and natural tone quality are the key factors, not how deep the bass might go, how much punch there is or how loudly the stereo can play.
@tablejockey - At a 'Vegas T.H.E. Show, asked a "very proper" host to play Siouxsie and the Banshees "The Killing Jar". He removed it about a minute in. This is a very active and revealing track. Maybe he thought the song was about him?
Dean Peer - bass guitarist Rickie Lee Jones - Pop Pop Hugh Masekela - Hope Trijntje Oosterhuis - Human Nature song
IMO if you are not using an excellent recording then you are only hearing a compressed sound which in my experience can tell you nothing about how a system can reproduce music. Just my opinion.
Yes I did hear the holographic synth and synthesized bass towards the end of Lucky Man even on the little Vanatoos. Nice recording overall. 8-9 out of ten there I’d reckon as pop/rock recordings go. I’ll give it a spin on my bigger stuff when I get a chance for comparison. Hadn’t played it in quite a while.
First-Magic Carpet Ride from any version of the album (Second) or any early version of Steppenwolf Gold. This is most definitely not so in the recent Analogue Production version. Chad said that he used master tapes on each song on the album--- when available, but clearly, the masters were not available for that song as it sounds pinched and wooden and just awful compared to the Steppenwolf Gold pressing I use to impress visitors.
Hmmm. 1. The Riverboat Song, Ocean Colour Scene 2. Master recording of side 2, Dark Side Of The Moon, Pink Floyd. 3. Master recording of The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, Traffic.
Spanish Harlem-Rebeca Pidgeon - Female Vocals El Macho-Mark Knopfler- Bass/Subwoofer Test Come On In My Kitchen-Cassandra Wilson- Another Subwoofer Test Seven Days-Sting- Total Dynamics/Clarity She- James Newton Howard-Total Dynamics/Clarity Couldn't resist 5!
Top Two: Friend of the Devil, Sugar Magnolia - Grateful Dead American Beauty Three: 'Round Midnight - Linda Ronstadt & Nelson Riddle 'Round Midnight album (or almost ANY other song on this for true vocals)
@cd318 - what recording of the Sinatra tune? +1 on Dire Straits, 'Why Worry' - preferably from the MoFi 45 Ponty, Dimeola, Clark - Rights of Strings CD - "Renaissance" Yuko Mabuchi Trio (45 lp) - "On Green Dolphin Street" Janelle Monae - Dirty Computer LP or streaming - "Django Jane"
These three really bring out the best in my system:
Dire Straits - Tunnel of Love (Making Movies Remaster 180gm LP).
Vivaldi - Four Seasons (Chasing the Dragon D2D LP). This is a spectacular recording - the D2D leaves you breathless. I’m not a huge “Four Seasons” guy but the recording is something really special.
Here are a few: “Flight of the Cosmic Hippo”, Bela Fleck and the Flektones ”The Tennessee Waltz”, Holly Cole Trio “Khadra’s Dance”, from “Belshazzar’s Feast”, op. 51, by Sibelius, Slovak Phil ”Gaia”, James Taylor’s Hourglass ”Saturn”, Holst’s “Planets”, Berlin Phil, von Karajan ”This Train Still Runs”, Janis Ian’s Breaking Silence ”Pathway to Glory”, Loggins and Messina, Full Sail ”Too Proud”, Mighty Sam McClain, Give it up to Love “Peter Byrne’s Fancy”, Soundtrack from Hear My Song ”Lonesome Suzie”, Blood, Sweat and Tears 3
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