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Whats your favourite track to play to the non hi-fi visitor?

Lets be clear, the uninitiated offer an opportunity to show off your hi-fi, and give them an unexpected experience. Most visitors wonder why there is laboratory equipment and Stanly Kubrick 2001 monoliths in the lounge - some even make the connection to the wall of vinyl.

Time to pull out the Matt Bianco LP ’Who’s side are you on’, after warming up the system for an hour or so.
Some people don’t get it at all, but most can be impressed - but not with extended playtime. So, its a rare person that will sit and listen, as the demo nearly always gets turned down to background music to allow conversation.

I once had a good mate over for an evening of music and the odd wine, at one point during the evening he rushed to the kitchen and came back with spoons, which he played alongside the hi-fi to everything - including Pink Floyd. Mind you after a few wines it did bizarrely become a fitting accompaniment.

Whats your ’knock them dead track’ to play to non audiophiles?
128x128surferandy
dhukaudionut's avatar
dhukaudionut
3 posts
 
Oh me. There are a lot of choices to select from!  I am choosing totally opposites here:
 Itzhak Perlman, Tchaikovsky: Concerto in D for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 35, London Symphony Orchestra -- choice track - "I Allegro moderato" (all 17:18 of it). Chesky Records 1988, CD-12. 
  Nickel Creek, choice tracks "Reasons Why" and "When You Come Back Down" Sugar Hill  Records, 2003, SACD.  Both are different in music their genres and recording technologies, but each are awesome in their own right. The clarity of the strings rule in both instances. The violin cries with emotion and the mandolin and guitar warm the soul.  A true test for your speakers!
erezitz's avatar
erezitz
7 posts
 
Agree with most, although you should ask your guests what they like.
Nobody mentioned London Grammar - Hey Now?Fantastic demo track!  
mdsesq
6 posts
 
Ride - Vapour Trail and Leave Them All Behind
Talk Talk - Life’s What You Make It
Bjork - Hunter
The Kills - List of Demands (Reparations)
nutty
2,867 posts
 
Bozzio, Levin, Stevens, Black Light Syndrome - CD 
"Falling In Circles"

Donald Fagen, Morph The Cat - CD
"What I Do"

N
rjamilla
23 posts
 
I don't ever try to impress my friends with my stereo. I did invite a friend over who had inquired about my stereo while we having drinks at a bar. I went to the bathroom while he was listening and fell and knocked my amp off off the rack its was on. The rack and amp are very heavy. I don't know how he did it. He was drunk, I guess and probably blacked out and fell. I've never been that furious in my life. I ask him to leave immediately. If he hadn't I think I might have at a minimum seriously injured him. My stereo is now not a reason to come over and be impressed by.

If anybody asks while they're over, I ask them what they want to hear. I don't really care if they're impressed or not. But, if they want to hear their favorite song, I oblige. If they request something that I know won't sound all that spectacular, I suggest something else that is similar. I figure if it's song they're familiar with, they'll figure out what they've been missing out on their own.
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