Which CD's for Imaging/Soundstage?

Mark Nauseef CDs by now non existing CMP label.

Daboa - From the Gekko
American Beauty soundtrack

Soul Coughing - "El Oso"

Tom Waits - Swordfishtrombones
Ry Cooder & V.M. Bhatt - A Meeting by the River
Pretty much anything by Patricia Barber

Classical: Orff - Carmina Burana
Jazz: Cannonball Adderly - Live In San Fransico
Female Vocal: Rickie Lee Jones - Pirates
Classic Rock: Anything engineered or produced by Eno or Alan Parsons
Pop/Alternative: The Flaming Lips - Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

I'm the bass player on the Patricia Barber cd's, and while I LOVE the instrumental timbres, I'm not nuts about the sondstaging

Mikejazz,

I forgot to include the CD Companion in my list, I think it is an excellent example. From the CD I gather it was a very intimate sourrounding and there could be no more than 50 folks around during the session. Is it right?

actually it was a club that seats about 200, and it was standing room only with about 300! But they were all fans, so you could hear a pin drop

Mikejazz.... Nice work man! Keep on keepin' on!!

Hi Mikejazz,

Would you mind telling us something about your system? Any cd you'll recommend?

Elton John:
Madman Across the Water

This one is not available, as far as I know, as a CD, but on Vinyl it is an ASTOUNDING and most startling demonstration of soundstage and imaging. It is only percussion instruments and is quite modern in the two compositions. The album is called "Percussions in Colors". It is on RCA red label in the "Direct Masters Series" ("Highest Fidelity / Direct-to-Disk Edition"), Percussionist Sumire Yoshihara plays arrangements by Takemitsu and Ichiyangi. If you ever see this one come up used anywhere snatch it up! I imagine it would be difficult to find. I think it is also a good test of your system as percussion instruments tend to be challenging to make sound natural in reproduction. The effect of this particular LP is pinpoint imaging, wide and deep staging against a BLACK background. Very stark.

spies-by way of the world. i bought this in 91 when one of the magazines recommended it as the best cd to listen to imaging, etc. I still say it is great for that, contemporary jazz.

Cassandra Wilson: New Moon Daughter, Belly of the Sun
Tin Hat Trio: Helium,Rodeo Eroded
Harry Connick Jr.: Loftys Roach Soufle,Come By Me
Eric Clapton: Unplugged
Moulin Rouge Soundtrack: Roxanne
Tom Waits: Mule Variations

Anyone care to add to this list some of the newer offerings that you may have come across?

I've been listening to some of the new SACD remasters of the Dylan catalog. The soudstage/imaging is exceptional! As for redbook CDs, there are are few that come to mind:

Eva Cassidy "Live at Blues Alley"
Tierney Sutton "Unsung Heroes"
Hank Mobley "Soul Station" [most of my jazz is on LP, not CD, so I can't comment about other jazz CDs]

I have heard Eva Cassidy a few times as it is one of my frieds favourite CD's, however I just could not relate to her style of music. The sound was very good indeed, excellent vocals and great atmosphere.

Another fried has dropped two of the Rolling Stones Hybrid SACD's which I need to check out on my system.

I bet "Blood on the tracks" must be very good, have you heard it?

Zakir Hussein, Making Music: right on! One of the best sounding CDs I own, and great for soundstaging.

Another great one is Mahler's 3rd Symphony, Rattle/Birmingham Symphony Orchestra on EMI label. This one is good for soundstage DEPTH as well as width.

I cannot agree more on the Making Music album, I have had it since last ten years and is never too far away from the player. Track 1 is an absolute gem in terms of what making music is all about, the listener is forced to believe that he is listening the to the instruments talking to each other. All credit to the musicians who have used them so skillfully.

Ryan Adams-Heartbreaker(Try track #5)
Eva Cassidy-Songbird(Track #1)
Ricki Lee Jones-Ricki Lee Jones

Dean Peer - Ucross. It's hard to believe that you can get soundstaging from a single instrument, but this excellent recording really does set up an enveloping sound, with excellent imaging. I first heard it on a pair of Martin Logans, and I bought it immediately. It's my de facto test CD for auditioning new gear.

Tom.

JS Bach's Musical Offering(on the same cd with Art of the Fugue),Academy of St. Martin in the Fields orchestra.
The Musical Offering is contrapuntal and in most parts,you hear three horizontal lines being played at the same times as instruments and groups of instruments exchange parts.
I judge how well a system images by how well I can follow the melody,countermelody,and third line defining the harmony, without the speakers getting in the way.

Anyone care to add any SACD's to this list? I recently got the 963SA and on the Philips sampler I had heard the James Taylor's "Jump up behind me" which I thought had great soundstage overall. I do not have the album Hourglass which this track is taken from but I might just get the SACD version of this album. I am wondering if anyone has heard the SACD version of Hourglass, and if they have, could possibly share their opinion on it.

Cheers!

Quadophile.... yes, the remastered hybrid "Blood on the Tracks" is great!!! So is "Oh Mercy." "Blonde on Blonde" doesn't sound as good as the others, but still better than the original CD release.