What are good songs to test speakers? Any suggestions?

[Titanium Dome]

I love these kinds of threads. Everytime they get started my collection gets an infusion of great media.

No kidding.

Can you believe it? I went to a craigslist listing that was poorly worded and listed in the wrong section and bought 50+ LPs today. Fifty LPs! Several of them were mentioned in this thread. Dammit!

If anyone thinks I went overboard, this guy had 75 crates of LPs, about 5,000 or so, plus a few thousand 45s. I just had to give up after a couple of hours. It was insane! I did dicker him down to less than a buck an album, even including the complete nine disc Karl Bohm set of Beethoven Edition 9 Symphonien on Deustche Grammaphon for under a buck.

Thankfully I just bought a manual turntable from a well-known person here, so for a couple of hours I've been doing the up-and-down dance listening to some of this stuff.

If not for this thread, I wouldn't even have stopped by this sale. Thanks, everyone.

[gferrell]

I would have done the same thing. My wife and I go in consignment shops all the time, she looks for old jewelry and I look for music.

[Mr. Widget]

Thankfully I just bought a manual turntable from a well-known person here, so for a couple of hours I've been doing the up-and-down dance listening to some of this stuff.

Dome bought a turntable? Did you find a cartridge with a titanium cantilever?

Back on topic... sort of, I'll list a few albums with above average sonics.

Every Nora Jones album. Vinyl or CD.
Dave's True Story (Eponymous 2002)
Herbbie Hancock River
Joni Mitchell Travelogue
Kate Bush Aerial
Mark Knopfler Kill to get Crimson

[baldrick]

Here's a Spotify list i've put together with lots of songs that are pretty cool to "test" with. The music warys a lot so probably music for most kind of tastes. I've a few more that I haven't sorted yet, but many cool songs as well, Audiophile 1 and Audiophile 2

My personal favorites is a norwegian artist called Kari Bremnes and espeically a live performance of Sovngjengersken. The part from 1.20-2.50 is amazing, I recently listened to this on a pair of 4350 and WOW!!!

[Ian Mackenzie]

Don't skip Jennifer Warnes "The Hunter" which really is far more dynamic a recording than the famous Famous Blue Raincoat

Agreed.

Not wanting to complicate a simple enough question but it depends on what and why you are testing in a loudspeaker?

I personally like the way some Chesky recordings are produced and find them on the money if you are attempting to assess the fidelity of your speakers.

If you are attempting to assess the dymanic qualities along then some recordings will do this but they can be so over produced that what is on the recording is hardly a realistic rendition of the actual event.

I recently went shopping for head phones and ended up with a set of Grado GSi1000 and a Burson Solist head amp.

The upshot is that very good headpones are far more revealing of a recording quality and production standards.

If you have access to some good Cans they may be the final arbitor of judging good recordings from bad to test a loudspeaker than a loudspeaker itself in anything but an ideal acoustic environment.

Of course the unfortunate reality is that some of your favourite tunes are only so so as far a recordings go but that is life.

[pathfindermwd]

Delighted to see a few votes for Mark Knopfler, who I always turn to offer quality music. I do wonder if anyone else finds his stuff to be a little Prozaic sometimes. He can sing a sad or happy song with absolutely no emotional inflection, the only clue is the words he uses, a sad guitar here and there. It's an interesting hands -off technique which leaves the listener to decide for themselves whether the subject merits an emotional investment. I say this in contrast to much of the music I was accustomed which, I realized in my late 20's seemed to try and over-stimulate to either over-reflection or all out partying, but always with some emotional drive.

The 90's were a real dry period for me (I still hate (HATE!) everything about grunge, and how it ended my generations party), my 80's music usually being party rock and the occasional rock ballad. When I saw that Mark had a new album out (Golden Heart) I bought it right away hoping to see a return to the sound I was more familiar with. I was frankly pretty disappointed upon first hearing it. But, I would find myself listening to it anyway because I found it relaxed me. Then I began to really like the instrumental attributes of the album, the more I listened through the years, the more amazed I became with the orchestral skill it took to put it all together. Golden Heart is still my favorite, and I think still his best work, my favorite: Done with Bonaparte.

Kill to get Crimson is a fine album also, my favorite there being "Heart Full Of Holes" and "Let It All Go". Shangri-La has many good songs like "Postcards From Paraguay" and "The Trawlermans Song". I can't think of any of his works that lack in recording quality, they all seem pretty good, if it's your cup of tea.

Has anyone heard his last song on Shangri-La (a unusually fun song from him), "Don't Crash The Ambulance"? Who do you think he is talking about? I always thought it was George Bush SR./JR..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tswu4a7Ztt8

[DavidF]

No kidding.

Can you believe it? I went to a craigslist listing that was poorly worded and listed in the wrong section and bought 50+ LPs today. Fifty LPs! Several of them were mentioned in this thread. Dammit!

If anyone thinks I went overboard, this guy had 75 crates of LPs, about 5,000 or so, plus a few thousand 45s. I just had to give up after a couple of hours. It was insane! I did dicker him down to less than a buck an album, even including the complete nine disc Karl Bohm set of Beethoven Edition 9 Symphonien on Deustche Grammaphon for under a buck.

Thankfully I just bought a manual turntable from a well-known person here, so for a couple of hours I've been doing the up-and-down dance listening to some of this stuff.

If not for this thread, I wouldn't even have stopped by this sale. Thanks, everyone.

Adding to the classical theme there is one of my all time favs- Pictures At An Exhibition by Mussorgsky. A performance by the Chicago Symphony on RCA 3 mike-stereo Living Stereo. Lot's of dynamic contrasts, soundstage, "brasso " profundos in the horn section. Small speakers with supreme imaging can't get there with this recording.

More towards the intimate venue are recordings of Patricia Barber. Modern Cool and Nightclub are standouts. The former puts emphasis on bass and percussion interaction. The latter strong piano dynamics.

[Aaron]

These two stood out to me as having deep natural sounding bass...and just being loads of fun to listen to and watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g9poWKKpbU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2s5ev0i8tM

[BMWCCA]

You're not actually suggesting that you'd use the YouTube audio to test your system, are you?

[gferrell]

You're not actually suggesting that you'd use the YouTube audio to test your system, are you?

Compression sucks!

[hjames]

Delighted to see a few votes for Mark Knopfler, who I always turn to offer quality music. I do wonder if anyone else finds his stuff to be a little Prozaic sometimes. He can sing a sad or happy song with absolutely no emotional inflection, the only clue is the words he uses, a sad guitar here and there. It's an interesting hands -off technique which leaves the listener to decide for themselves whether the subject merits an emotional investment. I say this in contrast to much of the music I was accustomed which, I realized in my late 20's seemed to try and over-stimulate to either over-reflection or all out partying, but always with some emotional drive.

The 90's were a real dry period for me (I still hate (HATE!) everything about grunge, and how it ended my generations party), my 80's music usually being party rock and the occasional rock ballad. When I saw that Mark had a new album out (Golden Heart) I bought it right away hoping to see a return to the sound I was more familiar with. I was frankly pretty disappointed upon first hearing it. But, I would find myself listening to it anyway because I found it relaxed me. Then I began to really like the instrumental attributes of the album, the more I listened through the years, the more amazed I became with the orchestral skill it took to put it all together. Golden Heart is still my favorite, and I think still his best work, my favorite: Done with Bonaparte.

Kill to get Crimson is a fine album also, my favorite there being "Heart Full Of Holes" and "Let It All Go". Shangri-La has many good songs like "Postcards From Paraguay" and "The Trawlermans Song". I can't think of any of his works that lack in recording quality, they all seem pretty good, if it's your cup of tea.

Has anyone heard his last song on Shangri-La (a unusually fun song from him), "Don't Crash The Ambulance"? Who do you think he is talking about? I always thought it was George Bush SR./JR..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tswu4a7Ztt8

With Knopfler, its always about the lyrics - such amazing storytelling -
The Border Reiver, So Far From the Clyde, Piper to the End, Boom Like that (Ray Kroc!!)

Don't forget Mark's new one, Privateer - quite a stunning album!

[Krunchy]

Dome bought a turntable? Did you find a cartridge with a titanium cantilever?

That was the firts thing I thought too Music Good.
The titanium cartridge, classic!

[Titanium Dome]

Dome bought a turntable? Did you find a cartridge with a titanium cantilever?

That was the firts thing I thought too Music Good.
The titanium cartridge, classic!

That's some funny stuff right there.


Okay, it was pretty funny.

The truth is, it's a replacement for my aging Technics Direct Drive unit whose bearings are past their prime. I've never been without a turntable, since there are a few albums I can't enjoy (or listen to) any other way.

I've taken very good care of my vinyl over the years, so the replacement turntable really made them sound interesting again. However, many of the ones I bought, while they pass visual inspection, are much worse sounding than my own. So now I'll attempt to clean them; otherwise they're not listenable.

[dr_gallup]

The Shure V15 type 5 used a beryllium stylus shank.

[Aaron]

You're not actually suggesting that you'd use the YouTube audio to test your system, are you?

I use the download helper extension for Firefox to copy the 720p resolution videos. The sound quality seems to be better than many of my CDs.