Bartok: The Miraculous Mandarin, Etc., Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati conducting, London 411 894-2, 1985. Track 10, the Allegro from Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, is the best test for bass response in full-range speakers and a powerful amp's ability to clarify extremely complex (and beautiful) orchestral passages. This cut also has the added benefit of driving most audio salesmen out of the listening room.
If you *don't* clearly hear the enormous bass drum that enters at about 3:00 minutes into the piece, then your system is simply missing the lowest octave. The entry of the bass drum should not just be a quiet suggestion of something going on in the bass, it should have the same full, expanding "bloom" as a large orchestral gong and be quite loud. Sometimes I do miss my Vandersteen 4's!
If you *don't* clearly hear the enormous bass drum that enters at about 3:00 minutes into the piece, then your system is simply missing the lowest octave. The entry of the bass drum should not just be a quiet suggestion of something going on in the bass, it should have the same full, expanding "bloom" as a large orchestral gong and be quite loud. Sometimes I do miss my Vandersteen 4's!