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What recordings do you use?

I have two recordings i use to test peoples stereo system for being able to unravel low level detail. One is for the analog front end. On the Second Winter LP the very first song "Memory Pain" just a split second before the guitar opens up the song you can hear a cough. A turntable which is a set up properly should present this. What's also great about this album to is it is a three sided album and since side four is blank you can use it for adjusting youe anti skating.
For testing the digital realm I use a song off of Stan Ridgway's Holiday in Dirt "Beloved Movie Star"(the cb demille mix). As it states in the liner notes on the third verse if you listen very carefully you can hear Stan's dog Bart barking away. If your system reproduces these then you have a very revealing system
What songs do you use for system testing?
qdrone
6 responses Add your response
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uru975
684 posts
 
For CD's Nat COle's Pick Yourself Up, right after "take a deep breath" you can hear Cole do that.
For Vinyl Vaughn William's The Lark Ascending with Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martins in the Fields with Iona Brown on the Violin, you should be able to hear her semi-quavers as the Lark ascends
A good copy of Bach's Tocata and Fugue in D major is also one of my standards
zinfan2
154 posts
 
When trying out new tubes in my system, I like to use Miles Davis and the Jazz Giants CD. I listen to hear how Milt Jackson's vibes ring out in the opening notes of the first cut and whether there is a relatively silent floor beneath Miles' trumpet when it first comes in. I then go on to John Fahey's Railroad I or Yellow Princess (LP or CD), to see if it sounds like a real guitar. Lately, I've been using a recording of Mahler's 4th: an arrangment for chamber ensemble conducted by Douglas Boyd that presents a lot of inner detail and different timbres, plus lets you judge how well a soprano sounds.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
Happy Holidays, Love Barney

I find the palpability and midrange liquidity staggeringly good on this disc. I also use it to test bass response. Barney really gets down on this disc, and holds nothing back. Amazing vocal range, amazing recording.

Cheers,
John :-)
qdrone OP
1,039 posts
 
Wow I didn't know that purple dinasour could wail! I guess you learn something new everyday. hehehe
mrtennis
3,295 posts
 
any decent stereo system can sound good with high quality recordings.

i use a cd to test for faults in the upper mids/lower treble region.

i use Dave Grusin, Discovered Again, "Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow" and Ravel, "alborado Gracioso", conducted by Ernest Ansermet.

the cymbal sound tells allo
consttraveler
250 posts
 
Bach Goldberg Variations, Glen Gould, for both CD and LP. Piano is the most difficult to reproduce(IMHO),and it is a very clean recording.

Dave
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