Progressive Rock

Being a HUGE Gentle Giant fan, I have often used the Octopus CD, along with Masque by Brand X, and a few others to audition audio equipment. I have always tried to purchase gear that was the most accurate, revealing, transparent, etc. I think if you have some good recordings of piano, acoustic guitar, drums, cymbals, violin, brass, concentrate on equipment that makes all of this sound natural. Then poorly recorded music or electric instruments will be as good as they can be. You don't have to design a system around Prog or Classical, as mentioned, stress accuracy and you'll be fine.
Sonny

Iseekheils --

I'm not sure if you own a turntable, but you simply haven't HEARD "Octopus" til you've heard a decent vinyl pressing of this great recording.

In my system, the bass is at least a full octave deeper, and all other parameters (dynamics, high-end clarity, soundstage, etc.) is noticably better...

I also listen primarily to "prog rock" and am fortunate enough to have a good friend who constantly seeks out "new" GREAT prog rock bands -- those of you who can find 'em, and are fans of Genesis, YES, ELP. etc. will probably really like "Ad Infinitum", Simon Says "Paradise Square", and a few others that are recent, clean, dynamic digital recordings.

I am probably quite a bit younger than some here so I did not grow up with 70's prog.
But I am heavily into modern Prog Rock and you would be suprised that almost all prog these days has very high production values, much more so than average music recorded today.

If you like stuff like Yes, ELP, Kansas e.t.c check out

Spocks Beard
Arena (ex Marillion members, brilliant)
Porcupine Tree
Ayreon
Enchant

and prog rock with a bit more harder edge
Dream Theater
Shadow Gallery
Symphony X
Pain Of Salvation
Threshold

Well, since I started this thread I figured I would weigh in. Besides for all the new prog rock suggestions, which I thank you for, I have concluded the following: While I agree that a great system should be able to reproduce any type of music, my question still remains; at what price point? Assuming that most of us have some limit as to what we can spend on this hobby/obsession, some tradeoffs have to be made. For example to reproduce the music I like realistically (using live music as the benchmark as opposed to audiophile values or what just gives me the most enjoyment), requires certain basics. One is large, floorstanding speakers, a larger than "average" amp and yes, even a subwoofer - base pedal afficiados know what I mean - all capable of playing @ 100 decibals+. All of this naturally eats into the budget of say more "resolving" equipment just to provide the necessary shear volume and power. Second, there are practical considerations. I loved the sound/imaging/disappearing act of the Martin Logans I listened to. But you can't ride them at the levels I listen (per 2 dealers) or they are going to simply break eventually. Not to mention the size room needed to set them up properly. In conclusion, I'm going to stick with my current system (12K and running) and just modify and tweak just to keep things interesting. That's not to say I won't listen to the ATCs that Lazarus recommended! If they are good enough for Gabriel and Gilmore - enough said! Thank you all again. Matt......

Yes9 the price point for good quality is always going to be subjective. For what are you willing to settle? I have about about $2300 in my system which I do not consider to be state-of-the-art. BUT it is nearly as good as ALbert Porters system!

Those ATCs are really fantastic speakers. I was in the market for a pair for several months, but could not find any so I grudgingly went another direction. Based on my ML expereince I would prefer the ATCs, but it's always up to the buyer. I'm not sure if Peter Gabriel and David Gilmour went out and bought a pair of them though. They really don't have much control over what the studio happens to buy.