Thiel Owners

To add to the topic idea proposed by ronkent, in no particular order:

-  "Brothers In Arms" Dire Straits (Mobile Fidelity, 180g, 45 rpm)
-  "The Trinity Session" Cowboy Junkies (Analogue Productions, 200g, 33 rpm)
-  "The Joshua Tree" U2 (Quality Record Pressings,180g, 33 rpm)
-  "Time Out" Dave Brubeck Quartet (Analogue Productions, 200g, 45 rpm)
-  "Blade Runner Soundtrack" Vangelis (Audio Fidelity, 180g, red vinyl)

These albums are what I use most when critical listening is needed, but I can get away by using two more than anything else.  First, I use "Brothers In Arms" as my rock reference:  "Money for Nothing" is an especially great track because of that explosive drum opening & Knopfler's searing guitar solo. The whole album is simply tremendous sounding, both musically & in an engineering sense.

"The Trinity Session" by the Cowboy Junkies is the second one. The entire album was recorded at Toronto's Church of the Holy Trinity using a single microphone, so the feeling you get is very intimate & raw...you can hear every little breath, fingering on fret boards, foot taps, etc.  The recording is so revealing.  But, most of all, it's Margo Timmins' haunting vocals that make this a reference album.  If the female voice is the most difficult instrument to record & reproduce well, this album will show you what your system's capable of. I love this record...

Looking forward to what others have to share!

Arvin

Nice list -Arvinkeep me posted on any Audio shops that you visit there in Denver and surrounding areas.  Happy Listening!

hi Guys,   thanks for playing.   this is tough as i could have easily listed 50.  Half my collection is classical but i am going to focus on pop and rock since i play it more often when trying out new stuff.  Great list Arvin as i like all those, but mine are on silver discs as my trusty 37 year old Oracle/SME/Clearaudio does not get a lot of use.  Jafant:  which recording of DOFP as i never heard one sound great though i have always loved that album?
1.  James McMurtry-too long in the wasteland.  great songs and great recording.  the last cut is a total hoot and a real good test of a system's ability to place lots of vocals in space.
2.  Kim Ritchey-Rise.  she is such a great but quiet artist.
3. Yello-One Second:  totally fun.  the first cut alone makes it worth having.

4.  Mark Knopfler-Sailing to Philadelphia.   his duet with James Taylor is so great. 

5.  Speaking of JT.  Hourglass (preferably in SACD if you can find it).  cut 4 will bring down the pictures on the wall if you can reproduce what is going on there.

Very tough to narrow down. On my Thiel CS3.6/tubes home system I prefer to listen to albums that combine artists that I like to see live but add the magic of good studio engineering. With Tidal, it sure is easy to check out some of the previous recommendations.

Eagles- Long Road Out Of Eden (check out cut 9 "Fast Company")
Shelby Lynne- I Am Shelby Lynne (check out cut 3 "Life is Bad")
Martin Sexton- The American (check out cut 7 "Where It Begins")
The Wailin' Jennys- 40 Days (check out cover song cut 7 "Old Man")
Robert Plant, Alison Krauss- Raising Sand (Check out cut 2 "Killing the Blues")

Here is the link to the Tidal playlist:
https://tidal.com/playlist/fa778f01-dbaa-487e-98c9-958b412bf346

Thumbs up on the Kim Richey album. I have seen her live several times and love the Rise album.

thanks Jon.  i am familiar with a lot of that but not Martin Sexton and the Jennys.  most of my cds are really good sounding as i give them away if they are crappy, even if i like the music.  really like Deep Purple but their Burn cd was so badly done.  same with almost all the Rush stuff.  cannot listen to it. 

i am going to cheat and add my new reference cd and that is Tango in the Night by Fleetwood Mac.  make sure to get the remastered version. wowie zowie.  

Kim Richey is great and have a number of her cds.  if you like her check out Patty Larkin who has a number of really great cds.