Good CD for testing bass response

Chris, problem with testing bass response with percussion only is that the sound is somewhat unpitched. You may also want to try some well pitched bass lines.... for example, the Edgar Meyer performance on double bass of Bach's prelude from the cello suite #5, or Antonin Dvorak's "In The Old Castle", played on what appears to be a Bosendorfer grand piano, by Inna Poroscina from the Brilliant Classics 4-CD set of complete Dvorak piano works. And if you have a recording of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, possibly conducted by Pierre Boulez, you will find the nether regions of the massive percussion and bass brass score quite delicious, and yes .... droning to boot. For monitoring mid bass bloom, my standard candle is the double bass line in the Bernstein performance of the 2nd movement from Dvorak's New World Symphony' with the Israel Phil.

G.

"Wood" by Brian Bromberg

Junior Wells "Come On In This House". This is a DTS CD mastered and engineered by Bob Ludwig. The sound quality is astounding, a true reference disc!

A CD with test tones and a sound pressure level metre (SPL) will yeild better results. Not too expensive either

If you are just looking to position speakers for optimum delivery then why not use test tones and an SPL meter? That'll give you all the time you need to move things about.

For music, Radiohead's Amnesiac, Pack'd Like Sardines ought to shake some walls. Harder to find and in the classical realms, try the Adagio d'Albinoni by Gary Karr which will add some wonderful natural tonality to some notes down below the basement. The Radiohead is more prolonged though, while the Albinoni is more organic, if you will.