Quality of recording while evaluating speakers

An aside re: boring Diana Krall. FWIW this is my take on DK. Sleep-inducing, indeed.

However...recently a jazz -piano-playing friend turned me onto her third studio album: "All For You: A Dedication to the Nat King Cole Trio." On it, Krall actually swings and plays a mean piano. Sounds pretty good, too.

@ozone46

Absolutely, Aside from singing traditional songs she is an amazing Jazz piano Player. I’ll check out the recommendation.

Just yesterday, I was at my dealer listening to a pair of speakers I’m interested in and I created a playlist on Qobuz of music I know and like.  Unfortunately, they only have Tidal. However I was able to pull up the playlist on my phone and then use the Hifi Rose app and Tidal and hear my tunes.

@emergingsoul 

"It's amusing how you put together all these cryptic threads posing hypothetical questions, but you are very close to the cuff when talking about what actually comprises your own system. I guess you just like to keep people in the dark."  

So true.  And what are those fantasy $50K speakers from your other thread that you also refuse to identify, despite making an entire thread about them?

Notwithstanding that, I think that you are trying to ask some thought-provoking if hypothetical questions, which is fine, I guess.  And as far as not being happy living in Malibu on the beach, perhaps if you kicked out your brother and his 10 year old son, you might enjoy it more!

OK, on to the hypothetical at hand.  I test all equipment, including speakers, with a range of material.  I usually start with excellent quality recordings like Patricia Barber's Companion and DSOTM (50th Ann. remaster), Jazz At the Pawnshop, and Gary Burton and Ralph Towner's Matchbook.  That shows what the system can really do with both excellent studio and live recordings.  Then I try some recordings that are not well-recorded and see how the system sounds with those.  Different systems handle poor quality recordings differently.  Some make mediocre quality recordings sound OK, some make them sound horrible.  Who's Next is one that immediately comes to mind.  Finally, I put on a Led Zeppelin bootleg or two (usually a soundboard tape and an audience tape) to see how the system handles those.  The end result is that no matter what the new component or cables I am checking out, the foregoing gives me a pretty good idea of the good/bad of that new component or cable.  Then you know, based on what you like to listen to, whether the speaker etc. is a good fit for your system.  Going through that same testing on a completely different system will only let you compare that system to your own, obviously, which makes it more important to test a speaker in your own listening room with your own equipment.

You want something that will test your record recordings and sound listen to DISCO, people hated it but it will drive your system to the fullest extremes....most people hated it then in the 70s and now 50 years later...but man,I was a rocker From Beatles to Stones ,Led Zeppelin....but now I listen and I enjoy it ,just listen and enjoy.....