What tracks really make your system shine?

Falcon-

I feel we can all support Pink Floyd 'The Wall' or 'Dark Side of the Moon". These discs are outstanding for classic Rock music. (2) other modern Rock mentions are Pearl Jam 'Ten" and Nirvana 'Unplugged in NY'.

My reference disc above these wonderful Rockers, is Jamie Cullum 'Twentysomething' on CD/SACD Verve 2004.
My fave track- "Frontin" simply killer...
Happy Listening!

The usual suspects usually do the trick, but here are two interesting outliers:

One is the title track from Alejandro Escovedo's "With These Hands". IMO Escovedo is absolutely brilliant, but the SQ on his records is usually mediocre. "Hands" is typical, it's fine when it's just AE and his acoustic, but gets muddy when the band kicks in. However, the title track has a bunch of percussion instruments providing a great rythmic momentum. My system, with Ohm omnidirectional speakers and dual subs makes silk from this sow's ear.

The other is "Show You How" from Lindsey Buckingham's "Under The Skin". The SQ will drive many people here nuts, processed to within an inch of its life and unnatural in every way. However, this track features massed vocals that are pan potted thru the sound stage. It resembles nothing heard in real life, but it's a fun "parlor trick" for showing off the system's imaging capabilities and the way that omnis can put "flesh" on a image floated in space.

A few years back an agoner sent me a copy of Metallica death magnetic as a test. This is a highly compressed and processed recording meant to be played loud. It sounds clean crisp and powerful with no ear bleed on my setup off the big ohms. The ohms are the best at just letting the music play imho in the right setup and with the right amplification. The bel canto class d amps I use are amazing with the ohms in particular.

Metallicas s&m is a very good recording that combines metal and symphony orchestra live. You gotta hear it on my big ohms to believe it.

The Beatles: A Hard Day's Night (the much-maligned stereo re-master) The impact of the first chord of AHDN, the claves and nylon string guitar on And I Love Her, and the occasional Rickenbacker 12-string guitar throughout the album
Abbey Road re-master. Pick a track

Giuliano Carmignola w/Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca, Le Humane Passione (Vivaldi) any track, but esp. those with harpsichord and lute together.

Joan Baez, Diamonds and Rust: I Dream of Jeannie/Danny Boy medley. A good system makes her voice, well...sing

Linda Ronstadt: Long, Long Time. The voice, the guitar, the harpsichord, the strings all shine so sweetly.

Aaron Neville: Save the Last Dance For Me (from A Tribute to Doc Pomus) His voice, the strings, the peculiar low hand drum played on the fourth beat through most of the song

Stevie Wonder: You Are the Sunshine of my Life. Various vocalists in the beginning, the hand percussion and the cymbals--all satisfyingly life-life.

Patsy Cline: Sweet Dreams. Listen for the barely perceptible vibraphone behind the downwardly spiraling strings on the intro, and then there's that voice and the arrangement, unbelievably well-recorded for its time

Tost that's a nice sampling of music. 💰💰💰