CD's you bring for auditioning

I just bring a CD with an approximated impulse response. I can do the Fourier transformation in my head.

If I want to understand the effect of the room, I bring a 5-second glide tone.

Between these 2 tracks, I have a pretty good understanding of what is going on. Any other approach is a waste of time.

Grateful Dead--Reckoning (acoustic), any other live electric recording that I'm fond of

Pink Floyd--Wish You Were Here

Shirley Bassey--Live At Carnegie Hall, Something

It is more important to me how the equipment sounds on stuff I play a lot rather than on "test" CD's.

I agree with Tpsonic, the Mapleshade stuff is very revealing. One of my favorites is Kendra Shank's Afterglow recording.

The first two cuts, Almost Blue and Photograph are excellent for testing. Gives you that "I'm in the room with you" presentation. On a good system this can give you those goosebumps.

For example, the energy coming from Kendra's voice on Almost Blue can be too much for my CJ Premier 11a amp. On Photograph, the music flies outside-of-the-box into parts unknown.

Should only be the one's that are the top five in your collection. This way, you will know what differences are being produced. One of my favorites is the sound track of the motion picture 'The Mission'. I also have the DVD and I use that too. The range of the music on the latter disc's is unbelievable.

1. Orlando Gibbons "fantasias for viols' (Jordi Savall)
2. John Coltrane "Coltrane quartet plays"
3. Cannon's Jug Stompers yazoo comp
4. Morton Feldman "Coptic light" (Michael Tilson Thomas)
5. Jimi Hendrix "Band of Gypsies"