great sounding cds to audition new speakers

Tracy Chapman "Tracy Chapman". One of the first CDs I bought and I know it SO WELL. I use track 4 (solo voice only dead center) to compare even the slightest changes such as interconnects etc. Good range and dynamics but not "audiophile".

The key is to have full range minimal processing good dynamics music THAT YOU KNOW VERY WELL AND HAVE LISTENED TO FOR EVER!

Cheers

You know I always use that Tracy Chapman cd too. I use Mountain of Things - to hear the bells and the drum slaps. Great stuff!

Audiowoman, good low end bass too. I just added a REL sub to my monitors and after @ a year away from full range forgot that the Tracy Chapman CD has decent low's as well!

Shelby Lynn latest CD (Look of Love) is pretty good.
For hard Rock try the new AC/DC CD (Black Ice).

Precisely, bring the music you like. When I audition speakers I intentionally bring some CDs that I like that are garbage to see how the speakers handle them.

Definitely useful but I'd be careful selecting speakers that way. If the audio quality really is garbage like Metallica's latest overcompressed POS then you are going to end up with speakers that beat the signal into submission. These same speakers are unlikely to make a quality good recording shine - assuming you listen to other CD's.