What music do you use to audition new gear?


Which albums do you use to audition equipment? I have been shopping for new speakers, and I've been thinking a lot about this (and listening a lot).

I want to be clear: I am NOT asking about favorite albums, or about the "best" recordings. I'm curious about the experience of judging components or speakers, which is a very knotty and subjective thing, and which involves both of those factors plus many others. For instance, some people might play, say, heavy metal to test a speaker's crunch and power, even though they listen primarily to soft jazz vocal. Some here will argue one should bring familiar recordings, while others might seek out and bring extremely well recorded material, period (or test tone records!) Others play poorly recorded material, just to see how the speakers reveal it.

To get the ball rolling, here's what I've been bringing with me to hi-fi dealers recently...

-Ockeghem's Requiem --- something beautifully quiet and concentrated----the idea of listening to essentially "one thing," which here is voice... this one probably about soundstage. (Ensemble Organum).
-Kraftwerk, Computer World ---- their production masterpiece. I like to audition something totally synthetic and electronic just to see what the speakers (and my ears) do without any real-world referent.
-Woody Shaw, Cassandranite, 1965 (released 1993 on CD--I listen only to CD) --- an old favorite, thus very familiar. Hard bop, great combo. Classic sound.
-The Pixies, Doolittle --- another old fave, this one with huge dynamic range from song to song: from surging guitar rockers to quieter moans and whispers.

There's so much else, too---but that's the beauty of this hobby!!
I'm eager to hear other people's thoughts or strategies.
price

I make an uncompressed comp CD of the music I'm both familiar with and will play very often. The genres range about and so do the songs within them. Usually I'll take a few with me.

If or when, I'm forced to listen to only the dealers music instead of my own, I tend to get on edge at that point and listening for accuracy naturalness, and detail become my keys... I've yet to buy any product I've had to audition using unfamiliar content unless my jaw was immediately fractured as it hit the floor.

So far the contusions have been quite few.
Another idea is Passion by Peter Gabriel. Well recorded and very varied in tones because he uses instruments from all over the world.
For many years I’ve used Cinemagic by Dave Grusin. The CD dates from the late 80’s. It’s not particularly well recorded but I know the album. It has low level strings and piano passages along with boomy brass and orchestra sections. The key is I know the recording and remember what its sounded like through the many changes in my system.
So
Peter Gabriel

Thick as a Brick
Jethro Tull

Hero and Heroine
Strawbs

Aja
Steely Dan

Fragile
Yes

No Frontiers
Mary Black

Waves, The Bossa Nova Sessions
Eden Atwood