Equipment Demo Listening

[.:.impossible]

I just got a new pair of speakers that I am really enjoying! I knew exactly what I wanted to hear first when I got home. I'll have these babies warm in no time!

A few that I threw in right away. In my opinion, these are some of the best sounding discs that I own. Aside from that, I am very familiar with all of them.

Toumani Diabate .:. Djelika (Hannibal)

Walt Dickerson .:. Divine Gemini (SteepleChase)

Thelonious Monk .:. Straight, No Chaser Limited Millenium Edition (Columbia)

John Coltrane .:. A Love Supreme (impulse! Japan)

Eric Dolphy .:. Out to Lunch! (Blue Note RVG America)

The Sea and Cake .:. Oui (Thrill Jockey)

Stereolab .:. Dots and Loops (Elektra)

John Coltrane .:. Interstellar Space (impulse! America)

Milford Graves .:. Grand Unification (Tzadik)

Man, my whole collection is brand new again! I can't wait to listen to EVERYTHING!!!

What do you guys reach for when demo'ing new equipment, or when breaking in new equipment? I am loving this!

[Man with the Golden Arm]

Sure fire way to get the sales guy to jump for the controls is to ask him to put on "Snagglepuss" from Naked City for ya. (wait til yours are broken in a bit)

So whadja get, huh, huh? Give that Cachaito a spin for checking the bottom!

[Rooster_Ties]

When I was demoing (sp?) bookshelf systems a couple years ago, I took...

"New York Reunion" McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Ron Carter, and Al Foster (on Chesky)

"Requiem" by Hans Werner Henze, which is this HUGE 20th-century work for chamber-orchestra, trumpet soloist, and piano soloist. It's a MONSTER, and will put hair on anyone's chest. (Imagine a cross between Stravinsky, Ives, Hindemith, and Frank Zappa's orchestral work.) I usually call it Henze's "Trumpet Requiem", since it's basically an hour-long trumpet concerto for trumpet and 26-piece chamber orchestra, with lots of piano (but less piano than trumpet).

Also, probably something more conservative, like some late Romantic chamber music, perhaps Grieg's string quartet, and/or cello sonata. And maybe Brahms' 1st piano quartet.

And, probably some sort of pop/rock music, maybe Matthew Sweet, or Ben Folds, or something like that.

[jazzbo]

I actually like to use music that I recorded myself in my old garage apartment with bands I used to be in. . . . In a great system it's like bringing up ghosts! I know how the room and the instruments sounded in life, it's sort of ingrained in my brain after so many many hours of rehearsing and jammin', and they're good tools to evaluate speakers with.

[Sundog]

Well Known Audiophile Recordings.....

Sonny Rollins- Saxophone Collossus

Art Pepper- Meets The Rhythm Section

Bill Evans- Moonbeams

Jazz At The Pawnshop

Lesser Known Audiophile Recordings...

Stephane Grappelli- Young Django

Laurindo Almeida & Charlie Byrd- Tango

Poulenc: Piano Music- Pascal Roge

In addition to the above mentioned recordings I also like to use the Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd album Jazz Samba. Reason being, that I'm very familiar with this album.

Edited July 17, 2003 by Sundog

[jmjk]

When I bought a new car a few weeks back, I demoed its sound system with Oliver Nelson's Blues and the Abstract Truth (Impulse). I like the seperation and stereo soundscape that this disc has to offer.

[Gigolo]

Yes, 'Blues and the Abstract Truth' is one of the better Van Gelder recordings.

But I have to give the edge to 'Empyrean Isles' as the top Rudy recording I've heard, the sound is just explosive and it's one of my all time favorite performances.

Some others with the combination of performance and sound in mind:

'ESP'

'Soul Station'

'Speak No Evil'

'Etcetera'

'Clifford Brown & Max Roach'

'Coltrane at the Village Vanguard Again'

'Brubeck Quartet at Carnegie Hall'

[Kevin Bresnahan]

My demo discs lately have been:

Pete LaRoca - Basra (JRVG)

Art Tatum - With Ben Webster (XRCD)

Cannonball Adderley - You Know What I Mean? (SACD)

and

The Police - Synchronicity

Why that last one? Well, believe it or not, I think the tune "King of Pain" has tons of mid-range in the chorus. I have used this tune for years to "hear" speaker mid-range performance. Side by side and mid-range (or lack thereof) jumps out with this tune.

BTW, in the old days, I had a Telarc classical sampler that had a snippet of Bach's "Toccata and Fugue" that could absolutley torture the woofers of almost any speaker.

Later,

Kevin

[hockman]

Rather than any specific records, I usually play a variety of music and recording quality. I like to know whether the system can handle both simple acoustic music and complex stuff with lots going on.

I play music which I love and also music which I don't really "get" or care for. In this way, I hope to see if the system will reveal stuff that have been missed in lesser systems, which may lead me to appreciate the music more.

I always use "average" quality recordings, because that will constitute the bulk of my listening diet.

Finally, I will also throw some "bad" recordings at the system to see how it handles them.

It is pointless if the system only sounds good with audiophile recordings.

Hockman

[Claude]

I have upgraded my hifi set during the last months (Sony SCD-XA777ES player, T+A PA1530 integrated amp, Dynaudio Contour s3.4 speakers). These are some of the tracks I use for demoing and comparing:

- Sonny Rollins and Big Brass "I'll follow my secret heart"

This 1958 live recording with the MJQ has an incredible realism. Other tracks from this concert are on The Modern Jazz Quartet with Sonny Rollins

- Bob Belden - Black Dahlia (opening track)

The most impressively sounding jazz recording in my collection. A good test for dynamics and overall frequency response

- Miles Davis - Doo Bop (opening track)

This is just to test if the bass response is not too powerful and boomy.

- Javon Jackson - When the time is right "I waited for you"

I don't have many vocal jazz recordings in my collection, but the human voice is the best "instrument" to check if a hifi set sounds natural. This track, which I only have on a Blue Note sampler, features Diane Reeves and is very well recorded (unlike a lot of other recent Blue Note CDs)

- Mal Waldron & Jackie McLean - Left Alone '86 "Cat walk"

This recording sounds very clean but rather light. Combined with McLean's strident alto tone, it reveals components that sound too aggressive in the high range.

And some classical recordings which I won't list.

I usually burn those tracks on a CD-R to avoid having to swap CDs during audition.