Leaderboard

I love this thread! I use "Days of New" to test sound field and speaker placement to find the sweet spot and move it around without losing it or having it collapse. The guitar work will stand 30 to 40% outside your speaker placement.

Lots of good suggestions I'm going to have to check out! IMHO your test playlist should always include selections that you are very familiar with. A good system should verify what you already know is there, a better system will reveal what you *didn't* know was there! Here's one I like: Telarc Sampler 3 at Amazon.com It starts off with "Also Sprach Zarathustra". There's a sustained 16Hz (and 32Hz) organ note through almost the entire track. It really "separates the men from the boys" (and the cones from the spiders) WRT subwoofers! If you're looking for transients, the "Banditen Gallop" will make you jump. "Diverse Kanons" is a wide-ranging synthesizer. Other tracks have male and female soloists and chorals. And a good, clean, loud Beach Boys romp. This Kingston Trio live album has good dynamics:

For me, it's Nora Jones. First track from Come Away with Me, "Don't know Why I didn't Call." The inflections of and intensity of the volume in her voice, and the acoustic instruments and piano dance across the room, if the system sounds right --- that is, to my untrained average ears.