Harryfan 20 Posted February 26, 2010 Posted February 26, 2010 I'm curious to hear other's thoughts on this. What discs do you take along when you want to hear what a pair of speakers, or some other piece of gear, can do?
TNRabbit 371 Posted February 26, 2010 Posted February 26, 2010 Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overtue (Telarc SACD) Yellowjackets: Time Squared (SACD) Steely Dan: Everything Must Go Dianna Krall: Temptation (off The Girl in the Other Room) Norah Jones: Not Too Late (SACD) 1
TNRabbit 371 Posted February 26, 2010 Posted February 26, 2010 Frank Zappa - Apostrophe GOOD one...hard to find!
BluesMan57 1,407 Posted February 27, 2010 Posted February 27, 2010 Craig Chaquico ~ Midnight Swim Supertramp ~ School & Bloody Well Right Dire Straits ~ Ride Across The River
staticvar 56 Posted February 26, 2012 Posted February 26, 2012 Quote Quote Frank Zappa - Apostrophe GOOD one...hard to find! Well it's a two year old post but, what the heck...I struggled to find Apostrophe also. I found it on a Ryko compilation single cd with Overnite Sensation. 1986...#RCD 40025 and it's a great recording as is most of RYKO's stuff...
staticvar 56 Posted February 26, 2012 Posted February 26, 2012 While i'm on the subject, an absolute must reference record or CD to hear is Fun Lovin' Criminals 100 % Colombian. It's like listening to a Quentin Tarantino movie...a brilliant album by a very hip, clever band. They are are one of the tightest trio's around...
SteveFord 1,110 Posted February 26, 2012 Posted February 26, 2012 All of Zappa's official CDs are very well done. Some time back I mentioned that I wrote to Gail Zappa and they will be coming out with vinyl releases again which I'm really looking forward to. They must have had to wait for an agreement with Ryko to expire or something like that.
Guest RodH Posted February 26, 2012 Posted February 26, 2012 Chris (HarryFan) being an explosives engineer - we haven't seen him around here in months--- hope he's OK!
SteveFord 1,110 Posted February 26, 2012 Posted February 26, 2012 What a great job, getting paid to blow stuff up. The most fun I have at work is giving people who commit fraud penalty weeks, talk about lame. I used to get paid to wind motorcycles out in top gear, now I mail out determinations. Maybe I should tweet myself. An explosives engineer, that's more like it. Back to music, Gail stuck my question about the albums on the Zappa site: http://www.zappa.com/gzsez/questions/re-vinyl-releases/ She's still a pretty woman and the entire Zappa family just came across as really nice people.
staticvar 56 Posted February 26, 2012 Posted February 26, 2012 OMG!...What a great site.I still have a lot of Zappa on early vinyl. I'd buy anything newly remastered by the right people...Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray come to mind first and foremost. I'd prefer 180 gram over 200 and 45 rpm similar to Music Matters Blue Note Re-issues...http://www.musicmattersjazz.com/index2.html
B-Man 4,779 Posted September 20, 2012 Posted September 20, 2012 Chris Rea - The Road To Hell Celine Dion - Water From The Moon John Mellencamp - Ain't Even Done With The Night Gregg Allman - Lead Me On Robert Cray - The Forecast Calls For Pain Kim Mitchell - All We Are Nu Shooz - Point Of No Return Rickie Lee Jones - We Belong Together
Maddmaster 996 Posted September 20, 2012 Posted September 20, 2012 The Rippingtons, track 2 "Wednesdays Child."
Daddyjt 9,585 Posted February 18, 2013 Posted February 18, 2013 What is the first album or track you listen to when you want to compare/test something on your system? New amp? New speakers? Change your sub phase? New cables? What's your benchmark recording AND format? I always seem to go to Patricia Barber's Cafe Blue on SACD...
Torr 8 Posted February 18, 2013 Posted February 18, 2013 I just repaired an old sae a210 amp for an associate, I checked it out with some pink floyd, track was run from the wall. nice sounding amp.. ddd recordings mostly for benchmarking, which is totally subjective.....
zumbini 6,147 Posted February 18, 2013 Posted February 18, 2013 I usually start with Tricycle by Flim & The BB's (the piano is telling) or Jazz at the Pawnshop (exceptional live recording) For vocals I like Diana Krall Steppin Out, Manhattan Transfer Vocalese or Steve Miller Born 2 B Blue For SPL Steps Ahead (Trains, Beruit), Dave Uhrich (Liquid Glass, Fuzzbuster) and Joe Satriani (Ice 9, Satch Boogie) Other favs: Steeley Dan Gaucho, Dire Straight Brothers In Arms, Queen Bohemian Rhapsody (from Live at the Opera). 3
stereo_dog 1,198 Posted February 18, 2013 Posted February 18, 2013 Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms; Steely Dan, Aja are two of my "reference" albums. 1
Nahash5150 10,629 Posted February 18, 2013 Posted February 18, 2013 'You can try' by Saraya. Freaking dirty, rotten, sassy MF guitar that will test any system. Sandy Saraya's timbre pipes against the heavy demon distortion is hard for most amps to image. If an amp can handle the opening of this song without choking, then it gets my respect and I let her have more. Typically, I don't use 'audiophile' tracks, I use challenging tracks to test gear. If they can get me past the nasty shit, then I try something like Sting's Summoner's Tales or Pink Floyd's gold DSotM.
avguytx 229 Posted February 18, 2013 Posted February 18, 2013 Typically, I don't use 'audiophile' tracks, I use challenging tracks to test gear. If they can get me past the nasty 5hi7, then I try something like Sting's Summoner's Tales or Pink Floyd's gold DSotM. Since you just "had to" mention that Sting recording, I had to play it. I use it quite a bit as far as a SQ recording for evaluation of staging, etc. Fields of Gold is the usual track I play from it.
Gene C 1,748 Posted February 18, 2013 Posted February 18, 2013 Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms; Steely Dan, Aja are two of my "reference" albums. Make that two for Steely Dan.Opps...forgot Supertramp and Pink Floyd.
Daddyjt 9,585 Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Stereo_dog - when you list Dire Straights / Brothers In Arms, what format are you playing? I use that one a lot too, in the SACD format, and I can't really imagine it being any better, but I'm always open to options:-)
weitrhino 1,443 Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Robin Vassy's album Bon Voyage is a real stunner and has the virtue of being something most have never heard. I find this takes away all expectations from the listener and puts everyone on the same sonic footing ~ so to speak. No one can bring the color of their own listening prejudices into the introduction of my system. Check out some samples, particularly La Reprise at this link.
kve777 6,881 Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 Wow, I'm in for Steely Dan "Aja" and Pink Floyd "DSOTM" as well...use them all the time. Have multiple CD, vinyl, 8-track, etc. of each.
Blues Pwr 766 Posted February 19, 2013 Posted February 19, 2013 I always go for : 1) Supertramp / Crime Of The Century ~ "School" clear vocals(with and without echo), very good dynamics, piano and good bass 2) Gary Moore / Bad For You Baby ~ "I Love You More Than You Will Ever Know" (the epic 10min.+ version on 180 gm LP)
shoesteve 6 Posted February 20, 2013 Posted February 20, 2013 the album i go to when i really want to feel good is Pink Floyd Animals.....the song sheep is my favorite
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