Favourite Albums to test home audio gear

[allen st. john]

Cowboy Junkies: The Trinity Sessions
Lyle Lovett: I Love Everybody
Richard Thompson: Rumor and Sigh
Los Lobos: Kiko
Roseanne Cash: 10 Song Demos

[harry the filter]

Anything featuring piano. Flim & the BBs Tricycle is a good choice because it also happens to be an excellent recording. That particular album tests a systems transient response and low end as well.

[robt57]

Manhattan Transfer 'Birdland', 1812 Overture, Becks Bolero [not Jeffs],
EWF Serpentine Fire. 25 or 6 to 4. Just some I'd use. ;)

[SatelliteOrders]

Originally Posted by Wildhawk

+1

30+ years later still the standard.

Exactly. I thought that was the canonical one. Every time I've looked at high-end stereo equipment, they used Dark Side.

[tjalla]

Steve Jordan co-produced Continuum, that's a good one for audio recording assessment. Kelly joe phelps' Roll Away The Stone and James Taylor's October Road are also cool.

[po-boy]

this last christmas we bought my son an new stero system for his car - i went to several audio shops with a homebrew cd of 70's r&b featuring bill withers, al green, the brothers johnson, curtis mayfield, marvin gay, sly and the family stone, stevie wonder , etc - in every store i used this cd to demo audio systems people came out of the woodwork to listen - a couple of salesguys tried to buy it from me - these songs all have a good bassline and lots of good vocals which really put the audio systems through their paces - i think the human voice may be these best instrument to test any system - this cd is also one of my favorites for cruising with the windows down and the volume cranked -



- i'm not a complete idiot ... some parts are missing -

[chet]

"Peggy Sue Got Married" and "Slippin' And Slidin'" from "A Rock And Roll Collection" by Buddy Holly.

[po-boy]

i already mentioned my homebrew 70's r&b cd and neglected to mention something available everywhere - paul simon's graceland album featuring ladysmith black mombasa - same reasons ... good basslines and great vocals -



- i'm not a complete idiot ... some parts are missing -

[tiktok]

"Time" from DSOTM.
Pretty much anything from a Mark Knopfler solo album.
"Kerosene" by Big Black.

[lupowitz]

Originally Posted by TheGoodTexan

Donald Fagen's: The Night Fly

Originally Posted by rand z

the nightfly - fagan (definately)

Originally Posted by Blazer

Well I would use the Donald Fagen album "Nightfly" or ...

Originally Posted by 64Strat

+1 on Fagen - Nightfly

Originally Posted by Poppatwang

Nightfly +1

I feel privileged to be on the same board with such well trained ears, Gentlemen!!!!
(And I thought I was going to be the first one to name Nightfly. Silly me! What was I thinking....)

Originally Posted by BillyG

Zappa because it forces the other patrons to listen to Zappa.

Very very very good point!
(I would surely bring along The Yellow Shark, it really can show what an audio equipment can do.)

[furrfurrfurr]

Soundtrack to Yentl

[ThreePlyGuy]

Nitefly and Gaucho too and thanks for reminding me about the Michael Hedges album. I'll dig out the vinyl this evening, that kid did have the chops!

[mudbean]

Originally Posted by claudel

Dark Side of The Moon

Oh, yeah ... esp "Time" ... crank up the intro and WATCH OUT!

mud

[studio1087]

Yes music
XTC music
CPR music
Leo Kottke (newer stuff to test the stereo)
Steely Dan music

[Glen W]

Lotsa good ones mentioned already. Anyone remember this one from around the mid-seventies. Ahh, listen to my B&W DM2A's...



Ronnie Laws: Friends & Strangers

[Del Pickup]

No-one's mentioned 'Love Over Gold' by Dire Straits!! It was all the rage in the audiophile shops in the mid-late 80's when I first got into hifi.

Also, Simply Red 'Stars' - a bit wishy washy musically but excellent production.

And one of my favourite test vinyl albums is Clapton's 'Money and Cigarettes' for its wide range of instrument tones.

[xStonr]

I used to sell audio equipment back in the early 80's and Dark Side, Waiting for Columbus, Stevie Wonder Superstition were always good albums to demo speakers and such back then. I would also use whatever song was popular on the radio at the time for demo purposes. That was always a good point of reference for the customer as they would know the song and a good set of speakers would allow them to hear so much more of the intricitys of the sound.

[Chrismeyer]

Pink Floyd's live CD Pulse.
doubleDrive's 2 CD's(which is AMAZING stoned)
And some of the new Bob Dylan stuff that is really smooth and 40's ish sounding but with great production and obviously heady lyrics.

[simonc]

I'd agree with "dark side of the moon".

Some others to include :

Hendrix's - axis : bold as love (if for nothing else - EXP).
Anything by Barry white....to test the bass frequencies
Elton John - (selftitled) The King must die - fantastic drumming to test the high end.


mentioning Zappa - to force others in the store to listen? genius my friend....genius.I'll make sure I try that next time Im in the market for a stereo.

[dyflwd59]

Some of my favourtie "test" albums - Achtung baby (U2), Night at the Opera (Queen), 801 Live (801), Avalon (Roxy Music), Even in the quietest moments (Supertramp).

[Joe Chaney]

any of these 2, i lean towards TMR because it'll REALLY show you if your gear is good