Recordings to test your speakers

Of all my go to tracks, I would rate Tracy Chapman, Mountain O' Things ... there are many but this gives you time from start to finish to get your shit right.
 
Mike said:
12 of the best-produced recordings to test your speakers | What Hi-Fi?


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I never put much faith in much of what What Hi-Fi says.

To suggest that amongst the "best-produced recordings" there should be several from the 1960s suggests that recording techniques have not improved over the last 55 years or they've got worse.

Even re-titled to "best performances ever recorded" I'd argue with most of the ones on their list. Nevertheless, I'll give the ones I don't know a whirl tonight.
 
Hear Here said:
I never put much faith in much of what What Hi-Fi says.

To suggest that amongst the "best-produced recordings" there should be several from the 1960s suggests that recording techniques have not improved over the last 55 years or they've got worse.
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they have not improved and likely got worse if we take the whole picture. great recordings can still be made. but, of course, the performers are a limitation.

in what ways have recording techniques improved since the 60's?

if i were listing the best recordings (performance + purity + media quality) from my 20k-25k or so titles, most of the top of my list would be 50's or 60's recordings.....a few 70's.

the reason mostly is (besides the epic artistic peak of the earlier era) that relatively large budgets and care was given to the recording process compared to more recent decades. multi-track is not generally our friend when we consider the connection to the music.....although there are great multi-track recordings.

just my 2 cents, YMMV, i suppose this viewpoint is connected to one's musical tastes and preferences.

and btw; i don't care for that What's HiFi list myself as anything definitive. a few there i do hold in high regard.
 
What a POS list. they don't even have the best sounding J Z album on the list, let alone the best sounding Fleetwood Mac album

give this a spin on your system. if you don't know the album, you don't deserve to hear it :P

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XV-1 said:
What a POS list. they don't even have the best sounding J Z album on the list, let alone the best sounding Fleetwood Mac album

give this a spin on your system. if you don't know the album, you don't deserve to hear it :P

AiCgpiI.jpg
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With no indication of the artist or album title. how do we "give it a spin"? A hint please.
 
Why do speakers need to be "tested" by audiophiles so much? The testing part should take place at the dealer/store and then the speakers are to be "enjoyed" with music that stirs the soul, not make sounds that impress. :D
 
TheOctopus said:
Why do speakers need to be "tested" by audiophiles so much? The testing part should take place at the dealer/store and then the speakers are to be "enjoyed" with music that stirs the soul, not make sounds that impress. :D
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The sound at the dealers will have been achieved by the dealer setting them up carefully in his demo room with the help of test recordings or recordings he knows very well.

When many buyers take the plunge, empty their piggy-banks and take the speakers home, they have to do what the dealer did to get the best from his new toys within the peculiarities of his own listening room.

Some people think that it's now so easy - just bung a bit of DSP at the speakers and that's it - job done. Quite wrong - 2 mistakes:

1. He bought on the strength of how these speakers sounded in the showroom - there may be a very different sound in his home - he should have arranged a home demo

2. DSP is not the first step to get the speakers singing, it's the last resort. If he need to do this, he's probably bought the wrong speakers for his room, or hasn't bothered to set them up properly, or he's not sensibly furnished his room, or (and I'm not promoting this unless it's a solely listening room) he hasn't considered room treatment. All these should be exhaustively done before resorting to DSP.

Just my thoughts after having bought costly electrostatic speakers that reviewed well and sounded great at the showroom, only to find my 17 year old existing speakers still sounded appreciably better than the brand new panels - even after careful setting up with the help of test discs and with DSP!
 
I can definitely understand the need for recordings/test tracks to set up and optimize the speakers at home, once the process of a mechanical break in and a bit of capacitor/crossover forming is complete and the speakers open up and are ready to be setup properly. But how many times do you see posts like "what is your favorite test recording", "what are your favorite show your system off recordings"?

I get that it is a hobby and one wants to "show off" and justify the purchase but what a strange hobby to be in if not for the love of music itself? Sure, I listened to many "suggested" audiophile grade recordings over the decades, it is fun for the duration of the song... maybe.... In the end, it is all about the music. One either loves the music and has a life long bond with it or the shiny boxes eventually get old and irrelevant if the passion for music is not strong.

Somewhere along the long road of this hobby, I realized that I really do love music but I need to stop trying to analyze it and use it as a "tool" for evaluating my shiny boxes unless I want to get bored and burned out with the hobby".

My advice would always be to listen to more favorite music and less "test tracks" :)
 
I test my speakers in a fairly unique way. The more songs and albums that sound really good, the better my speakers are. It kind of sounds dumb but I have heard some systems where a small percentage of albums sound good. Many of these systems I have heard in high end shops. When I used to go to evaluate speakers I used to bring one really good sounding source and one bad source, both should be listenable.
 
I play the music I enjoy and don't get into music I just can't stand regardless how fantastic it might be recorded. If I don't enjoy it, well it doesn't get used. Right or wrong, its the way it is.
 
I believe you are saying the same thing I am, just in a more understandable way. Many years ago I would play music I really didn't care for but the quality of the recording would be outstanding. The other night I was jamming to 'Zep 1, Dazed and Confused, etc. I had that s#%! cranked and didn't care about any of the audiophile things we listen for. Jimmy Page was jamming, John Bonham was jamming (we be jammin'....lol) and I didn't give a crap about anything. Was I having fun? You bet your @$$ I was.
 
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