What CD or Vinyl will you use to impress your guest.

You are right in that most Home theater system exaggerate the sound.

Good audio shall give natural and detailed sound.

Also it should give the feeling that the singer is just in front of you.

The reason I posted this one is that I had not played the "Roundup " CD for almost 7 years.

After 7 years, I found out that I can get much more natural and holographic soundstage out of current system.

Thus I started asking input from other forum members.

 

This week John Mayall USA union. Next week could be some other newly acquired vinyl.

 

Nice selections! I will go through the list.

I have 6, 10 and 11 over there.

 

Shelby Lynne Just a little lovin. AP sacd.

heaven on earth : )

 

There's a Dylan SACD sampler from the original Sony lineup if you can find it. I also think there's a rare Rolling Stones SACD sampler from their ABKCO wave released in 2002. There's also a decent one from Norway? with Rock and Pop songs. These don't turn up very often.

If you are into classical music, there are literally dozens of SACD samplers by almost every label in that genre.

 

This sampler looks great!, but its soo expensive on eBay.

Yeah, I'm finding out fast that SACDs are very expensive. That one Legends Crank it Up SACD previously mentioned is super expensive on eBay $70 and $132 ..yikes. I paid around $20 each for the ones I pictured. Discogs is another good place to look for them.

 

now that i have a handful of DSD files i would let my guest choose one of those and then freedom rock it.

 

I li

https://www.amazon.com/This-Heartbreak/dp/B000AQVE3G

I listened to above CD last night.

It is marvelous choice for vocal lover.

 

This is one of my favorite CD's to show off:

For an LP I'd play this one:

For a 45 single, I've got a couple favorites:


To show how great and advanced that 78 rpm records got, this is one of my all-time favorites:

 

i bought it last month, still have to listen to it

 

Guests can choose anything they want to listen to here.

 

Haven read the whole thread, but gotta answer - Strauss Ein Heldenleben, conductor Reiner, Living Stereo, Classic Records pressing.

v

 

Peter Gabriel - 4 (Security) sacd
Dead Can Dance - Into The Labyrinth sacd
Andreas Vollenweider - Down To The Moon (Japanese vinyl)

Any of the RCA Living Stereo sacds

 

I never thought of that one. But you're right, that would be an excellent demo, especially for people who are used to hearing 70s music on the radio.

 

You should try Andreas Vollenweider - Caverna Magica. That opening track is amazing if your system can image and has excellent ambient recovery.

 

That used to be one of mine as well. It's a fantastic sounding disk, and it is killer if you want to show-off dynamics, and that star-trek theme sounds positively magical.

 

I have all of his LPs and Caverna Magica may well be my favourite album of his. They are all excellent but my Japanese pressing of Down To The Moon sounds out of this world - pun intended The forest sounds ("Quiet Observer","Bamboo Forest") and the electroacoustic harp (plus a Chinese harp with reverb) send shivers down my spine.

 

This is exactly how I view it when dealing with "normal" people who have an interest in music. I can't think of anything that I enjoy more than getting to share what great sounding audio is and opening people's ears to something that they have never experience before.

It's extremely rare, but I have converted a handful of music listeners into audiophiles over the years.

 

Thanks for the tip! I can't say that I'm a big fan of his music, but I definitely enjoy the sonic spectacle that is caverna magica.

FWIW: I just searched my stacks of so-far unlisted-to CDs and I discovered that I acquired copy of this album several years ago, but haven't listened to it yet. However I'll definitely be giving it a spin today!

 

I can definitely relate to that. I have extremely wide tastes, but that is one genera which I have no interest in learning to like. My kids sometimes get annoyed with me when I deliberately add a "c" to the beginning of that word whenever that subject should come up.

 

OMG, I can't believe that I forgot about her. She's in the room when I play "touch of trash" on my system.

 

You may know that 'Down To The Moon' won 'Best New Age Album' Grammy in 1986.

 

I'm guessing that this could be one of the Kodo Drummer CDs.

 

That is indeed a good album. Although I would not rank among my top demo choices.

 

Some time ago, in another thread, someone made the comment about BIA sounding weird on vinyl.

"To each their own, but I think Brother in Arms sounds weird on vinyl. The bass and drums sound tiny. I like the other Dire Straits albums. They sound much fuller to my ears and more like a live rock band..."

As, this was never the case with me, I posted my view of this, saying that I thought the album was nicely recorded and that I thought the vinyl sounded excellent. I didn't have the CD.

When I first hooked up the vintage Altec A7's, this was the first album that I elected to play through them.

"I don't think the BIA sounds weird on vinyl, but I have an excellent original copy. In fact, this was the very first album that I ever played on these A7's. While I'm not sure of my motivation at the time, I doubt if I would have selected this as the first album to play on my newly acquired speakers, if I didn't think it was a good recording."

I have my system set up for both HT and stereo.

Sometimes I will have guests over for dinner, adult refreshment's and a movie.

Once in a while, I will play a whole franchise, over the period of a few weeks for them.

My favorite has always been to really crank up the LFE channel during the final 20-minutes of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2.

Really exceptional, partly because it is not a "disaster" movie, then they are not expecting the LFE soundtrack.