Which Albums/Tracks to test speakers or how to drive your dealer nuts

A long time I brought around the albums (in my case CDs) I liked most
And thought this is good to test speakers ...
Finally I became more daring and brought with me the nasty stuff to really
test the speakers‘ boundaries - an eye opener also for friends

Findings: Jazz sounds always fine somehow. Listen at home!

Most brutal bass: Marillion Fugazi - Fugazi
Too brutal for most speakers, tower speakers with small drivers even get out of tact
Other customers of the dealer are leaving very fast
Bad example: Sonus Faber Amati
Best ever: Tannoy Legacy Arden (uhh, brutal), JBL 4348 as runner up

Maximum clarity:
Plays very loud and still clean? Yello - The Race
Put the volume control to two or 3 o’clock
Enjoy the face of your dealer getting green
It must still sound crisp and clear, the words of the song must be very understandable
Bad example: Harbeth (all), most modern speakers, Magico speakers (they scream)
Best example: Sonus Faber Guarnieri Homage with 2xDynaudio BM9s Subwoofers
The Guarnieri were driven by Twin 300B monoblocks from 80Hz and above

If you didn’t get kicked out of that place, you can go on with more normal stuff

3dimensional staging:
Dire Straits On every Street (1992) - Fade to Black
Perfect staging, treble should not be sharp or nasty (many speakers have problems)
You must FEEL this song under your skin
Bad example: Non-coherent speakers, where the distance between the drivers is far (bass to treble)
Bad example: JBL 4348 have about 80cm distance in between (estim.)
Best example: Harbeth LS 3/5a, other LS 3/5a as Runner up, all Dual Conc. Tannoy, Harbeth M30.1 and .2

Forgiveness:
Take a bad 70s recording you loved once (really mushy) and play it
I take Manfred Manns Earth Band - Mighty Quinn
So you still like it with these speakers? Or is it disgusting?
Once upon a time it sounded good, so why not now?
Bad example: too many to tell, generally bright speakers
Best example: Vintage Tannoy Monitor Gold (probably Red as well)

The tap factor - timing and voice:
Some systems just reproduce. Others make your feet tap, it’s just right
Fine Young Cannibals The Raw and the Cooked - Good Thing
The guy has a very interesting voice, must sound very intense
Bad example: JBLs
Best example: Tannoy Legacy Eaton, Vintage Tannoy Dual Conc., Spendor BC1

There are some more interesting albums for testing

What Albums do you bring along if you really wanna know the sound?
And don’t care if the dealer kicks you out (mine didn’t)

 

;^)

 

So nobody brings his own music when listening to speakers?
Or nobody tests speakers?

Depressing ...

 

My favorite bass tester for years has been Mino Cinelu's self titled CD on Blue Thumb, specifically the second track, Moun Madinina. It'll blow the dust off of yer woofers, fer sure!

I was turned on to this CD some years ago when I managed an audio store; folks would bring in CDs to test speakers, and I found lots of good stuff that way that I never had heard. Sadly, that store is long gone...but my collection has been greatly enriched.

@Bananajack: At the store I managed, EVERYBODY brought in their own music - vinyl, too.

 

Thank you - that’s what I wanna know, new and more music to test and for the collection

 

Love to play some Steve Albini tracks from Pixies, Jesus Lizard or Slint.
CAN is a great band to test speakers with. I like live recordings a bit more than overdubbed track by track recordings.
Love hearing a room.

 

This track is considered by many to be the best dubstep mix ever created,
Excision - X Sessions Vol 1

If your dealer and the system you're auditioning make it past the first 5 minutes, you've got yourself a keeper.

 

One time I went in and started blasting Wham!

I'm sure the dealer enjoyed that, but it was actually a good sibilance test for the cartridge. For some reason the effects they'd add to George's voice on certain songs are tricky to track.

 

With tongue in cheek - Stairway to Heaven, and / or Smoke on the Water. Over and over and over.

 

Okay but guitar centre jokes aside Stairway to Heaven IS a good song. Smoke on The Water would drive me nuts though.

 

I use many tracks I listen to and Love so my auditory memory is strong.

This track is full of "hard to resolve" instruments in the mix. Times of congestion.

 

I thought you had to use the Diana Krall Live in Paris album?

 

Oh please Child in Time my special love

 

These tracks have Very deep Bass and are fairly compressed. And I just Love her Voice
It also has that "vinyl" track overlay that drives me nuts on the Actual Vinyl Record :-/ (ya think they would have removed it for the actual vinyl release)

 

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Part 2 by The Flaming Lips. Sounds weird and will drive speakers to their limits.

 

FKJ is Brilliant and Masego is Great.
LOTS of Deep and Strong Bass.
Natural Wind Instruments. Piano.
Electronic Keys and Samples.
Not easy to resolve clearly.



*BTW. I just picked up his Vinyl and its SO MUCH better than his CD. Low compression.
Absolutely Beautiful.
https://frenchkiwijuice.merchtable.com/music/fkj-french-kiwi-juice-vinyl-lp

 

I love making various test playlists, for testing and for just set up and tweaking stuff. I have 30 minute playlist that gets the most use, but I also have playlist from others (I just loaded up a cue with all your suggestions) and I will also build various list from reviews. I have a longer playlist of songs that I've seen specifically from reviews about my brand of speakers (Rosso Fiorentino). I figure if reviews called out a track when testing a Rosso speaker, it should be interesting on my Rosso's as well.

 

Tell us your playlist! I want to learn ...

 

Tell us!

 

Haha, I'll share some once I'm back at the computer. I was too excited to jump into your playlist!
The Race is KILLER!

 

Years ago when I was shopping for new speakers (and my dealer was still in business), I brought my DAT machine with me and some choice Grateful Dead soundboards. I wouldn't say they were annoyed though, rather it was a big change of pace. Later on, one of the guys in there wanted me to come back so he could make some CDr's off the DAT's. I used to hang around at that shop a lot after that..

 

Chet Atkins album "Almost Alone" the first track called "Big Foot" for bass, and the last track Ave Maria for guitar tone. D

 

So this track isn't on my 30 minute list, but it's on most other lists that I have. This is a fairly instant test to capture emotion and clarity
Pentatonix - Hallelujah

Here's a 30 minute test of various tracks I've borrowed from other lists from time to time
30 Min Test

When a song catches my ear during a YouTube review, it'll land here
Test Videos

And this playlist is tracks that I've seen used in various reviews and demos of Rosso speakers, and I think I added a couple of my own. I probably left off a few that didn't do it for me as well.
Rosso Demo

I have more. When publications put out various "Best XYZ tracks" or their own branded list of test tracks, I'll save those or build their own playlist too. It's fun to see what everyone uses for theirs, and it's a great way to find new music.

When tested turntables a few years back I also brought 5 of my own records, selecting one track from each. Some for normal audio test, but some are especially difficult to track, have louder surface noise, or other issues that I'm trying to decipher how a TT or cartridge will handle them.

 

When I went in to audition the KEF R3s at my local dealer (who was very happy to let my listen to whatever I wanted), I brought in a stack of familiar CDs. I'm mostly a classical listener, but listen to other things from time to time. I chose

1. A Shostakovich symphony--can't remember which one now (big, loud, orchestral madness)
2. As an example of lighter orchestral music, Mozart Symphony No. 25
3. Mahler Symphony No. 3, with Maurice Abravanel and the Utah Symphony Orchestra, using the sections with vocal parts to test voice reproduction.
4. A recording of the Dvorak String Quartet No. 12 by the Dragon Quartet (all-string chamber music, and this recording is particularly stridently recorded. It's a great test for avoiding speakers or components that overemphasize the high end of things)
5. Radu Lupu's recording of Schubert's Piano Sonata in A (D.959) for piano music.
6. Jackie McLean: "Let Freedom Ring"--nicely recorded jazz on the Blue Note label.
7. Jethro Tull: "Aqualung". Great for testing how a system handles rock and roll—in particular, good for testing a full-throated rock guitar solo.

I bought the speakers.

 

Oh, by all means, go with "Stairway" - it certainly riles up the guitar shops...!

Maybe for a palette-cleanser, a nice selection of covers of Cohen's "Hallelujah" - particularly egregious with the "Open Mic Night" bars!