Trying New Speakers

[ssarm@mac.com]

I'm going to be looking at a pair of atoms and some subwoofers tomorrow. What kind of songs should i try to sample. I listen to jazz, rb, classic rock, blues, funk.

So far I've got
Parliament - Flashlight
Thelonious Monk - Blue Monk

what kind of qualities should i try to figure out when i pick what songs i want to listen to.

thanks.

[emorphien]

IMO sample with what you listen to and know best. That way you'll be best able to tell which speakers reproduce the music the way you like it.

[KaiWinters]

I have a disk with a variety of song and voice types. Range from AC/DC, Hells Bells, Back in Black, Thunderstruck to Aerosmith for rock. Carly Simon, James Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Annie Lennox for vocals. I have other song types as well on the disk.
These are some of my favorite artists and music genres. I also know the songs/music best and that makes a difference as well.
Basically use your favorite stuff.

[superpanavision70mm]

Obviously the first thing you want to take is 'familiar' material to you. I also like to demo stuff that I know has a large range of material on it. I have a bunch of the DTS sampler discs that I take around both for music and for video. Of course if you are testing CD only I might recommend something that has a large scale of dynamics and range. You want something that you know has deep solid bass, something that has sweet highs, something with lots of activity and something that is mainly vocal or lighter in nature. For me, I always like to take THE FLAMING LIPS to test stuff out on because they have a little bit of everything. Bjork would be another example if you have anything. I would also think that the Norah Jones would be a good example or some other modern R&B that is mixed well. The Best of Al Green is another good disc too. Jack Johnson is another CD I use often to really test out speakers because it has lots of gentle guitar, but also has a beat and smooth lyrics.

My Favorite Demo Discs are as follows though:

Stevie Wonders INNERVISION Mobile Fidelity Gold CD
Don Henley's BUILDING A PERFECT BEAST MoFi Gold CD
Elton John's CAPTAIN FANTASTIC... SACD
Moody Blues SEVENTH SOJOURN DTS-CD

[emorphien]

Good point. Make sure that it's both something you know and if possible well mastered and has a good dynamic range and subtler details.

I'd probably take Days of the New the Red album with me if I were shopping again. Very well mastered, also an HDCD disc. It is a good bridge between a lot of styles of music I listen to so it'd be my primary auditioning disc. I'd grab a few others as well (Norah Jones would be on my list).

[hifitommy]

by bela fleck and the flecktones. if you dont have it, it is still available in stores. the title cut is a quintessential bass demo cut. the descending line from victor wootens bass goes right down past the crossover point of any sub and also will tell you about ultimate bass extension.

the other transients and musical sounds should cover a lot of what you need to hear when listening to new speakers. its good music so theres the bonus for having this disc.

[audio_dude]

my favourite:
Tragically Hip; At the hundreth meridian

[ssarm@mac.com]

thanks guys

I picked up atoms today, and decided that eventually I'm going to pick up a PDR 8. hopefully get a nice deal off of ebay.

on my way to setting up my first system