What are your favorite "test" CD's or LP's ?

Ricky Lee Jones' tune "Easy Money".

. . . I would suggest Astor Piazzolla's Tango:Zero Hour. Very demanding.
Also, how about Johnny River's Realisation? His very fine cover of Jim Hendrix's "Summer Rain" is a great test of sound-staging, and also a joy to listen to.

- Larry Carlton LP's from the early 80's
- Miles Davis "Tutu", the absolute reference to compare turntables, cells, pre-amps and ST-70, obviously...
- Some Pink Floyd albums (notably "wish you were here")
- Alan Parson's Project
- some HQ classical LPs (Deutsche Gramofon)
- Annie Lennox's Medusa album (what a VOICE on the CD... OMG!)

These are my preferred ones, but there are many others in my stash.
I wish I had Steel Dan's Aja, too, but I'll have to go to Bern one of these days to find some old LP's in the best Swiss music store I know; it's funny that I went there on the early 80's to buy CDs... and there on the 2010's to buy LP's ;-))

BR,
Danskman

Frank Zappa "Joe's Garage Act 1" general
Pink Floyd "Animals" "Sheep" highs
Beastie Boys "Pauls Boutique" lows - subs

I have to echo Bob's choice of John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. Every track is great but Track 1 really puts Coltrane's sax in your living room. Others that sound incredible through my ST70's are:

Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick
Natalie Merchant - Carnival (her voice was made for vacuum tubes)
Dave Mathews Band - Say Goodbye (especially the intro)
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb (You can play David Gilmore's solo over an over again)

Making my Chrismas List from this thread. Keep posting!



Oh, and Bonnie Raitt's new one on vinyl is really nice.

hello i'm new to the forum and wan't to say this is very cool.
my list would include:

hotel california live from when hell freezes over.
kiss by prince
son of aleric by deep purple
big log by robert plant
time by pink floyd
[b]

I keep going back to Miles Davis' cover of Bye Bye Blackbird.

Some of my favs

Female Vocal
Carpenters - Horizon
CD (FLAC-RIP)

Male Vocal
Kenny Rankin - The Kenny Rankin Album
Vinyl

Instrumental
Earl Klugh - Finger Paintings
Vinyl

Instrumental
Tim Weisberg - The Tip Of The Weisberg
Vinyl

Instrumental
John Klemmer - Touch
Vinyl

Currently don't have a turntable,have several LP's. Do have a pretty good collection of CD's and iTunes,several on Chesky label,Sheffield Lab,Reference,Telarc,and Doran. My favorites are my Sheffield,Dave Grusin,Harry James,and Pat Coil,of course my favorite being the Drum and Track Record,very good for testing,and setup.

Btw. The Stereophile test CD's are good for testing. I have 1 and 3.

Sheffield labs Tower of Power "Direct to disk" is a recording that contains a lot of instruments and gives any system a workout. I have a lot of their stuff and this is one of the best from Sheffield Labs too bad they are not around anymore.

baddog1946 wrote:Sheffield labs Tower of Power "Direct to disk" is a recording that contains a lot of instruments and gives any system a workout. I have a lot of their stuff and this is one of the best from Sheffield Labs too bad they are not around anymore.

Just downloaded this one from iTunes, just what I expected from Sheffield,simply marvelous!! I remember years ago hearing my first Sheffield recording on LP, on Strathern Ribbons,I was blown away by the clarity, and dynamic range of the music. I became an Audiophile that day!!

Take 5 album on vinyl. If you here the "ding" instead of a tink on Blue Rondo (about 16 bars in) you're live.

I downloaded 11 free reference test tracks from the "6 Moons" Newsroom page from "Bakoon" Products for free! that are of superb quality. Mostly 24/96 piano stuff but they are excellent for fidelity tests of your amp or speakers.[u]

Here is a couple of vinyl selections I've been using to help with setting up my turntables: Heart-Dreamboat Annie, and King Crimson- In the Court. Both remastered on 180 gram vinyl. These feature both loud and very soft passages good for evaluating how well your stylus is tracking in the groove. Of course they both sound good to just listen to, also.

For me, there are a few...

Just about anything Alan Parsons....with the album "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" being my fav.
Then I like Deodato's 2001 on LP only!!
Dire Straights Sultons of Swing on LP is a good one to...

gary wrights dream weaver - just the song, not the whole album
james gang rides again
jethro tull stand up
allman brothers live at the fillmore east
peter gabriel passion cd

@kevin,

What is that amazing looking record player in your avatar?

Just got turned on to Art Pepper. Live, not aware he did any studio stuff, but gobs of his live performances are around. Jazz sax. The better mixes will give your hi-fi a workout and put you right in the jazz lounge in Munich or London.

Tube Nube wrote:@kevin,

What is that amazing looking record player in your avatar?

That is my Oracle Premiere. I also have an Oracle Delphi MKII as a backup. Made in Canada.

The only thing I can add to the great choices mentioned are a couple of Al Stewart recordings: Time Passages on mofi vinyl and on CD and Last Days of the Century on CD.

Just got the Speakers Corner pressing of Supertramp's Crime of the Century. The piano bridge on School just jumps out at you and leave the subwoofer grinning as well. Actually am re-discovering much of my vinyl new and old with Roy Mottram's PH-16 with amazing results.

Playlist that got a good workout during the recent build ...

- Robert Cray - Strong Persuader
- Blood, Sweat and Tears - Blues Variation
- Dire Straights - Walk of Life
- Dixie Dreggs - Twigg's Approved
- Norah Jones - Cold Cold Heart
- Porcupine Tree - Russia on Ice, Hate Song
- Dvorak #9 in E Minor (Kertesz)
- Sia - Girl You Lost To Cocaine
- James Cotton - Ying Yang
- Genesis - Supper's Ready
- Gerswin - American In Paris (Dorati - Mercury)
- Mumford & Sons - Ghosts That We Knew
- Civil Wars - My Father's Father

Pretty much covers the bases for anything I'm liable to throw at it.

Nora Jones, Come Away With Me, Blue Note Records, is far and away the best sounding LP I have. Crazy dynamic range, dead quiet pressing. Just stunning.

Amen to most of those (the ones I've heard, anyway). Mark Knopfler's Sailing to Philadelphia on CD is good, but my CD player is buried under LP jackets somewhere and I can't find it. Bright Eyes, either vinyl or CD, also Von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic on Pictures at an Exhibition (DG vinyl) are pretty outrageous. And let us not forget the old Telarc CD of 1812 Overture, though there's a newer 1812 on DG featuring Neeme Jarvi conducting the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra that also uses live cannons, a vocal background chorus, and follows with a superb rendition of Marche Slave.
Gonna have to try that Nora Jones you guys keep talking about.
As they say, "My neighbours listen to great music -- whether they want to or not."