Favourite Test Tracks

Here goes, but it could change from one audition to another

Sinfonietta - Leoš Janáček - Sir Charles Mackerras/Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra: my favourite piece of music so it just has to sound right. It has absolutely everything and one of the clearest and most joyous trumpet fanfares you could ever wish to hear.

I Am The Walrus - The Beatles - just so much going on and the system needs to sort it out so you can hear it all. but never lose the feeling that it is a cohesive piece of music.

She's In Broadstairs - Half Man Half Biscuit - one of the greatest songs of the century. If you are not spellbound by the dexterity of Nigel's lyrics then something is amiss. This from the wonderful Cammell Laird Social Club album. If you haven't heard this album then you risk having missed one of greatest collection of modern folk songs ever recorded. This is what they'll play 500 years from now as a social comment on the 20/21st century.

Nottamun Town - Shirley Collins - the ultimate traditional folk song. Shirley singing at her best and its pure tone and precision plus sheer clarity will show you what any system can do.

The Morning Will Come - Spirit - one of the Twelve Dreams Of Dr Sardonicus - again lots of contrast with piano, guitar and horns and clever vocal juxtaposition - it can sound a mess on the wrong system, but a work of genius (which it is) on the right system.

And if your dealer has not run for cover ...........

Ride On - Christy Moore - if you don't want to sing along then you're not using a good system, but you can't help but want to join in. It has a live feel and if you close your eyes then you should be able to imagine you're there in Lisdoonvarna.

I'm not really in to listening for hi-fi type things and I don't really bother about can I hear if the guitarist is using a plectrum - I just care about the music and if my selections above don't sound great then either the system is rubbish or the listener is deaf.

I have had good results trying Wimple Winch's single Save My Soul - possibly the greatest 45 I've ever come across. It can sound blurred, but from The Wimple Winch Story on a CD played on CDX2/555PS, the blurring goes and you realise this is a truly wonderful song played with tremendous energy.

ATB Rotf

Used to favour Suzanne Vega's 'Luka' to check everything was tickety-boo with my old Planar 2.

Like ROTF my selection can change from one audition to another. This particular selection was chosen for testing speakers to go with Naim CDX2 & Supernait, speakers involved were Neat Momentum 3i(standmounts),Neat Momentum 4i (floormounts)and Naim Allae (floormounts)which are as follows:-

Espana - Emmanuel Chabrier - Herbert Von Krajan/Philharmonia Ochestra - this piece of music was written by a Frenchman which most successfully evokes the atmosphere of sunny Spain which is irresistable.This piece,amongst other musical aspects involves many varied instruments and for me sorts out the nature of each different speaker.

Magic Fire Music - Richard Wagner - Herbert Von Krajan/Berlin Philharmonic- this is a very moving piece laced with emotion beautifully written by the master. Again deliberately chosen to see how well the vocals,midrange and emotion comes across.

Perfect Strangers - Deep Purple/live reording at Irvine Meadows California May 23 1987- this is an unusual enigmatic song about relationships, very melodic (even to attract middle of the road ears)superbly sang by Ian Gillan and Rithchie Blackmore's enticing rhythmic riffs is very hard to resist.I wanted to find out which speaker hits the 'spot' closest for me.

The Fire Inside - Bob Seger(and the Silver Bullet Band)/The Fire Inside - this is an uptempo song with lyrics of life and poetry sang by a lovely warm American vocals of Bob Seger. If speakers cannot convey the soul of this song then they are not worthy of further consideration espescially when this Cd is so well produced.

Darkshines - Muse/Origin of Symmetry - for me Muse is one of rare modern groups which inspires imagination. One either loves or hates them. From the moment I heard their dramatic melodies,searing guitars and the hypnotic quality vocals of Mark Bellamy which borders on genius and madness I was addicted to Muse. Darkshines proved an interesting song in the demo as it revealed unexpectedly the revealing speaker.

The Gal from Joe's - (Ellington - Mills) Nina Simone - a charming song beautifully sung by Nina Simone.

Choosing speakers is the hardest part for me in creating a system and yet it can be most interesting part of the process. From the above demo I certainly got to know a little bit more about the speakers used in the demo.

Romi

In recent demonstations I seem to have been using for the most part:


Gomez, Bring It On (CD & LP) - Get Miles, Free to Run


Dire Straits, Dire Straits (LP) - Sultans of Swing, Wild West End


Miles Davis, Kind of Blue (LP) - So What?


Dave Brubeck, Time Out (LP) - Take Five


Jehan Alain, The Organ Works Vol 1 (Helga Schuarte, organ) (CD) - Le Jardin Suspendu


Jehan Alain, The Organ Works Vol 2 (Helga Schuarte, organ) (CD) - Litanies


Rory Gallagher, Irish Tour '74 (CD & LP) - A Million Miles Away, Walk on Hot Coals


Kate Bush, Aeriel (LP & CD) - Somewhere in Between, Nocturn, Aeriel


Puccini, Turandot (Mehta etc) (CD) - various


Tavener, Innocence (CD) - The Lamb, Innocence


Circulus, Clocks are Like People (CD) - This is the Way, Willow Tree


Calexico, Hot Rail (LP) - El Picador, Ballad of Cable Hogue, Untitled III
(the bass on this LP is really wallowy and difficult to control)

If you have a subwoofer in your system the ultimate test track that I know of is Ani Difranc's LP "To the Teeth" - last track "I know this bar". If your sub actually goes as low as 13hz (it would seem a REL B3 does not)then chances are you will overdrive the subs amp even at modest volume. I did this on my REL Strata 5 and a local dealer found that the REL Brittania B1 (the big one) also struggled.

To some degree this test is purely academic. I have not found any other music that is this demanding this low down (yes there will be exceptions - 1812 overture has been mentioned by some).

Well Tempered Clavier of old JS Bach, in the late DG recording of H Walch. If I notice the sound of the harpsichord rather than get drawn into the music, I reject the set instantly. If it can't play a Bach period harpsichord naturally, it will not play anything else well.

Also some string orchestra music [any of a large selection I have] serves to allow for the set to show if it is a non-comentator in its own right.

Some Solo-soprano such as "I knnow my Redeemer Liveth," [Handel's Messiah] also gives the dem a chance to go wrong. Having passed three such tests I am prepared to give more time to a wider selection...

One favourite is "Mache Dich..." [a Bass aria] from Part two of the Saint Matthew Passion should be heart rending in its emotional weight, sublimated into tragic beauty. If it comes close to be being unbearably sad then the set is scoring very highly. My favourite performance of this Aria on records is led by Gustav Leonhardt on DHM.

ATB from George

The old standard classics I used when demonstrating Linns was Rickie Lee Jones s/t, Thelma Houston I've Got The Music In Me, Dire Straits s/t and Supetramp Crime.

I tend to focus on what kit does for the voice. Increasingly, I find I rely on Ian Partridge singing The Shepherd from RVW's Ten Blake Songs. It's entirely unaccompanied, and the right equipment allows you listen to the 'noises' the singer makes (drawing breath, final consonants etc) if you want to, but then makes you want to shut your eyes and enjoy the beauty of it. Bizarrely, I found that different speakers I was trying recently had the effect of making Partridge's clear tenor sound either brittle or unnaturally fruity.

All credit to ROTF for pushing HMHB so enthusiastically...and rightly so. Kinky Friedman once said of Willie Nelson...he can teach you more about life in 3mins than Schubert managed in a lifetime...I think that equally applies to HMHB.

I must admit, I don't fully go down the PRAT route in auditions. I do want that music making 'thing', but I do want to hear more 'stuff'. I certainly would want to know if a piece was fingerpicked or plectrumed. Equally I'd want to know if there was some obscure background noise on a Gong record. I'm not a nazi on the issue, I just think it's part of the fun of music...so any system has to add to this.

I posted originally since it's a personal thing...what we take to dem. Clearly some take different stuff each time, others have stalwarts.

I wonder if in hifi showrooms, dealers think of putting up a 'No Dark Side of the Moon' signs, like guitar shops often have 'No Stairway solo's'?

Mat

My audition CDs include:

Bach organ music - I have a Simon Preston recital on CD - it's quick and clean sounding, as organ music goes, but is still a great test of a system's ability to do scale, low bass, etc.

Steely Dan - my favourite band, so I always take one of their CDs, usually "Katy Lied" or "Two Against Nature"

Joni Mitchell - "Blue" or "Court and Spark" - acoustic material to test mid range and vocals

Kings of Convenience - "Riot in an Empty Street" - another great semi acoustic disc.

Beethoven - a piano sonata, usually "Waldstein performed by Gilels - I listen to a lot of solo piano (classical and jazz) so it's important that a system can get this right.

Something rocky - Jeff Buckley's "Grace", or, in a somewhat different vein, a Young Gods best of - I don't rock out often, but I like to have the option!

Other - usually take two or three other CDs accoding to what I'm in the mood to listen to at the time.

I have broad musical tastes, so it's hard to cover everything, but the above selection covers the essentials for me. I listen to a lot more jazz now than I used to (pre-Naim), so I may need to cover that in future auditions.

Anything I have been playing lately.

Steve

Stanley Clarke - Justice's Groove -- If you haven't heard it then its a must, only sounds correct on a naim system to my ears!!

Thomas Dolby - Air Head -- First heard it on Naim reference system, fun and extremely catchy.

Robert Cray Band - Time Takes Two -- Good test of vocals and the acoustic guitar varies so much from system to system.

Thats basically my top 3...Now back to Miles Davis on Vinyl ...

Cheers

John

Dear Colleagues,

My "test tracks", which also happen to be some of my most favourite music:
anything from Cecilia Bartoli - if the Cecilia really "sings" , the equipment can't too bad for mids & trebles.

(There are some rather "naughty" tracks, where Cecilias voice is sort of "in parallel" to a violin part - only excellent equipment really plays this section properly - otherwise it sounds strange & wrong. During auditions in some shops - not NAIM !! , I had the owner remove my Bartoli CD and replace it with one of his "audiophile" somethings, because Cecilias voice was just too hard for this particular equipment...mind you, I did NOT buy it !!)

and then: Moonlight Serenade, by Ray Brown & Laurindo Almeida
http://store.acousticsounds.com/browse_detail.cfm?Title_ID=14134

if Rays double bass grooves deep and clear and "makes your heart melt" - the bass & woofer replay is also OK

Regards

Urs

I tend to take something I have been listening to lately and am therefore very familar with. At present this would be the hdcd of Nick Lowe's At My Age.

As a general rule I always want to hear:

This Years Model - Elvis Costello - shouldn't be overly bright. A very taut recording. Fave track to try would be Lipstick Vogue.

I Love Everybody - Lyle Lovett - can it position the drums and cymbals with enough force and capture the nuances of the harmonies as well as the beautiful recording of acoustic guitar.

Tony - Patty Griffin - Naim can make this sound murderously harsh. Needs a very well balanced system to sound forceful but not too bright.

Mike
Mike