You only have one chance.....1 LP, or CD or [Sacd or Disk file]......

[Frank is here]

Ok...so ...in your mind the most respected, admired and awesome reviewer or audio authority you want to impress is arriving at your sound system.....
You only have one chance.....you are only allowed 1 item .... L.P , or 1 CD or [Sacd or Disk file]......to play on your system to show him how good it sounds.....
This is not about the music content but it's ability to show off your systems sound.......what do you chose...??

Then after traveling...you are about to visit and listen to the most awesome sound system you will ever get to hear....
Do you take the same disk or do you take something else......???

Looking forward to the choices.......
Have a great time .........

 

[Zero000]

I have found that the vast majority of people who come round and listen to my gear just switch off when I play something I think sounds awesome.

All they really want to hear is how their fave stuff sounds on it. Sure I get a few wins but usually with people who don't live on a diet of classical. Which quite a few audiophiles love.

Shame really as classical IMHO is the genre which my system works least well with. And so many classical recordings are truly sub par. It seems way less consistent than any other genre in terms of sound quality.

So my choice would be influenced by what I knew the reviewer liked.

 

[andromedaaudio]

No tape?

 

[tima]

If he's not familiar with classical, I might take a pass but it would be good to get a knowledgeable opinion.

I may take one of two approaches:
- read one of his recent reviews, then select one of the records he used, or, more likely
- pick a nice orchestral recording from the pre-barcode era.

Maybe, this one:


Lyrita SRCS 75

 

[andromedaaudio]

My favourite would still be the good old : stimela from hugh masekela .
The coaltrain played on high volume .
Preferably on tape but lp is not too bad either .
Plus its available on cd off course

 

[Mike Lavigne]

i do this high profile visitor thing from time to time.

i have a hard time not asking this person about their musical preference. and in my system for first time visitors there is an adjustment process of 45 minutes to an hour getting use to the proximity of 4 massive 7 foot tall towers 109" from your ears. so i rarely start out with the big guns. it's too startling and distracting. most visitors need to take a deep breath first and relax to appreciate what is going on. their minds are taking it all in. i might hand them the i-pad and allow them to play tracks they know first.....so they can calibrate.

a 30ips, 1/2" 1st gen master dub of a 'work part' from Ilya Itin's solo grand piano Debussy 'Preludes' might be top of the food chain. next maybe a 1/2" 15ips of 'Folk Singer'. maybe the 15ips, 1/4" low gen master dub of Ben Webster's "Sunday Morning at the Montmartre or 15ips, 1/4" of side one of LZ1.

for vinyl.......Ellington's 'Malletoba Spank' off 'Jazz Party', Classic Records single disc 45, or Armstrong's 'St. James Infirmary', Classic Records single disc 45. or track 1, 'Mouth Harp Blues'/Shakey Jake; AP 45 reissue. or maybe disc 1 of Ansermet's 'The Royal Ballet-Gala Performances', original Classic Records 45rpm Box set.

for digital.......the most powerful, memorable track that comes to mind is my 352/24 of Aerosmith's 'Sweet Emotion', or maybe the 352/24 of Oscar Peterson's "Quiet Nights and Quiet Stars" from 'We Get Requests'. in my room these cuts envelope the listener completely.

i could and do go on and on......but none of the above tracks could be really fully appreciated as a first track.....too much information. like starting a symphony with the crescendo. but they are some of the 'big guns'. and these are about the music and the musical connection......not sound effects. these cuts pull you into the musical river.

i have lots of 'sound effects' cuts i can play......but rarely during visitor sessions (or ever).

 

[thedudeabides]

My only source is my CDP. When I have a visitor that wants to hear my system, I ask the following:

1) Jazz, Classical or other (folk, rock, etc.). Once they choose, I ask;

2) Energy level / intensity; low, medium, or high. I then play a selection that matches their answers.

 

[Kingrex]

If I were the guest and they started with Country, I would have to excuse myself to the bathroom.

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

i do this high profile visitor thing from time to time.

i have a hard time not asking this person about their musical preference. and in my system for first time visitors there is an adjustment process of 45 minutes to an hour getting use to the proximity of 4 massive 7 foot tall towers 109" from your ears. so i rarely start out with the big guns. it's too startling and distracting. most visitors need to take a deep breath first and relax to appreciate what is going on. their minds are taking it all in. i might hand them the i-pad and allow them to play tracks they know first.....so they can calibrate.

a 30ips, 1/2" 1st gen master dub of a 'work part' from Ilya Itin's solo grand piano Debussy 'Preludes' might be top of the food chain. next maybe a 1/2" 15ips of 'Folk Singer'. maybe the 15ips, 1/4" low gen master dub of Ben Webster's "Sunday Morning at the Montmartre or 15ips, 1/4" of side one of LZ1.

for vinyl.......Ellington's 'Malletoba Spank' off 'Jazz Party', Classic Records single disc 45, or Armstrong's 'St. James Infirmary', Classic Records single disc 45. or track 1, 'Mouth Harp Blues'/Shakey Jake; AP 45 reissue. or maybe disc 1 of Ansermet's 'The Royal Ballet-Gala Performances', original Classic Records 45rpm Box set.

for digital.......the most powerful, memorable track that comes to mind is my 352/24 of Aerosmith's 'Sweet Emotion', or maybe the 352/24 of Oscar Peterson's "Quiet Nights and Quiet Stars" from 'We Get Requests'. in my room these cuts envelope the listener completely.

i could and do go on and on......but none of the above tracks could be really fully appreciated as a first track.....too much information. like starting a symphony with the crescendo. but they are some of the 'big guns'. and these are about the music and the musical connection......not sound effects. these cuts pull you into the musical river.

i have lots of 'sound effects' cuts i can play......but rarely during visitor sessions (or ever).

DO NOT i repeat DO NOT listen to any of that nonsense above when visiting Mike, you must get a mandatory injection of In My Time of Dying, you will not be issued your card until you do so.

On the quieter side Dean Martin, If You Were The Only Girl.

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

To answer the op question and I am so mainstream, Steely Dan Aja or Dire Straits Brothers in Arms.

 

[spiritofmusic]

Miles Davis lps, Jap pressings "Dark Magus" "Agharta", "Pangea".
That's six lps to absolutely demonstrate the power of analog.

Cd? Jonas Hellborg "Octave Of The Holy Innocents" remains the one digital that really gives me chills.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

DO NOT i repeat DO NOT listen to any of that nonsense above when visiting Mike, you must get a mandatory injection of In My Time of Dying, you will not be issued your card until you do so.

On the quieter side Dean Martin, If You Were The Only Girl.

i did not list this since the 45rpm pressing of 'In My Time Of Dying' cannot be at the beginning of a session. it's house rules.

 

[bonzo75]

To be fair, I was glad I heard it later that night because it was so intense I did not feel like listening to anything else, it would have sounded boring. So we went for dinner. Same thing happened next morning with Beethoven 9, could not listen to scheherazade after that

 

[bonzo75]

It totally captures the essence of what they were, how half way in they keep egging each other on and cannot stop. That is what a live band is, not well rehearsed playing the same thing. Even in studio they recorded with minimal retakes. Below is live at Earl's Court

 

[thedudeabides]

If I were the guest and they started with Country, I would have to excuse myself to the bathroom.

I have a few Country CD's (Emmy Lou Harris, Graham Parsons) which I listen to occasionally and one Bluegrass CD which I highly recommend, that being Allison Krauss + Union Station Live.

 

[morricab]

I have found that the vast majority of people who come round and listen to my gear just switch off when I play something I think sounds awesome.

All they really want to hear is how their fave stuff sounds on it. Sure I get a few wins but usually with people who don't live on a diet of classical. Which quite a few audiophiles love.

Shame really as classical IMHO is the genre which my system works least well with. And so many classical recordings are truly sub par. It seems way less consistent than any other genre in terms of sound quality.

So my choice would be influenced by what I knew the reviewer liked.

Such as?

 

[NorthStar]

Some good classical chamber music with piano, cello and violin.

The medium I don't care, as long I'm emotionally transported...mono, stereo or multichannel.
If an SACD has the three in it...bonus.

 

[morricab]

On LP i would play either Nik Bartsch Continuum, Ralph Towner Solstice, Chick Corea Trio improvisations or Jim Hall Impressions of Japan(direct to disk). If classical is on the menu then my Maurizio Polini Chopin box set on DG, Mozart String Quartet (Alban Berg) on Telefunken or my 1965 Wagner "Die Walkurie" on Decca Royal Siund.

On cd (or streaming) Nik Bartsch Holon, E.S.T best of on ACT label, Yello Touch, , Quadro Nuevo, Depart Reload on Act, Adam Baldych on ACT, Tchaikovsky 3 disc on DG, Swan Lake on Decca, Beethoven violin sonatas with Maxim Vengerov, Britten Violin Concerto w/Vengerov on EMI ( my top choice actually for classical).

 

[andromedaaudio]

Okay i ll do the full intro then for a reviewer
By the way :
I should ask the dutch hifi magazine back for a review , and do some magazine advertizing .
They have not heard my new xpe speakers yet, i know i suck at advertiizing.
Plus i ll have all my machines in perfect condition later this month

Okay then ,Only tape ,... the build up repetoire


1 st
a simple broadcast recording of speach , if you know the voice character you know the tape is dead on .
2 Ultra analogue winona zelenka cello.
3 Luciano pavarroti live (hemiolia )
4 piano mastertapes.
5 Yello horch house
6 hugh masekela stimela


3 The first time i thought an operasinger sounded good on my system

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

i did not list this since the 45rpm pressing of 'In My Time Of Dying' cannot be at the beginning of a session. it's house rules.

Understood