What is your one reference track for putting a system through it's paces?

with a few exceptions i can't, in fact I can, believe the mundane musak you guys hold a flame for

 

It always caught the Troika out.

 

The Sound of Violence On Cassius' Au Reve album. If I'm allowed a few more Burnout by the Cinematic Orchestra and Who Am I? by the Peace Orchestra- hmm a few Orchestra's there! The Pioneers by Bloc Party is bloody good as well.

 

Peace Orchestra! Great album! :MILD:

 

Calling Elvis by Dire Straits. Must have listened to this many thousands of times - not joking or exaggerating either.

There are some fast dynamics on there that few systems can recreate faithfully, so if the snare drum isn't sounding as a sharp "thwack" with crisp leading and trailing edges, the hi hat is sounding splashy or being overwhelmed by the guitar riffs, the background 'violin' line fades in and out, Knopfler's voice is sounding thin or chesty and finally that subterranean bass line is making your bass drivers do a good impersonation of a foghorn, then yer system just aint cutting it

 

'Totally Wired' by the Fall, or the title track from 'Fun House' by The Stooges.

 

Born in the USA - Bruce

The deep drum beats can be very difficult to replicate

 

Me too!
And "Fat Cat" from Bootsy's "Ultrawave LP..
And the 1st track off the Audioslave cd.
And anything off Steve Coleman and the 5 Elements live cd.

 

'Mambo del Norte' from 'San Francisco Ltd.'

It's a 1976 Crystal Clear direct-to-disc recording done live with no compression, equalisation or anything. The track has everything -vocals, piano, a drum solo and the greatest cymbals ever recorded on any type of media. 1.000 copies were made and since I've only got 4, the world should contain some others. Sometimes you can find one on eBay - buy it. It'll make you cry - IF your system is up to it and you can afford to replace woofers and mids once in a while when the coils melt.

Do I get to name a few more? In that case Steely Dan/Babylon sisters, BeeGees/Stop (think again), Suzanne Vega/Calypso, Grace Jones/Slave to the rythm, Yellowjackets/Tortoise and the hare, Spyro Gyra/Song for Lorraine, Beethoven/Rondo a capriccio, Bizet/Carmen...

 

<pedant mode> Metallica Metallica,it isn't an eponymous album,it hasn't got a title.

Personally,I would use anything by Alsion Krauss apart fromm the fiddler tracks,but then again,I never test systems.Is this something nerdies do?

 

"Keith, Don't go" from Nils Lofgren. (track 5)

 

i prefer track eight

''has anyone seen my car keys?''

 

Shellac of North America: Boche's Dick

180g DMM pressing (as standard).
Extremely well recorded with minimal compression (for a rock record) by Albini and Weston and Mastered by the late John Loder.
Has a very fast moving bass part played in unison with with a complex tom/kick pattern (resolve that !).
Textbook clean Travis Bean guitar tone on the intro.
Loud, unmasked snare beats between the intro and the fast bit.
No artificial reverb added - drum beat decays are natural.
Towards the end of the side for tracking check.

Rocks like hell too.

 

Wish you were here. - off wish you were here. Pink floyd.
Vinyl, 180g vinyl, cd, and cd remastred.

Staticy begining, v auidble differences betwen left and right channels - Dave Gilmour breathing and coughing, guitar, and fret noises. Voice kicking in, Drums kicking in Base kicking Organ kicking in ect ect.
+ It's there best track ever.

i

 

hmmm... interesting thread this one.
I can't really pin it down to one single track and I must confess I don't always use the same "testing" material, mostly because I don't test hifi very often probably.

i tend to use a few that i believe will show different abilities. the one thing in common between them is that they are all tracks I know very well.

- This Mortal Coil - "Mr Somewhere" for separation and soundstage (two voices, a guitar and a cello)
- This Mortal Coil - "You and Your Sister" for resolution and detail (the beginning has a whisper that is almost inaudible but with a good system you can even tell what is said)
- Tous Les Matins du Monde OST - "Marche Pour La ceremonie des Turcs" (great track for organic sound - particularly the sound of the drum)
- Beethoven Sonatas "Spring" and "Kreutzer" (for tone and space, balance in presentation)
- Schubert's Fifth Symphony (Beecham) (for resolution and stage)
- Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon OST - "Night Fight" (amazing drumming with pinpoint placement accuracy)
- Talvin Singh - "Traveller" (to test deep synthesized bass)
- Hossam Ramze "Sabla Tolo" album (any song here uses a mix of tabla and percussion, great for rythm, speed, transients)

And last but not least,
Jacqueline duPre's rendition of the Elgar Cello Concerto. (one for emotion if anything, i know how much this piece has to move me, and i play cello so I can test tonal accuracy, resolution, placement, i just love to hear it basically... )

My two cents.
Jack

 

I couldn't rely on just one track either. However, if I had to, it would be Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side". This has a clear bass line, male vocals, a female chorus who should almost walk up and touch you on their second appearance and a great sax intro.

I also use 'Julsang' on that Swedish album, Jazz at the Porn Shop (when I want to annoy W-M with some plink), Alison Krauss + Union Station, Joni Mitchell - "Travelogue", Jaques Loussier - variations on Beethoven's 7th and various other bits and pieces.

 

Jazz at the porn shop, musical Chinese water torture

 

I like "Ball and a Biscuit" from The White Stripes' "Elephant". It's got a fair amount of "hifi" attributes to look out for, and it's beautifully (and minimally) recorded, but the important thing is whether it kicks ass or not - that guitar solo must provoke air guitar or something's not right!

Dunc

 

I haven't got one track, but I have one double CD that I always use - it's the Canadian Juno awards compilation for 1992 (?). It has a lot of different tracks from heavy metal and hard rock to classical, orchestra, jazz, rap, francophone, country, pop and even kid's music. And all tracks are perfectly recorded. Very convenient.

 

I haven't got one track, but I have one double CD that I always use - it's the Canadian Juno awards compilation for 1992 (?). It has a lot of different tracks from heavy metal and hard rock to classical, orchestra, jazz, rap, francophone, country, pop, soul and even kid's music. And nearly all tracks are great (well they should be, it's awards after all) and perfectly recorded. And still the good system can expose differences and nuances in recording quality. Very convenient. And besides I love Canadian music - a lot of underexposed talent. (No Krall on that record thanks God

I usually start listenning to the silly kid's song with children banging drums and smthg that sounds like kettles - great location test. By the time the salesperson starts looking at me with some pity I press forward and here we go - a BEAUTIFUL cello with Tchaikovsky - nice :MILD: