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Speaker test music? Dynamic Highs/Lows ...


Emile

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2 hours ago, Dave1290 said:

You always ask them what they want to hear don't you Mr. DJ?  Soooo, you play what they want. 

It's what I always do, even if it's not a great recording, you can always later play something that shows how bad those other recordings were. If the system is really good it will probably sound better than what they are used to anyway even without a great recording.

 

Then I use a disc that was compiled by a friend, which has good recordings but no "new" music but sounds really good.

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Well; played the "dynamic" George Benson recording ... very disappointed :( Must be an inferior download. Tried some other suggestions above ... again, not much "definition." To check, played my "Country - The Auction" download from youtube. Again, BLAH :( ... played the original CD to compare it and the difference is unbelievable ... the CD gives me real lows/highs and much definition which is absent in the youtube crap :(  OK; live and learn :D 

 

If you want to try the real version of "Country - The Auction," PM me with your email address and I can send you a WMV file of it --- too large to post here (4.5MB) :D 

 

Cheers, Emile

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1 hour ago, Emile said:

OK; in case anyone liked my initial selection ... found the full version of this song on youtube ... try it on GOOD speakers ... think you may like it.  Disclaimer: it IS a MOVIE soundtrack :D 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7F6kvEwaZc 

Jeez ... youtube doesn't allow embedding of this :( Just hit the link :) 

Country: An Original Soundtrack Album

 

I assume you like the last track on the cd, Epilogue and Hymn.  It is also one of my favorites.  

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1 minute ago, mboxler said:

I assume you like the last track on the cd, Epilogue and Hymn.  It is also one of my favorites.

Yeah; great compositions.  Haha; about time someone recognized good music :D (But, as stated above, the youtube download sucks :( )

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In line with the original question, not just "what music do I like"...

 

SRV Tin Pan Alley has a lot going for it.  Micro and Macro dynamics and broad frequency range required. 

 

Dianna Krall Temptation is always on my list.  It is well recorded and very close mic'ed so you should be able to "listen into" the track.  It is also the song I've heard on the most different setups because I keep it in my rotation.  It has decent dynamics and definitely meets the criteria of testing highs and lows.  There should be some detail challenging as well as there are some good percussion "realism" tests with the tambourine, snare, and what I guess is a dynamic tom tom punch? 

 

Count Basie Bluesville from the 88 Basie Street album will test scale as it is a big band number and meets all the other criteria mentioned.

 

Annie Lennox I Put a Spell on You is another good number that meets the spirit of the OP.  Piano for scale and realism, super forward and powerful vocals and after the initial intro, the bass line picks up.  I like songs that go from sparse to complex for testing.

 

Tower of Power Diggin' On James Brown will test the tightness of a speaker.

 

 

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To add to my comment a little, test music, i really think should be something you enjoy and your infantly familiar with, doesn't really matter what it is the equipment just need to reproduce what your favourite tracks have on them. For example small details like Amy Winehouse's figures taping in time to music on the back to Black album, any well designed speaker/system can play dynamics but its it the small things that count, it's the butter between the bread. We could spit names all day, this and that, with what are "technically" well recorded tracks but really no track is going to be a "test" track if you don't like the music to begin with. Some of the best recorded music ever is the daft punk sound track to Tron legacy, and i believe won an oscar for its score (could be wrong), along with Hans zimmers scores, gladiator springs to mind with its hunting vocals (if you can call the it that) and simple rising percussion, but doesn't matter a jot if you don't like the music as your not going to be familiar with it. 

 

Test music is what you enjoy its why i gave a list,  a little it of everything so you/people might find something you/they enjoy. But i also i know sounds good.

 

Anyhow, What i do find and i don't know anybody else finds this to be the case, is music that was mastered for LP sounds well crap in digital well not that sounds bad, Its too dam quite requiring to high of a volume increase. Taking the volume control into noisier parts of its rotation, 12 o'clock and beyound to get similar levels to digital. The music was from a time were it was designed to go through a phono stage with gain adjustments and i feel digital rips fail (most of the time) to take that into account. Id rather actually listen to those tracks on a black disc being played how they where mastered/inteneded to be played. And my next edition to my system will be a good turn table and phono stage with adjustable gain (just my rambles) but interested to know if anybody finds that to be the case or am i completely wrong!?

 

Edited by twinkle toes
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On 6/11/2019 at 7:00 AM, twinkle toes said:

 

Anyhow, What i do find and i don't know anybody else finds this to be the case, is music that was mastered for LP sounds well crap in digital well not that sounds bad, Its too dam quite requiring to high of a volume increase. Taking the volume control into noisier parts of its rotation, 12 o'clock and beyound to get similar levels to digital. The music was from a time were it was designed to go through a phono stage with gain adjustments and i feel digital rips fail (most of the time) to take that into account. Id rather actually listen to those tracks on a black disc being played how they where mastered/inteneded to be played. And my next edition to my system will be a good turn table and phono stage with adjustable gain (just my rambles) but interested to know if anybody finds that to be the case or am i completely wrong!?

 

 

What you are describing used to be an issue, long ago, especially during the early years of Compact Disc introduction. That's not the case anymore. I understand the renewed interest in turntables/vinyl LP but I also surmise that these same people have never heard a reproduction chain with true all digital throughput with absolutely no analog components in the signal chain until right up to the speaker outputs. There are many younger folks of the newer generations that grew up in a digital world, but unfortunately grew up with digital at its worst (MP3, CD made from masters intended for LP, etc). So for them the sound of an LP on a decent system is probably quite a revelation.

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33 minutes ago, artto said:

 

What you are describing used to be an issue, long ago, especially during the early years of Compact Disc introduction. That's not the case anymore. I understand the renewed interest in turntables/vinyl LP but I also surmise that these same people have never heard a reproduction chain with true all digital throughput with absolutely no analog components in the signal chain until right up to the speaker outputs. There are many younger folks of the newer generations that grew up in a digital world, but unfortunately grew up with digital at its worst (MP3, CD made from masters intended for LP, etc). So for them the sound of an LP on a decent system is probably quite a revelation.

Humm I don’t know, still find it quite abit. Led zeppelin remasters for example and sounds the same through my KEF LS50 Wireless and there about as all digital as it gets. Perhaps I’m doing something wrong then but have never found an answer either way. As I say I feel it comes down to the phone stage my guess. Shouldn’t mater regardless weather it’s digital or not if the recording is low in gain going in, it’s  going to be low coming out. no? 

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19 minutes ago, twinkle toes said:

Humm I don’t know, still find it quite abit. Led zeppelin remasters for example and sounds the same through my KEF LS50 Wireless and there about as all digital as it gets. Perhaps I’m doing something wrong then but have never found an answer either way. As I say I feel it comes down to the phone stage my guess. Shouldn’t mater regardless weather it’s digital or not if the recording is low in gain going in, it’s  going to be low coming out. no? 

 

Sorry, but Led Zeppelin remasters are not as digital as it gets. Those are not digital recordings. The original masters are analog. 50 year old analog tape masters.

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1 hour ago, artto said:

I also surmise that these same people have never heard a reproduction chain with true all digital throughput with absolutely no analog components in the signal chain until right up to the speaker outputs.

Personally, I don't know of anything I want to listen to which has these characteristics---not that I am opposed to the principle.

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9 minutes ago, artto said:
31 minutes ago, twinkle toes said:

Humm I don’t know, still find it quite abit. Led zeppelin remasters for example and sounds the same through my KEF LS50 Wireless and there about as all digital as it gets. Perhaps I’m doing something wrong then but have never found an answer either way. As I say I feel it comes down to the phone stage my guess. Shouldn’t mater regardless weather it’s digital or not if the recording is low in gain going in, it’s  going to be low coming out. no? 

 

Sorry, but Led Zeppelin remasters are not as digital as it gets. Those are not digital recordings. The original masters are analog. 50 year old analog tape masters.

 

Every instance that I've encountered of Zeppelin (digital) "remasters" rank in the lowest of low quality.  'Mothership' has got to be one of the worst discs I own.  Excessive levels with compression and utterly horrid frequency balance.

 

The capability of (even "lowly" CD) digital so greatly outshines that of LP that it's not even close.  The specific implementation is the key.

 

'Twinkle toes', you should find the thread about "demastering" in the technical forum for a better understanding in general.  Your ideas are not "sound" in this matter, from what you've stated here in this thread.

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