I am not joking when I post this, but it really should be the most listened to or favorite recording in your collection. I find it is the easiest way to tune a room, especially if you have adjustable components, because in your mind you have a sound you most identify with. I myself have a personal favorite, Paul Kelly's May 1992, which has a great soundstage, silence and decay, and pure, isolated instruments. I also use Radiohead's Amnesiac, which has many moody and difficult to reproduce tracks. Just my POV. I think a hi fi system comes alive when you know of a recording for a decade, it has been a soundtrack to your life, and it comes alive into another dimension or nuance. That is what keeps me loving music, not some analytical CD that proposes that it can recreate a "depth of image."
Music for speaker setup?
I am getting serious about positioning my speakers. I have a small, irregularly shaped room and small changes in placement can result in significant changes to sound.
It would be very helpful if I had a few recordings that were "known quantities" as far as imaging. What happens is that I get the speakers positioned where they seem to work well with some recordings, then I put on another disk and hear something I don't expect (off-center soloist, for instance). But you never know; maybe in this particular recording the soloist is supposed to be off-center. In classical and many jazz recordings, the engineers aim to reproduce the sound of the actual performance, so a photo or description of how the performers were arranged would help. Pop recordings are full of various effects, but knowing that on track X the guitar is supposed to be far to the left, or whatever, would be good. If I had a few such references I'd feel more confident in my results. Any suggestions for recordings that provide this kind of information?
Thanks for any help.
It would be very helpful if I had a few recordings that were "known quantities" as far as imaging. What happens is that I get the speakers positioned where they seem to work well with some recordings, then I put on another disk and hear something I don't expect (off-center soloist, for instance). But you never know; maybe in this particular recording the soloist is supposed to be off-center. In classical and many jazz recordings, the engineers aim to reproduce the sound of the actual performance, so a photo or description of how the performers were arranged would help. Pop recordings are full of various effects, but knowing that on track X the guitar is supposed to be far to the left, or whatever, would be good. If I had a few such references I'd feel more confident in my results. Any suggestions for recordings that provide this kind of information?
Thanks for any help.