Turandot with Pavarotti on London. Marriage of Figaro conducted by Vittorio Gui on EMI's HMV series. Clarity, dynamics, timbral accuracy and soundstaging galore. Marriage of Figaro is pure Blumlein-miked. If the stereo set up is good you hear the vocalists chasing each other upstage, downstage and around the room.
Music to take to an audition
I’ll never forget hearing flagship Infinity speakers in Alaska in the late 70’s. That experience put me on a path that I have been traveling on ever since. To this day, I remember the music they played at the time.....Toccata from Mannheim Steamroller’s Fresh Aire III album. That quickly became a yardstick for me and I still listen to that same Fresh Aire track when I evaluate new equipment.
It is important to have a fairly small set of diverse music selections you are very familiar with and have hopefully been able to hear on the best of systems. The music should not just be challenging to the equipment and listening room but also something you enjoy listening to.
I would be interested in what other people use to evaluate prospective components and why. Here are a few of my selections:
America-America-Donkey Jaw. (Great acoustic guitar, dynamics and holographic soundstage)
Mannheim Steamroller Fresh Aire III Toccata (Great recording, deep base notes with synth highs floating above)
Graham Parker-Another Grey Area-You Hit The Spot (Tight clean base control, holographic soundstage, nothing beats Graham Parker rhythm)
Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture on Telarc (A challenging recording for every piece of equipment in the chain, particularly the analog front end. Watch out for the cannon blasts!)
Badfinger-Straight Up-Baby Blue. (If you can get this right say no more)