in short, if a proposed new system can make both "Brothers in Arms" [metallic-sounding even on the best systems] and "The Forward Look" (K.O.J.’s reference-quality live stereo recording of Red Norvo in 1957) sound close enough in terms of being able to outright relax and enjoy them both, then that system is doing something right. the former should sound at least listenable, and the latter should sound utterly alive yet relaxed at the same time, like the best of live unamplified music. aside from those selections, i also would play the 1960 RCA Red Seal Fritz Reiner/CSO recording of "Scheherazade" as that is a tough one to get right on most systems i’ve heard, all too often the low-end details get buried in the murk of a murky system, when you should be able to clearly hear all the little musical noises [musicians breathing, chairs creaking, music stands rattling, sheet music shuffling] that are plainly audible in this reference-quality recording. the climaxes sound have that "bigger and bigger" quality with no sense of strain, just a warm loudness. too many systems i’ve heard this played on sounded strained and veiled. Supertramp’s "Breakfast in America" is another one that is frankly not listenable [too GD bright] on most systems i’ve heard it on. the 1963 verve recording of Count Basie/Fitzgerald is another one that sounds weak/desiccated on not-well-sorted-out systems, you should get a palpable sense of the drummer in the background as well as the bassline, and Fitzgerald’s alto voice should sound warm but not too plummy, on too many systems her voice on that record sounds foggy to me, and the bass/drummer sounds too distant. then there is the infamous Telarc 1978 recording of The 1812 Overture with its booming cannons, that is the ultimate test of bass resolution and power handling, on weak systems that avoid bottoming out the woofers, you hear something that sounds like a boat oar hitting the side of a big barrel, when in reality the engineers on this one captured the sharp attack and quickly followed visceral deep bass wallop that a real cannon produces. lastly i have a recording of the Organ Stop Wurlitzer [Mesa AZ] playing "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" which has bass down to about 8 cycles per second on the climax at the end, no system i've heard this on can reproduce that at full volume, it vibrates the air in the room in a totally tight lock.
