Whats your favourite track to play to the non hi-fi visitor?


Lets be clear, the uninitiated offer an opportunity to show off your hi-fi, and give them an unexpected experience. Most visitors wonder why there is laboratory equipment and Stanly Kubrick 2001 monoliths in the lounge - some even make the connection to the wall of vinyl.

Time to pull out the Matt Bianco LP ’Who’s side are you on’, after warming up the system for an hour or so.
Some people don’t get it at all, but most can be impressed - but not with extended playtime. So, its a rare person that will sit and listen, as the demo nearly always gets turned down to background music to allow conversation.

I once had a good mate over for an evening of music and the odd wine, at one point during the evening he rushed to the kitchen and came back with spoons, which he played alongside the hi-fi to everything - including Pink Floyd. Mind you after a few wines it did bizarrely become a fitting accompaniment.

Whats your ’knock them dead track’ to play to non audiophiles?
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If you want to dazzle your guest with an unforgettable audio experience that gives them an expansive sound stage and presentation like they’ve never heard before, play Wilson Phillips, “Good Vibrations” from their album “Dedicated.” It impresses every time.

I also like “Pure Imagination” from Barbara Steisand’s Encore LP for those who are more refined and/or not rockers. For spine chilling intimacy, Michael Mcdonald’s  “I can let Go Now” from the “If that’s What it Takes” LP.


I prefer to play an entire album, rather that show what a nerd I really am, and run off friends.
I'll second the SRV Tin Pan Alley cut, and add Riviera Paradise. Either should impress them. Unless they are headbangers who just want to see how much bass your system can produce, in which case get some more discerning friends.
Just to show that analogue vinyl is far from dead, Linda Ronstadt singing "When You Wish Upon a Star" -- Nelson Riddle & Orchestra -- Elektra/Asylum Records 60474-1-E  -- Recorded & mixed by George Massenburg -- Album : "For Sentimental Reasons".  No one believes that it is a vinyl record even when they see it spinning on my turntable.
Nearly all of the above mentioned tracks should do the trick, but I always like to play a selection that the listener thinks he/she has heard countless times.  My favorite demo song is "Bohemian Rhapsody" on 180 gram vinyl.  After assuring me they have heard it hundreds of times, I tell them they have never actually heard it at all.  After playing the track, which has an incredible dynamic range, I then reask how many times they have heard this track, and the inevitable answer is, this was the first time!