Which Record makes your system shine?


Hey All, 

Been a while since I posted anything and I hope I am posting in the correct category.

So, just curious, which Vinyl Record, do you feel makes your system shine and display it's full potential?

OR, put another way, which record or records would you put on if you wanted to show off your system to someone who has not heard or seen it before?

Of course we know, not all records sound the same but for me I feel (at least on my system), it's the record: "Temptation" by Chantal Chamberland - Evosound Records

Carpenters: The Singles (forgot to check the record label).

On the other hand, I have James Taylor Greatest Hits on Vinyl and that record just sounds a bit veiled to me.

It's funny how one record can sound great and another, not that it sounds bad but just doesn't seem to have that crispness or openness to it.

System at the moment if you're wondering:

- Vincent SV-500
- Mofi Studio Desk w/Hana SL MC
- Martin Logan Motion 40 Speakers
- Sim Audio Moon 110lp V2 Phono
- Cardas Cabling

jay73

If I have folks over that are not audiophiles, I usually start with two Acoustic Sounds reissues 1. Patsy Cline’s Gt Hits 2. Steely Dan Aja 45rpm….Then I move on to some Ella &Louis Monos and Kraftwerk Computer World Japan and US pressings

 

 

I’ve got a running list that i use for equipment changes & cart adjustments:

Al Di Meola - Friday Night in San Francisco - Impex 2lp 45

Arthur Lyman - Taboo 

The Beat Farmers - Pursuit of Happiness - dark light

Bill Evans - Everybody Digs Bill Evans -  ERC

Billy Squire - Don’t say no - Intervention

Black Keys - Delta Kream - 07559791688^ 1-653739-A BK28982-01 A1 RKS STERLING 31581 1A

Cage the Elephant - Social Cues

Casino Royale - Colgems 1967

The Church - Starfish - Intervention

Clan of Xymox - Self titled - Stumble & Fall

Clannad - In concert - 1978 

The Damned - Anything

Death Cab for Cutie - Transatlanticism

Eric Clapton - Unplugged - MFSL 1step

Eva Cassidy - Songbird - S&P 501-A₃ · ʀe2 EVA RULES! 11357.1(3)⋯

Feist - Let it Die - VMP

Fleetwood Mac - Rumors - 2LP45 - Pallas

Grateful Dead - From the Mars Hotel - MFSL 2LP45

Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass - Whipped Cream & Other Delights - 1965

Hermanos Gutierrez - El bueno y el malo

Herb Alpert Presents Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 - MFSL

Inxs- Kick - 20791 1A 00602557887211 MILES. ABBEY ROAD 1/2 SPEED. RM 30.

Isaac Hayes - Hot Buttered Soul - Craft 1step

Jimi Hendrix Axis Bold as Love - UHQR

Jimi Hendrix Are You Experienced - UHQR

John Hiatt - Bring the Family - MFSL

Keale - Motherland

Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus - MFSL 2-013

Los Lobos - Kiko - MFSL 1-371

Lou Reed - Transformer - LSP-4807

Love - Forever Changes - ERC

Marty Robbins - Gunfighter ballads

Marvin Gaye - Whats going on - MFSL  - UD1S 2-008

Matt Maeson - Bank on the Funeral -  GOLD072

Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain - MFSL 1-375

Modest Mouse - Good News For People Who Love Bad News - E 287125-A WG/NRP ⓤ

Modest Mouse - We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank - 82876861391-A CJH Welcome to 1979

Muddy Waters - Folk Singer -  MFSL UD1S 2-023

Music for Christmas - Wilson audio

New Order - 1981-Factus 8-1982 - 

Norah Jones - Come Away With Me - Classic Records - JP 5004-A BG

Paul Weller - An Orchestrated Songbook

Peter Case - self titled - [SRC] GHS-2-4105-A-SR2 1-1 [STERLING]

Pink Floyd DSOTM - MFSL 1-017

Pixies - Surfer Rosa -  - MFSL 1-296

Public Image Limited - Metal Box

Radiohead - In Rainbows - _X_X 001 A1 RIPPLES W̶A̶S̶T̶E̶R̶I̶ ̶0̶0̶1̶

Radiohead - OK Computer - D 8552291 IA NODATA 02 A-1-1-

Red Nichols - Marineland - MFSL 1-093

Rolling Stones - MFSL box set

Slightly Stoopid - Live & direct acoustic  - SRLP038

Supertramp - Crime of the Century - MFSL 1-005

Santana Abraxas - MFSL 1step

Steve Miller - Fly Like an Eagle - MFSL

Supersuckers - Must have been high

The The - Soul Mining

Tom Waits - Mule Variations - 1999

Tracy Chapman - self titled - B-30786-A-DMM ST-E-60774-A-DMM-2 MASTERDISK SP-AR Δ20127 0- SP3-3

Van Morrison - Veedon Fleece - VMP

World Party - Goodbye Jumbo - SRC  1-1  F1-21654-A1  MASTERDISK HW

 

And…. Beatles Abbey Road UK pressing …XTC English Settlement UK pressing…Anna Netrebko -Opera Arias DGG vinyl…

There are many great recommendations above. My experience with the ones I know supports their inclusion on the list. Here are a couple I use to demonstrate my system and audition analogue components that haven’t been mentioned by others:

Art Ensemble of Chicago, Third Decade (first pressing)

Joan Armatrading, S/T (original release-not sure of pressing)

The Band, Stagefright (MoFi)

I’m impressed with the sound on my system of the recent Rhino High Fidelity reissue of The Faces’ “Ooh La La” and likely will use it for demos in future.

What is wrong with content of Graceland?

A great album where the sound is like a drug.

 

Ansermet’s Stravinsky Pulcinella, complete not the suite, on London. The cd I have on Eloquence which has done some very good with the Decca classical catalogue has all the life taken out of it.

Reiner Prokofiev Lt Kije  on RCA.

Fragile, Japanese pressing. The domestic is extremely poor.