Music to test with:

In addition to the common James Taylor-type recordings, these are some of my other favorite "demo" discs:

City of Angels - Soundrack
I am Sam - Soundtrack
Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs
Thomas Dolby - Alien ate my Buick
Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms XRCD2
Grateful Dead - Dicks Picks 17
Ray Brown - Soular Energy
Dave's True Story - Sex without Bodies
Apollo 13 Soundtrack (track 20)
The Firm Soundtrack

(I know, a lot of soundtracks, but I like that they have various artists on a single disc and usually offer a consistant recording quality across the disc.)

Nrchy, your point is well taken, but in the end most classical music will be a purer source as the same argument can be made re: music that has electronicly manipulated and then performed in a given space. I don't believe any one is trying to suggest that any particular type of recorded music is the perfect tool for evaluation, just which ones are prone to the least alteration prior to play back. The less alteration the greater the fidelity. Some things are for all practical puposes out of most audiohiles hands. Unless you are evaluating equipment in the same time and space as the perfomance (recoding engineer),or you have a room that is exactly like the recording venue and you know it, perfect evaluations are not likely. But the quest to do our best goes on. With out some standard (sub standard?) the point of this forum would be moot. As if comparing a viewing of paintings with others who have viewed them through different colored lenses. Personaly, I use a variety of acoustic and electronic recordings as they each have specific qualities that make evaluations easier. Good listening.

Unsound, thank you for clarifying the point I was trying to make. To be sure, the sound of a viola will be affected by the environment in which it is played. But if one listens to many violas played in many environments, one will come to learn the characteristic sound of the instrument. The environment may contribute some color, reverb, etc. to the sound of the viola but it won't change the fundamental character.

On the other hand, no one but the artist will EVER know, no matter how many listenings or how many environments, what the the sound coming out of the electric guitar-cum-black box was intended to sound like. Therefore, while it will be entirely possible for one to choose a system that produces a synth sound that one likes, it will be impossible by definition for one to choose a system that replicates with certainty the artist's intention.

Of course one should use recordings with which one is familiar, be they by the Chicago Symphony or by the thrash metal band du jour.

will

Pianorecordings, best one with a Steinway, the other a Boesendorfer or a Bechstein, Soprano arias, string quartets, a brass octet, a chorus, massed strings, or a nice slice of Berlioz' Requiem played at full tilt boogie are the acid tests I use to let a dealers face turn from chubby red to slightly pale. (-;
P.S. That is, if the dealer knows the sound of classical music. A rare breed indeed and an endangered species, but not yet entirely extinct. Cheers,

Same as Detlof above + lieder in mono. An old Dieskau is fine: can I visualise Mr Dieskau, his physical size, & the characteristics of his voice?
For the adventurous dealer, a tinge of Mahler 2nd symphony (1st & last parts) can also serve very well.