Thread: What CDs do you use to demonstrate the glories of your audio system?

Hi folks! I'm a new guy on the block (quite ancient), and this is my first thread. My system is:- Thorens TD520 "Professional" deck with a Shure VST 5 cartridge, Arcam P37 SACD/CD player, Quad 99 pre amp, Quad 909 amp, ProAc Responce 2.5 speakers, Artisan "Ultimate Silver Dream" interconnects and Nordost "Solar Wind" speaker cable. The results please me, and when I wish to show the system off to a newcomer, I resort to the following CDs:-
EVEREST Enrique Jorda and the London Symphony Orchestra in Falla "The Three-Cornered Hat"
MERCURY (SACD) Paul Paray and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in Suppe and Auber Overtures
MERCURY Antal Dorati and the London Symphony Orchestra in Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies
DECCA Antal Dorati and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Respighi/Rossini ""Rossiniana"
RCA (SACD) Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra in Offenbach's "Gaite Parisienne"
The list could be longer, but these are my current tops as great demonstration CDs. The Everest Falla is not first for nothing - it is the finest digital transfer of an analogue recording in my collection, and what a recording it is!
I would be interested to learn what CDs others use as demos. My turntable does not get a lot of use these days, but that's another matter.

What is your audio system? Sometimes I will just play a very quiet album with Spanish Guitar (Parkening or John Williams) and you can easily hear the sound quality and whether there is any background noise on the system.

Janacek Sinfonetta would be a louder test after that.

Originally Posted by Fintan

Hi folks! I'm a new guy on the block (quite ancient), and this is my first thread. My system is:- Thorens TD520 "Professional" deck with a Shure VST 5 cartridge, Arcam P37 SACD/CD player, Quad 99 pre amp, Quad 909 amp, ProAc Responce 2.5 speakers, Artisan "Ultimate Silver Dream" interconnects and Nordost "Solar Wind" speaker cable. The results please me, and when I wish to show the system off to a newcomer, I resort to the following CDs:-
EVEREST Enrique Jorda and the London Symphony Orchestra in Falla "The Three-Cornered Hat"
MERCURY (SACD) Paul Paray and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in Suppe and Auber Overtures
MERCURY Antal Dorati and the London Symphony Orchestra in Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies
DECCA Antal Dorati and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Respighi/Rossini ""Rossiniana"
RCA (SACD) Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra in Offenbach's "Gaite Parisienne"
The list could be longer, but these are my current tops as great demonstration CDs. The Everest Falla is not first for nothing - it is the finest digital transfer of an analogue recording in my collection, and what a recording it is!
I would be interested to learn what CDs others use as demos. My turntable does not get a lot of use these days, but that's another matter.

I'm going to make a wild guess: You are a Brit.

My sound system is not of audiophiliac quality, so I don't do demos -except occasionally of my foolishness and/or incompetence. Your choice of demo discs strongly suggests that you are primarily a music nut and secondarily a sound nut.

Hmm. That adds up to two nuts, which is pretty much standard for half the population.

Sorry, but I thought I made it clear.
"My system is:- Thorens TD520 "Professional" deck with a Shure VST 5 cartridge, Arcam P37 SACD/CD player, Quad 99 pre amp, Quad 909 amp, ProAc Responce 2.5 speakers, Artisan "Ultimate Silver Dream" interconnects and Nordost "Solar Wind" speaker cable."

Hilltroll 72,
Thanks for your reply. No, I'm not a brit, but an Irish nutter.

Originally Posted by Fintan

Hilltroll 72,
Thanks for your reply. No, I'm not a brit, but an Irish nutter.

I think I would have enjoyed a summer along the river Shannon.

I was, of course, going by your Brit equipment. And according to the People's Opinion (in the US anyway) all classical music buffs are nutters.

Glad you are with us, Fintan. Don't be a stranger.

Am not a sound buff either, but: nice to see some older recordings considered as reference material in that field.

I´ve got the Fiedler/Offenbach and Paray/Auber+Suppé as LPs and will remember your opinion when listening to them;-).

http://www.archive.org/download/Laun...aunch_2496.wav

The two most difficult sounds to record and engineer well are voice and piano.

If you really want to hear, without all the cloth of orchestral cosmetics, what your system does, and does not, I'd recommend a CD of the original DGG analog recording of Schubert's Winterreisse, with the late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore, piano.

Many a good system is more cosmetic than 'truthful,' i.e. the truthful ones tell you exactly what is on the record itself, including any foibles or quirks of engineering, splicing, etc. The old Columbia recordings of Stravinsky conducting Stravinsky had enough audible splices (sometimes a flute solo would have you sit up with alarm thinking, the player has moved from their section and is now sitting three back from the first violin!) Almost all of those have been transferred to CD, and I doubt those clearly engineered elements have been smoothed over in the transfer.

A lot of the Angel-Seraphim catalogue from the 60's and early 70's are available in CD re-issue (now EMI) Whether it is the Poulenc Organ Concerto, his Gloria, or other repertoire, perhaps you'd be lucky to find a recording of Regine Crespin singing the Berlioz 'Les nuits d'été', much of that recording was done in a hall, not a studio. The policy was to take no more than three takes, spliced, of a through performance of any movement. The technology was fine, the CD's quite good. The two Poulenc works are, at times, heavy duty 'audio blowouts,' the Gloria, of course, involving that tricky vocal element. The Berlioz, well, sublime, and another 'test' due to the vocals.

The two most difficult sounds to record and engineer well are voice and piano.

If you really want to hear, without all the cloth of orchestral cosmetics, what your system does, and does not, I'd recommend a CD of the original DGG analog recording of Schubert's Winterreisse, with the late Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore, piano.

Many a good system is more cosmetic than 'truthful,' i.e. the truthful ones tell you exactly what is on the record itself, including any foibles or quirks of engineering, splicing, etc. [My preference - I want to hear exactly what is on the record, and will not at all bother with 're-engineering' it by tweaking the EQ or other controls of the playback medium. - That is more the wont of the audiophile, who is often more interested in engineering sound than actually 'just listening' to a piece of music.]

The old Columbia recordings of Stravinsky conducting Stravinsky had enough audible splices (sometimes a flute solo would have you sit up with alarm thinking, the player has moved from their section and is now sitting three back from the first violin!) Almost all of those have been transferred to CD, and I doubt those clearly engineered elements have been smoothed over in the transfer.

A lot of the Angel-Seraphim catalogue from the 60's and early 70's are available in CD re-issue (now EMI) Whether it is the Poulenc Organ Concerto, his Gloria, or other repertoire, perhaps you'd be lucky to find a recording of Regine Crespin singing the Berlioz 'Les nuits d'été', much of the Angel-Seraphim recordings were done in halls, not studios.

[Another marked taste of mine -- a recording done in a hall, with a spread of mics, is infinitely preferable to anything done in the most 'ideal' of recording studios.] The policy was to record a through performance of a movement, then to splice together at maximum no more than three segments from those full takes. The technology was fine, the CD's quite good. The two Poulenc works are, at times, range from heavy duty 'audio blowouts' going to pianissimo in other places. the Gloria, of course, involves that tricky vocal element, both chorus and solo soprano. The Berlioz, well, sublime, and another 'test' due to the vocals.

I would add Ansermet's Three Cornered Hat and Dorati's Firebird and Rite of Spring on Decca.

Originally Posted by bigshot

I would add Ansermet's Three Cornered Hat and Dorati's Firebird and Rite of Spring on Decca.

Thanks for telling me about Three Cornered Hat, but I much prefer this more modern recording.


71e4QA2uxUL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

I've often been impressed with the work of recording engineer Mike Hatch. Three examples: Handel Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 (Nos. 1 - 12) Guildhall String Ensemble (RCA, rec. 1987/88); RVW Oboe Concerto, Small/RLPO/Handley (EMI, rec. 1990); JS Bach Violin Concerti, Hope/COE (Warner, rec. 2005).

Munch's recording of Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe
And I have a two CD set of the Royal Ballet with Ansermet that is one of the best recordings I've ever heard