Female vocal:
Diana Krall "Live in Paris"
Amanda McBroom "Dreaming"
Robin Holcomb (self-titled)
Joni Mitchell "Song to a Seagull"

Male Vocal:
Frank Sinatra "Nice 'n Easy"
Lyle Lovett "Joshua Judges Ruth"
David Sylvian "Secrets of the Beehive"

Jazz Ensemble:
John Coltrane "Blue Trane"

Classical:
Vivaldi "Four Seasons"
(Boston Symph./Seiji Ozawa/Telarc)

Orchestra with Chorus:
Orff "Carmina Burana"
(Atlanta Symph./Chorus/Robert Shaw/Telarc)

Solo Instrument (Organ):
Bach: Toccata and Fugue in D minor
(Michael Murray/Telarc)

Solo Instrument (Piano):
Beethoven Op. 111
(Ivo Pogorelich/Deutsche Grammophon)

Honorable Mention (just for the sheer power at the end):
Telarc "1812 Overture" (if your system can at least reasonably reproduce the cannon shots and survive, it can survive anything)

Movie DVD or Soundtrack:
"Glory"
"Gladiator"
"The Matrix"

Rock/Alternative:
Nine Inch Nails "Downward Spiral"
Marilyn Manson "Mechanical Animals"
Rammstein "Reise, Reise"

I make it a point to take all of these if of when I audition any piece of audio equipment. I never listen to anything the salesman might hand me.

Nice list. Many popular standards.

Is the "1812 Overture" the SACD version? Just curious...

hey jason....i do not use the sacd version. i use the original version.

Tulane,

Surprised about your choice of DVD Movies to demo. If you are talking just a purely demo sense then movies by Pixar demo wonderful surround around:

The Incredibles
Finding Nemo

And nice earthshaking movies like:

Saving Private Ryan
War of the Worlds
UH-571

will definitely wake your audience up with bass.

For pure alternate music bliss, a great selection is

Blue Man Group Audio in DVD-Audio

Gives you bass, nice dynamics, and surround around music all in one.

holydoc, i appreciate your feedback on my post. i'm sure you know, however, that there is more to good sound than bass. i don't want bass that is overwhelming -- i want bass that is well-controlled, believable and accurate. i have the "saving private ryan", "finding nemo", and "war of the worlds" dvds and "uh-571" on vhs tape. and yes, the bass characteristics are impressive but i don't want to kid myself. there are those who believe the best kind of bass is lots of bass, and i do not agree with that so i'm not in that camp. i belong to the "quality is better than quantity" camp. that said, i do not use a sub-woofer in my system. WHAT???!!! SACRILEGE!!! no....not really. it is not my objective to impress people with how my system can make the entire house shake. again, there's much more to good sound than bass. it's interesting how many posts i have seen in here where the most frequently discussed characteristics are bass and surround.

tulane_steve,

People are impressed that my sub shakes the house, but more impressed with the music. The most impressive recent dvd is "Ray".

I like your music list. I music teacher from long ago (a man also my godfather) taught that music in its many forms should be appreciated.

thanks bugbitten. my list is compiled as a result of years of listening to music and movies and it is specifically tailored to me. not everyone will agree with my list, but it is not an issue of agreeing or disagreeing with it. others will come along and say that their list is "better" than mine. again, it is not a question of one being better than another. it is a question of personal taste, and my list reflects my own personal taste. i have specific things that i listen for when i audition audio components and using the recordings i have listed, i will always have a good idea of whether a component will work in my system or not. probably my most important criteria is reproduction of human voice. it is easier for an audio system to reproduce explosions and cars screeching and crashing into each other across the sound field than it is to reproduce human voice. if a system gets human voice right, i am confident it will handle everything else.

I can remember singing tones only for several works while in my college chorus. The violin was closest to reproducing those tones. To this day I like orchestral reproductions of choral works, especially violin, viola and cello, to test out audio systems.

tulane_steve,
glad to see a fellow Carver enthusiast in the forum and, apparently, a felow Telarc enthusiast. After listening to the Telarc recording of "Fanfare for the Common Man" 20 years ago, I was hooked on audio and on any Telarc recording.

-----------------
Denon DVD-1910
Outlaw 970 7.1-channel preamplifier/processor
Carver m1.5t 2-channel amplifier
Carver AV-505 5-channel amplifier
Polk Audio RTS-12 main speakers
JBL HLS center channel speaker
Infinity Reference 200.4 "rear" speakers
Sunfire True Subwoofer MKIV
Samsumg 42" plasma monitor
RCA Satellite/HDTV tuner
Logitech Harmony H659 Programmable Remote
Monster Power Center HTS3500 MkII

tulane_steve And garcianc2003,

Definitely an impressive, and I believe well thought out list... Not that I'm really trying to suggest anything, but I have to say that one of the things I always test first is Coplands "Fanfare". Those horns give me chills every time, and if the system is good?? Amazing. Lately I would also say that Bebo and Cigala's "Lagrimas Negras" is pretty far up the test list... but I'm going to steal your list for future trials.

for demo-ing DVD we like ENEMY AT THE GATES and CHICAGO.

ok... I'm sorry for posting this here, but I don't know where else to post it! (oh, and I might have had too much wine...) I am looking for a song... or more specifically, a band... I would swear that it was a popular song... the only lyrics I can remember "evidence front"... I'm so amazed that I can't find it... anyone?

You must be desperate to be asking that here.

Eminence Front, by The Who, It's Hard. It's a put on.

This week, a friend brought over a DVD of an anime film called "Appleseed." The last 20 minutes or so exorcised the demons from my system, although I could have done without the crappy techno tracks.

tulane_steve:

As it looks like you're a fellow vinyl junkie, I could go on and on about some of my favorite LPs; but a few come to mind:
Kraftwerk Computerwelt (German pressing)
Copeland Rodeo, Antal Dorati conducting the DSO (Mercury Living Presence)
Getz / Gilberto (Verve)
War, The Best of War and More
Herb Alpert, Casino Royale (Colgems)
Khachaturian, Masquerade Suite (Mercury Living Presence)
Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman (MFSL UHQR)

There's probably a million I could add, but I'm tired of typing.

With regard to DVDs, for sound:
U571
Master and Commander
Top Gun
the Road to Perdition
Terminator III
Sexy Beast (you'll think the opening scene with the boulder is going to tear your sub to pieces.)

For visual impact, "One Hour Photo" is great for color rendition. "Sin City" is great for black level and contrast. Also agree on the Pixar films... and in the same genre, you can add "Iron Giant" to the list.

Just to keep this thread going...

Movies:

Whenever someone asks to hear my system I put in Open Range. The opening scene with the thunder clap gets everyone's attention and then I switch over to the gun fight. The gunshots, broken glass, and echos from the surrounds are terrific.

The pod racer scene in Star Wars I is also a fan favorite.

Lastly, Master and Commander with its cannon reports, splintering wood and creaking deck really show off a HT system.

Music:

Barenaked Ladies' last two albums Everything to Everyone and Are Me are fun to listen to.

Dave Matthews, Crash and the Central Park Concert (actually both CD and DVD) find a lot of time on my system.

I'm not a real big country fan, but Brad Paisley's Mud on the Tires is an exceptionally well recorded disc and will give any music system a thorough work out.

Finally, Dave Brubeck's Time Out (and not even the SACD version) is awsome. Its like those guys are in my family room.

Keep the suggestions coming.

Now that I have my 1st piece of Outlaw gear,I feel that I can post on this topic here.
I won't get into DVD's as they are pretty well known.

Music ( I'm mostly into instumentals)

Angel Tears " Vol 3
Tony Furtado " Roll My Blues Away"
B Tribe "Spiritual,Spiritual"

Haggard " Awaking The Centuries"... this ones a bit off beat for me, Classical mixed with Metal, some songs sung in German, some in English.Best part is there is very little singing.Great sonics!

My most favorite for demo's

Shpongle " tales of the inexspreable" theres so much going on in this recording that to hear everything you have got to have good speakers and equipment.

Has anybody ever tryout the ted nugent hunt music cd? Sunrize&fred bear sound great with his six string bass.