10 of the best 1970s albums to test your speakers

[What Hi-Fi?]

Put your hi-fi through its paces with some of What Hi-Fi?'s favourite test discs from the 70s.

10 of the best 1970s albums to test your speakers : Read more

 

[soswishy]

One glaring omission - Joan Armatrading's superbly produced eponymous LP (1976).

 

[doctorrazz]

I concur with the majority of your choices, but most of us have evolved beyond the limitations of Vinyl. Newly recorded and remastered copies of those classics sound great, a good comparison can be found on Tidal HiFi and Quboz streaming platforms. I am a fan of the MQA copies this will make the Analogue fans flip a disc. Give Miles Davis Tutu in MQA some ear.

 

[soswishy]

Vinyl or CD is a question of personal preference, nothing at all to do with "evolution". Indeed many hifi enthusiasts run both. It was a particularly odd comment to make since the article doesn't even recommend a format on which to listen to these albums (and even includes Spotify playlists!).

 

[Friesiansam]

Surely the best albums for any system testing, are ones you are familiar with.

 

[Mr. C Nation]

Friesiansam is perfectly correct. The only way to know if a system of new component is better or worse than what went before is to know what went before intimately.

That is why, at the most basic, recording studios run a test tone of just one frequency through the system to balance everything up.

In the words of Captain Beefheart on Trout Mask Replica "The following tone is a reference tone, recorded at our operating level... "

I have been fortunate enough to have been at the recording of an album, at the stereo mix-down, the mastering for vinyl, the re-mastering for CD and own 12" and CD versions. That is my reference.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_10154038329961575]

The articles says 10 of the best....not the best 10...there are no doubt 100s of albums that can give your speakers a good work out...does not matter if it is CD, steamed or vinyl....does not matter if it is remastered....just sit back and enjoy...try some of the recommendations (I know some are not in my collection) and love music.....

 

[Darwinia]

I concur with the majority of your choices, but most of us have evolved beyond the limitations of Vinyl. Newly recorded and remastered copies of those classics sound great, a good comparison can be found on Tidal HiFi and Quboz streaming platforms. I am a fan of the MQA copies this will make the Analogue fans flip a disc. Give Miles Davis Tutu in MQA some ear.

The article says nothing about vinyl and even has screenshots of the albums from a streaming service.

 

[abricru]

I was a little surprised that Rumours - Fleetwood Mac didn't make the list.

Dreamboat Annie by Heart was one I liked to try out speakers with.

 

[Rui]

of all the albums refered only don´t have the Carole king "Tapestry" i would sugest instead of this "the crime of the century " by Supertramp or "Before we were so rudly interrupted" by Eric Burdon and the Animals, not sure but i think it´s like it was released, two perfect sounding Lp´s with great songs . I think i should refer to the Black sabbath album "vol.4" it was well produced and sounds really good compared to the early black sabbath albums , if it wasn´t for this album i would never had listened to other great lp´s from this band ,but this one seems to me to have also great songs, i remenber playing it and thinking that it had a quality never heard before in black sabbath already existing LP´s

 

[Rui]

The articles says 10 of the best....not the best 10...there are no doubt 100s of albums that can give your speakers a good work out...does not matter if it is CD, steamed or vinyl....does not matter if it is remastered....just sit back and enjoy...try some of the recommendations (I know some are not in my collection) and love music.....

i don´t think that it is the same, as the cd versions of this 70´s albums sound very bad ,horrible (more acurate)

maybe the ones who never listened to the original lp´s with a aceptable quality turntable would never undestand why i say the cds sound close to horrible as they are a perverted version of the original perfect sound of their original releases,

i notice that turntables considered good in the last 10 years have a sound far from a average turntable from the 70´s with it´s original cartridge and stylus.

I only recentelly found a Rega that interested me for the first time as i assembled a new system so the P10 was my choice , the SL-1000R (Technics)new version is extremely expensive and i already have the 79 version(much better) of it that is a very good turntable amongst others from the 70´s

i say this because a lot of people in the 70´s would bought a turntable from pioneer and the first thing they would do is changing the cartridge to a Shure one that if from a reference up were better but the cheaper models were a decrease of quality on the cartridge that came with the turntable from Pioneer, as it happened with technics good cartridges,

as an example the M75B from shure or similar to it , as you refer streaming services they do sound good but if one owns a good cd player with a good dac internal or not will sound superior to the streaming services available,

a funny remark , people today don´t use tone controls but if they are there is because they needed them ,as the Loudness to listen to music at low levels ,mainly at night,

what changes do are noticeable in this refered streaming services in the last 8 years, most of all the equalization,
"but i never put the equalizer on in the services refered, bla bla bla,..."

they do are equalized or they wouldn´t sound so good. Equalizers? today is like "Vade Retro Santanas" but if we were in the 70´s , " ... don´t have a equalizer , you´re not an audiophile,...." than in the 80´s more close to late years , Direct sound ,like if everybody who listens to music as the same quality systems as are installed in the best recording studios,

and no cd comes close to the recording done in studio no matter if digital or analog recording , but normally if one owns a good system with a good cd player and a good turntable , one notices the extra quality of the vinyl record ,one if playing a cd after hearing a record(vinyl) the cd will sound low-fi,

if this doesn´t happen ,no matter what you´ve paid for your turntable it´s quality doesn´t come near a 80´s or 70´s average turntable.

They do are not like they use to make them, as the cartridges also, and the stylus with 1/3 of the listening hours and when new they look they were played for 20 years , already having destroyd all album´s played.

I only use Tidal and Spotify, the others i do not know their sound quality but already heard several times people refering to Tidal as the most quality in sound streaming service, that i have to agree

 

[Rui]

The articles says 10 of the best....not the best 10...there are no doubt 100s of albums that can give your speakers a good work out...does not matter if it is CD, steamed or vinyl....does not matter if it is remastered....just sit back and enjoy...try some of the recommendations (I know some are not in my collection) and love music.....

it depends if you have a cheap system , who i value the same of one having a very expensive system because no matter what you can spend ,the love for music is the same but, the three formats refered do make a huge deep hole inbetween them or like water and sand ,

i´m sad for one reason digital in the 80´s was already very developed so ,why insist in a 70´s developed early digital format , the DAT i bought the most expensive from Sony as it was released i even compared it with the reels sound( home type)at the time and after all this years why other better and capable digital format isn´t released,

i think i know the answer ,the cheapest brand as in ways of working is making a lot of millions keeping this absolete format and we buy it ,i remenber lot´s of years ago ,people saying ,it will be released a cd with vinyl quality and i was happy to hear it but when released couldn´t be further from the truth ,i´m talking about the super audio cd (super audio, isn´t for sure)

and i´ve heard all forms of SACD like stereo only , with channels distribucted by surround ways, funny but not stereo sound ,i guess if one spends a fortune in a surround system to hear old SACD maybe it will be better but i´m still waiting ,

i´ve listened to several Bob Dylan´s albuns wich the older aren´t recorded with many tracks as in tracks per channel it seemed funny but sound quality wise wasn´t super audio just poor audio in surround,

like if we could hear from a speaker one line in the recording table or playing each line recorded to later mix ,level it ,equalize it and mainly i´m talking about stages in a album production,

but to listening efects with acurate audio quality , that would be very nice , as always prices of equipment in hi-fi are very high, so most of the people wouldn´t enjoy this development as there are priorities in a family before spending a fortune in equipment for music listening.

i always say that i at least in this area i was lucky ,i didn´t knew the prices and had the best at home when buying myself components in the 80´s and 90´s that´s when reality kicked in, and it hurts ,

i could buy a car that i liked but i had to choose, the car or the new speakers and turntable, i went for the components, as i had three diferent cars from the same model and engines but i wanted the coupé ,

i´m refering to the w123 with the 300D with turbo imported as in europe weren´t released the diesel versions ,only in America,

but the sound of a TD2001 with ortofon MC cartridge(when Ortofon was quality assured) now they have the worst cartridge i ever heard and people in youtube videos say it´s good, the 2mred.
and new JBL speakers with my 90´s pre and power amplifiers from Denon, perfect and my belt-driven cd player from CEC(ofered),
i remenber hearing the songs later released in the 1st Air album "moon safari"a compilation , it as some slow songs with a simple bass line but sounds perfect as a composition with a very loud sound in record, maxi or e.p. loud but not hurting the ears or all i need with Beth Hirsch, i don´t remenber when released but i do remenber Sexy boy released in 1993/4(not sure now)