What music to take for amp/speaker demo?

[SailToTheMoon]

Hi everyone. Thanks to all for the advice over the last week.

I’m travelling a couple of hours in the morning to audition amps and speakers to the nearest Peter Tyson store who are offering some great discounts. I intend to buy. I’ll be taking my brand new (still in its box) Rega P3 RS with me and asking them to use that for the demo.

They’ve said to bring my own vinyl so I can hear what my stuff sounds like. I’m wondering what kind of songs I should be looking to use to really test it. I’ve been buying a lot of brand new vinyl this week. It’s all kind of rock/indie/alternative I suppose: Nirvana, Radiohead, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Can Morrison, Tom Petty, Stone Roses, Arctic Monkeys, Bluetones.

Should I be looking to take examples of balls to the wall loud rock type stuff? Or quiet acoustic? Stuff with strings? all of the above? Something else?

I’m not sure what would be best to let me hear the difference in quality between the setups I’ll be trying out.

Really wanting to get this right!

Thanks in advance!

 

[plastic penguin]

Any music that sounds the best on your current set-up or familiar with. Also take some rubbish recordings. This'll tell you how sonically flexible the system your testing will be.

 

[RTHerringbone]

I'm a fan of taking very varied tracks that you know well.

When I tested my current kit, two tracks I listened to were White Limo by the Foofighters and Norah Jones' She's 22. Slightly different 😂

I think if you can find a setup that can handle real variety, then you're onto a winner.

 

[SailToTheMoon]

Great advice, thanks!

 

[Fandango Andy]

The best advice is take records you know really well. Listen to see if you hear anything new in them, or miss something you usually hear. Try and get some variety. Male, and female voices. Electric and acoustic instruments.

Of the bands you mention, a few albums stand out as being really well produced: Highway 61 Revisited, Nevermind, The Bends.

A few of albums I like for tests:

Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here. Very well produced and sonically complex. The same is true of The Bends.

Randy Crawford: Now We May Begin. It is a bit of a wall of sound, so no great soundstage, but the vocals are crystal clear, and there is some thumping base.

Metallica S&M: Always good to throw a live album in as they offer something different. This one has a full orchestra too, so sounds amazing.