Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Just for the fun of it

I thought it might be fun and a nice change of pace if Axiom owners could tell us what recordings they think sound best on their Axiom speakers. I'm always on the lookout for excellent recordings of all types of music.
Also, I'm having a few audiophile friends over this weekend and would like them to hear my M3s at their very best, so, any recommendations of great recordings would be most welcome.
It would be nice if Amie, Ian and Alan could chime-in and tell us what kind of music they listen to and their favorite recordings. Thank you.
HAPPY LISTENING

HOLOGRAM

this is a great idea. Talon Audio has this on their website:
http://www.talonaudio.com/select.htm

IT would be great if they let us know of some terrific recordings.
Here's my personal very short list:

1) Patricia Barber - Cafe Blue & Modern Cool
2) Nine Inch Nails - The Fragile, The Downward Spiral, & STILL
3) Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
4) anything by Diana Krall. Her new DVD, live in Paris, is VERY well recorded on the 5.1, but not the 2 channel. It is DTS and Digital Dolby.
5) For hip hop lovers: The latest Aaliyah, and Jurassic 5 - Quality Control

Here's some more

Tabla Beat Science - Tala Matrix (Indian Percussions)
for techno lovers, anything by Autechre

KD Lang: "Ingenue" Great production, great melodies, terrific range. No weak point on the album
Mark Knopfler: the remastered soundtrack to "Local Hero". Fabulous acoustic guitar. Clear and sharp attack
Holly Cole: "It Happened One Night". Will put a fabulous live performance in the middle of your listening room. With apologies to Diana Krall - this is the one female jazz album to listen to if you have to pick only one.
Joni Mitchell: "Blue". Try to find a good copy on vinyl. Classic seminal album and you can impress your "audiophile friends" with your observation that the CD sounds nowhere near as good.

Fun topic! I love reading about other people's test pieces! I'll bet Alan will have some great picks here!

Well, I hear a lot of Axiom speakers and without a doubt, the toughest test I put them through is "As Far as Florence" from the English Patient Soundtrack. I had that song playing on the M80s two weeks ago and Ian, hearing it for the first time, was as mesmerized as I was! The song runs through the gamut -- stunning voice, majestic brass, very, very low bass notes from a Bass Violin - and the 80s really snapped through all of it. I think I even convinced Ian to add it to the listening room!

And of course, the new Celine Dion CD -- wow! Well recorded, and her voice soars on the M80s for that one.

The Blue Man Group - Audio, really has a wide array of sounds but mostly alot of bass.

They are the guys with the blue heads in the intel commercials
and they make their own instruments out pvc tubing, etc.

The music is like instrumental tribal rock, superb CD (& DVD-A)

Getz/Gilberto [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED] by Stan Getz/João Gilberto
(Amazing Vocals)

Time Out
by Dave Brubeck
(Take Five one of the best recording ever)

Friday Night in San Francisco
John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola, Paco De Lucia
(One of the best album if you like Strings...)

Try HIROSHIMA / Urban World Music. It is unique blend of brass, keyboards, oriental strings and percussion as well as other traditional instruments. Dynamite CD.

Fleetwood Mac / Tango In The Night
Or rock the house with WANG Chung's Everybody Have Fun Tonight

Jim / CAV104

This is not specifically aimed at my Axioms, as I have several sets of speakers in several vastly different quality systems, but these are musically choices I like to audition any piece of audio equipment with:

Steely Dan - Hey Nineteen (actually most tracks on the Gaucho Masterphile LP)
Simply Red - Sad Old Red (Picture Book LP)
Barbra Streisand - The Broadway Album (almost the entire CD is exceptional on good equipment)
Duke Ellington Orchestra - Digital Duke (a GRP Allstar cast of modern Jazz legends - CD or LP)
John Hiatt - Memphis in The Meantime (Bring the Family CD - extremely complicated bass/drums)
Tears for Fears - Famous Last Words ( Sowing the Seeds CD - my ultimate track to determine quality)

I also like to challenge them on different styles of music - Heavy Metal, Rock, Jazz, Classical. The tunes should have quick action, with lesser points intermixed.

These prove a dificult task for some speakers, while others shine.

I got a bunch of CDs from Mapleshade Audio. They are beautifully recorded.

Chris Colangelo 2 Trios + 1
Richard Elliot - Crush
Noel Jewkes
___

Clifford Jordan - The mild side of Clifford Jordan
Stan Getz/Antonio Carlos Jobim (this was the CD which made me realize that the Axioms were incredible - the horns were real, there was a woman singing in my living room)
Alessandro Safina (incredible tenor)
Eric Clapton - Unplugged - Pilgrim
George Winston - Angels
Suzanne Vega - Red and Gray
Lisa Loeb

etc.

These make the M3s sing!!!

____________
Antique Sound Labs MG S1 15 DT
Ah! Njoe Tjoeb
Velodyne CT80 (8" sub)
Axiom M3Tis
Maple Audio Ambience Interconnects
Mapleshade Golden Helix Speaker wire on its way.