Just wandering what are the 5 DVD's or CD's you would take with you for auditioning Amps, Speakers ( front, centre and or rears ) and the almighty sub.
What do you look for from the Centre channel what scenes do you use?
for the front mains music wise ?
and what scenes do you use for the side rears, back surronds ?
And I hear the Master and Commander for the sub but any others?

Just interested in what people play and look out for ?

For me, as I posted for detail and pans, I like Behind Enemy Lines when the series of trip wires take off. good for left to right and left to right rear.
for mains I like music in stereo no sub, And Alynas Myles love is nice and punchy low end kik drum also I will then turn on the sub and see how well the sub reacts with the quickness punch.
As for bottom end in movies for the sub and mains.... as mentioned Master and Commander.
for over all detail I like outdoor scenes where you can hear the wind, crickets, birds stuff like that. I can't even think of the movie but it is a recent western. Damn I gotta go home now I get it out.

Open Range perhaps? The surrounds get an awesome workout, when its raining I felt like putting on my poncho(not Sanchez)but the gunfight at the end is IMHO one of the best sounding gunfights ever recorded that I have heard anyway.

Chris

Your comment about rain, crickets.....

It's been a year or so, but Signs has some pretty good suround sound effects in parts. Especially in the scenes with the corn fields, and where the alien is scrambling over the roof/trying to get into the house. As I recall, the surround effects were real enough to be startling.

The opening battle of Master and Commander is still my current 'you gotta see this' demo material. Along with the LOTR trilogy, I've always been a fan of The Fifth Element for demoing systems because there's are so many great visuals and detailed audio in the movie. The movie is too weird for some people, but it's one of my favorites.

The storming of the beach in Saving Private Ryan is a classic for demoing a system because it's such an intense scene that makes full use of every channel. Also, the HBO series available on DVD, Band of Brothers is excellent for wartime effects, and also a very powerful story of WWII.

As far as music goes, that's a tough one because it's so sensitve to what people like. I have a few albums from Chesky records of south american bossa nova-ish jazz that (IMHO) have jaw dropping acoustics. All of their recordings are top notch.

I'm also a big Dave Brubeck fan, and so the classic jazz album Time Out on SACD is very dear to me. I've listened to the popular "Take 5" so many times that it's my reference track for any system. I can plainly hear differences in soundstage, presence, and detail depending on the system. But that's just me. YMMV.

All of Norah Jones' albums are stunning, with her first one being nearly legendary for its acoustics. It's a definite chills-down-the-spine CD when played from SACD on a good system.

A fairly unknown group that I like for music demos is Flim & the BB's. They're basically the pre-cursor to the smooth jazz genre from the early and mid 80's, and some of the first albums ever produced on CD. A lot of their stuff is absolutely jaw-dropping on a good system.

Signs, yes forgot about that one ... and the Norah Joans brings another one I must dig out is the other Canadian girl out West sings that song in the Cadillac commercial Jazz artist ? they would be great and I have both.

and ahhh yes, Open Range thats the movie actually I think I will watch it after the Leafs beat New York tonight

Found It
Diana Krall

I was listening to emerson,lake and palmer the early years cd and it is really nicely recorded. There is lots of pipe organ lows and highs. The vocals are very clear. I did notice the SSS and TTT in the 80's that other people have brought up. Though noticeable, I found that the SSS and TTT's are the way they are supposed to sound. With that said; I love this system.

Underworld (the first one).

I have always liked that movie (so does my wife), and we bought it the other day, watched it last night...WOW, talk about some awesome surround effects and crazy low LFE.

I absolutely loved the sound in that movie, highly recommended (do not know which scene i would play for a demo, but there are numerous great scenes).

-Hutz

For LFE, War of the World tri-pod scene is pretty hard to beat. Easy to find, quick and impressive. There’s many, many others, but this one never fails to get the trousers shaking.

For CD, I have numerous favorites, but I find myself grabbing the SACD Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon every time someone wants to listen to my system. The entro to Time sounds amazing to me, no matter how many times I play it. The clocks then the tight drums……I love it. Alison Kraus, New Favorite is quite good too. I just got a new CD the other day and think it’s going to be one of my top five. Gomez, How We Operate. The title song is a real treat with some unique sounds and great sound stage that moves from left to right a back and then just keeps getting better. Great recording too. If you haven’t heard this CD yet (anyone), you owe it to yourself to hop over to Amazon. I was thinking about posting a thread on this CD, but no one listens to me anyway…. http://www.amazon.com/How-We-Operate-Gom...0243&sr=8-1

Just picked up another new SACD that is quickly becomming part of my 'reference' collection...

Janine Jansen's playing the complete Four Seasons by Vivaldi..
Amazon Link

The *best* Four Season's recording I've heard, with incredible power and sound, with amazing detail. There are some subtle details in bow noises, strings tapping the neck, and other techniques that are just magical.

She's a very powerful violinist, and I'm not sure if her violin is screaming in pain or pleasure.

Hey, I ordered that Four Seasons disc. I have to admit I'm pretty clueless when it comes to classical music, but I remember liking Gil Shaham's Four Seasons a long time ago. I've been looking for more good multi-channel recordings, and it sounds like this will fit the bill. Anyone have recommendations on some Beethoven?

Never mind on recommendations. I've already ordered too much music. My subwoofer money keeps dwindling. They're having a voluntary PTO (paid time off) cashout at the end of May at my work, so hopefully that and my next two paychecks will get me the rest of the way there. I'm still back and forth on whether to get the HSU VTF-3 HO or the Axiom EP600. The VTF-3 HO never seems to be in stock, and when I email them, they say they'll know by the end of the month, or the end of the week, but the website never says anything about them coming in, so I'll probably just end up getting the EP600. Horizontal or vertical, though?

Too late, Charles; a request for classical suggestions is irrevocable. Keeping expense to a minimum, if you want an SACD, the Kleiber Beethoven 5th & 7th is indispensible and my favorite Beethoven 9th(not SACD)is the Wand , which would get you over the $20 for free shipping. Then of course for the auditioning theme of this thread, The Planets continues to reign supreme.

Yay! I actually have one of the CDs John mentioned!

I love that 5th and 7th combo.

Ken, you mean that you still haven't gotten the Wand 9th(minus squeaking chair passage)that I suggested?

John, you're evil. Thanks for the recommendations! I'll have to order them next time I do a music purchase.

Reign of fire, on Blue Ray.

Wholly friggin crap!! Watched this one last light after seeing this film several times on SD. Even knowing what’s going to happen I got the crap scared out me several times. No comparison between SD and BR on this one. Sound, video… awesome flick. The dragon scene where the idiot decides to go out and grab some tomatoes was intense. I had the average volume around 75 db and this scene has some peaks over 100 dbs. This is my new reference DVD.

I popped in the Titanic Special Edition DVD and wow the bass on some of the scenes with the ship are just awsome.

I'm kind of looking forward to listening to Bjork's song, "Hyperballad" after the subwoofer gets here. It's probably the most bass-heavy song I've heard. For those of you with the big subwoofers, have you listened to this song?

CV. I'll listen to it right now for you and give you a report on how the EP500 handles it.

Nice.

One thing I can tell you is make sure you've calibrated our sub before you fire up this song. As any EP500 or EP600 owner can tell you, these subs are capable of bending the walls outward if you have them up too high.

Oh, I'll calibrate first, no worries. I'm approaching this with as much trepidation as I am excitement.

You guys got me curious. Turns out I have the CD. I'll give it a spin this evening. Only have a Hsu VTF3 mkII, though--which is no slouch, mind you.

cool, I just put a VFT3-MK2 on layaway should have it by end of June. I was going to get a EP500 but, right now I need to free up some money for my Emotiva amp and drums. So looks like I don't get anymore gear for 2 years now .. I don't know whether to be or but, after she finds out the drums will cost close to 6g's I maybe

Troy, you're gonna love it!! That is one capable sub. With the discount Hsu is offering right now, it is also one heckuva deal. Don't feel that you've settled for something less. It can be scary good.

How big is your room?

CV, you bought the 600 right? How big is your room (L X W X H)?

Yes, the 600. My current room is 18'x15'x8', and I'm not sure on the dimensions of the room once I move my HT to the basement. There's the possibility of walls being torn down, but I'm not sure which ones yet. I'm renting from my dad, and it depends on what he lets me do.

Walls will definitely be torn down alright. In that size room, the one-eyed clown will suck the walls into its three-foot tuned maw and blow them back out again. You will definitely have a lot of fun. Seal up the doors with weatherstripping and let compressions and rarefactions have their way with you .

One-eyed clown. I like that.

Oh, Sean, did you end up trying out that song?

Ha ha. No pressure, dude. I mean, besides sound pressure.

But yeah, another song by Bjork, "Hunter," also has a lot of bass, but I remember "Hyper-Ballad" more vividly being overwhelming on an older iteration of my father's system. I'll have to try out both songs. I don't know if I have any other music that will really exercise the lower end like those two songs. Maybe some Bach. But yeah, I'll also be trying out a lot of movies. Appleseed, Lord of the Rings, The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, King Kong, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and the opening song of Ghost in the Shell. The scene with the thunder in Apocalypto might also be cool. Fun, fun, fun.

i just watched the hyper ballad on youtube, is this the one your talking about? I was not impressed with her singing, and did not hear any HEAVY bass you talk about in the video..

Do you ever hear heavy bass on YouTube?

Actualy yes, depending on the video of course. With my HTPC hooked to my Denon via SPDIF which is hooked to my Axioms, it can sound rather nice. This must have been an acoustic version of the song, didn't hear any bass.

I don't know. The only video I know of has the bass, if you're talking music video and not a concert clip. I've never watched YouTube videos with sound going to anything other than computer speakers. In this case, the compression may have been such as to make the low end absent.

I was trying out my two favorite scenes in Hero (the one with Jet Li, not Geena Davis), and yeah, they've never sounded better. Chapter 2 (Sky) and chapter 6 (Falling Leaves) gave me goosebumps. Especially chapter 6 when Maggie Cheung is throwing wind and leaves around at Ziyi Zhang. Very cool.