Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo The best sounding CD you have?

I have an eclectic taste in music (as long as it isn't rap). What CDs sound just absolutely awesome through your Axioms? On another post one guy mentioned Mark Knopflers "Ragpicker's Dream". Bought it a couple weeks ago and he's right. A few of my own: Tribal Tech "Reality Check", Chet Atkins "Stay Tuned", Arturo Sandoval "Hot House", Dave Matthews' concert DVD "Listener Supported", Luciano's "Great Controversey".

I mean, stuff that just makes you ga-ga.

Please don't say Manheim Steamroller.

i like a very wide range of music,so here are a few cds i like to listen to over and over.spyro gyra-heart of the night..the steely dan -goucho dts cd..larry carlton-the gift..pat metheny group-quartet...metallica-black...megadeath- cryptic writings.....ok so the metallica and megadeath music may not be for you,but they have a great clean powerfull sound....try it you might like it......ron ....ps the santana live dvd is good also(forgot the title)

Loreena McKennett's Elemental
Verve recording of Getz/Jobim
Just about anything recorded by Mapleshade on Wildchild label.

a coulple cds that come to mind for me are eric claptons new live cd one more car, one more rider. And roger waters Amused to death. That cd has some really cool special effects ( Q sound ) And pink floyd the final cut.

Actually, I think S&M (the CD, as well as the DVED) has better mastering than Black. Also, I recommend Sting's Mercury Falling and Brand New Day. The Dave Matthews is a good bet, too.

Haoleb,

What is Q sound? I've heard about Q-encoded CDs being used to scam people into buying a cheap speaker brand called Nuance (check out hometheaterforum.com for the full details on the scam), but don't quite understand what it is. Fill me in if you know.

Mark, I couldn't possibly narrow it down to one best sounding out of the thousand or so I have, but I'll mention two inexpensive($6-$7)CDs with both excellent sound and performance of music I love: Rachmaninoff, Symphonic Dances,etc.(Batiz,Royal Philharmonic)Naxos 8.550583; Smetana, Ma Vlast(My Country),(Berglund, Dresden State Orchestra)Seraphim 73736.

from my understanding its something from 80's or so. Basically i dunno how its done, but gives a surround sound type effect. for instance at the beginning of amused to death, there is a dog barking very quietyly and it should sound like its in the yard nextdoor. Its off to the right on the side of you. Its very cool. soundstage stretches far past the usuall. I did a quick search and came up with this site.

http://www.qsound.com/2002/technology/main2.asp

I love the accoustics of Pink Floydd's Final Cut.

Some of my current favorites: (my tastes too, are VERY eclectic)

Nora Jones - Come Away With Me - A beautifully clean, clear album. Wonderful stuff.

Propellerheads (especially the track "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" If you loved the John Barry scores of the old James Bond movies, and want to hear it mixed with modern day sounds, crank it up, and hold on to your seat!)

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (DVD-A)

U2 - Joshua Tree

"The Living Sea" - Soundtrack to the IMAX film. Music by Sting. (Really worth picking up!)

Beethoven-Harnoncourt: 9 Symphonies

Something a little different - All kinds of instruments & voices - Very well recorded - Will show off the air & detail in your system

Cirque Du Soleil - Alegria - CD

Here's just a few in the current rotation. All have moments that will transport you to a place where music lives:
Neil Finn - One All:: a masterpiece from the consumate singer-songwriter
Alison Krause - New Favorite: great musicianship and fabulous recording.
David Gray - White Ladder: Just doesn't get old. He caught lightning in a bottle on this one
Lyle Lovett - Joshua Judges Ruth: As eclectic as anything recorded. Moves brilliantly from genre to genre
Beck - Sea Change: As depressing as all get out, but I think an important piece of work. Also, it will showcase your system very well.
KD Lang - Ingenue: If you don't have this album you are cheating yourself.
and since Mark Knopfler runs through this thread - The Soundtrack to Local Hero: the remastered version
Enjoy!

Nice tip on the KD Lang, Tinfoilhat, the wife is downstairs listening to it now. Not a CD we would have normally selected. Bought 10 CDs just now, 6 or 7 from y'alls lists.

2x6: Didn't see that girl's recording of Getz material, but picked up something else by her. Turned out to be some odd exploration of her Celtic roots or something. Oh well, I can afford to waste some $ on CDs with all the money I saved on speaker wire.

John K: Gonna pick up on Tuesday those two classical CDs you recommended. Store about 30 miles away has a huge classical section. I'm not extremely knowledgeable about classical - about 20 CDs (Mozart, Bach, Vivaldi, Ravel, Wagner) in my collection. I would also like to pick up a nice recording of the Carmina Burana. Any particular recording come to mind?

Thanks people.

I use Loreena McKennett's "Elemental" especially the 3rd and 6th cuts to compare systems. Beautifully recorded, beautiful music, of course it's all in the ear of the beholder. All of her music explores her Celtic roots.

Mark, as you might guess, I have several Carmina Buranas and have listened to probably about 20. Possibly the performance I like best is Ormandy, Philadelphia Orchestra(Sony 87735)which can be found around $7. For the best sound I like Dutoit, Montreal Symphony Orchestra(London 455 290, full-price).

Incidentally, often even stores with a good selection don't have an item in stock. For example, I ordered the Naxos Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances CD online from Borders and picked it up about 10 days later when they notified me.

Hey BigWill, I'm the one who suggested the Knopfler. It's one of my current favorites. I've got another one for you all, if you're open to some choral music written in the mid 1630s. kcarlile knows the one I'm talking about -- I played it for him when he experienced my M22s for the first time.

This one's classical, but with a new-age slant. It's called "Sacred Treasures II: Choral Masterworks from the Sistine Chapel" from Hearts of Space Records (www.hos.com). What can I say about this CD? How about imaging and soundstage. The acoustics of the church are fully captured in the recording and my Axioms recreate the space very well. It sounded so amazing it actually brought tears to my eyes the first few times.

I've actually had this CD for a couple years, but I didn't listen to it much when I had those "other" Canadian speakers (hint: starts with P, but is longer than three letters). Now with the Axioms, I pop it in every once in a while to remind myself just how good my speakers are.

My favorite demo CD is Shirley Horn 'You won't forget me'

I concur with tinfoilhat on KD Lang 'Engenue' album. I do not particulary like her yet return to this cd constantly, so there must be a reason. On another topic, I have also found that although my cd source is HDCD compatible I cannot distinguish between HDCD encoded discs and non-HDCD discs. Maybe it is a psychological thing here. Comments on HDCD? As an audiophile wannabee, I can't help but share my cd audio system(it is a sickness I know):

Mark Levinson #39 CD Player 'run direct'in balanced mode
Classe CA-100 power amplifier
Nordost red dawn bi wire speaker cable
Harmonic Technologies Pro-Silway Interconnect and 2 Pro ac power cords.
Tripp Lite Isobar Surge Protector
and of course AXIOM M60ti.
ALso have Behringer Ultramatch (converts XLR to toslink) with Sharp MT-877 minidisc for music on the go.

Only new purchase was the Axiom speakers. Rest of stuff from Audiogon. Price of system which was built over last 6 months $7700 CDN, retail would have been $14,000 (ouch). Best deal or 'investment'(that's what you tell your spouse it is) I ever made was the Levinson #39 at $3800 CDN.

Enjoy the music !

I agree about K D Lang. All of her music is wonderfully recorded.

I too can't tell the difference between HDCD and regular cds.

I have to say I'm a bit of a punk music fan. I might love pretty much any of it, but I have a hard time believing many other people would classify any of them as "high-quality wonderful sounding cds"!?! haha But then that's not really the idea of punk music either. The worse, the better as far as I'm concerned

Ok, Sid. No worries mate.

Hey! Don't be so hard on the recordings of the "Punk" music genre. Or go ahead and be hard on it because that would be the "worse" which I think would be better....huh?(scratching head here).

Anyway.

I'm sure I've heard many "high-quality wonderful sounding", well engineered Punk cds.....I just don't remember when or where.

Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms
Mark Knopfler - Sailing to Philadelphia
U2 - Joshua Tree

In fact, Mark Knopfler's voice is right in front of you with the music playing behind. First time I heard it, I could almost reach out and touch it. I put off the lights and let only my ears do the "feeling", and played the CD a third time successively just to get the effect.

To give my suggestions just a little context, I probably listen to Dire Straits/Mark Knopfler and Diana Krall (Live in Paris is very good) as much or more than any other artists. To those two, I would add:

Jennifer Warnes - The Well
Harry Manx and Kevin Breit - Jubilee
Eva Cassidy - Songbird
Leonard Cohen - Ten New Songs

Best DVD:

Nine Inch Nails - And All That Could Have Been (live, DTS). No DVD has better mixing than this DTS version. The Diana Krall pales in comparison. It's an experience just like being at the show, but the quality of the sound is ridiculous. It's almost impossible to believe they made the DVD themselves.

Best Sounding CD:

Patricia Baber - Modern Cool

AND

Peter Gabriel - Up

I'll second the NIN DVD. Ordered it shortly after I got my system. As far as CD's I just can't stop listening to, NIN fits there as well with Pretty Hate Machine.

John K: You were right they didn't have all of those exact discs. The Carmina Burana that you suggested was there, but on my way to the register I remembered that all I really wanted was O Fortuna (whince). I decided I'd just burn what they have at the library.
Thanks though. I printed out the thread and am going to be on the lookout for all these recommendations.

SuperBass II - Ray Brown, Christian McBride, and Jon Clayton (I have the 2 chan rec, but also available on SACD). Recorded live in 2000 at the Blue Note in NYC. It just sounds great on the M60's - three upright basses with great dynamics and incredible feel. When you hear the chatter between the performers and the audience you forget that you aren't actually there.

On the punk front, I would say that Snuff has some more recent recordings that sound pretty clean and rock out. try the album Potatoes and Watermelons. Got some nice brass on there too as they have quite a bit of ska in their sound now.

If you want some groove-type like old booker T and the MG's, try Medeski, Martin and Wood's latest CD Uninvisible.

-JD

Sounds promising - except the punk stuff. Heard of the Long Beach Dub All Stars? Sounds similar.

I find Neil Young CDs amazing. They are well engineered.

Old ones - new ones? I have an un-remastered version of Decade and the Unplugged album, but I haven't listened to either through my new system yet. I've been stuck on jazz and classical.

Listened to Neil Young Unplugged last night. Sounded nice, but the Axioms did nothing to improve Neil's voice.

I listened to K.D. Lang quite a bit 10 years ago or so. I knew I had a copy of Ingenue somewhere. I happened to find it this afternoon while cleaning out some old stuff (raining here today). This is the first time I have listened to her with the Axioms. She sounds pretty good.

Here is an album that I know I no longer have, but I used to enjoy before giving it away to a friend. Richard Stoltzman, 'Begin Sweet World'. I think this was one of, if not his first albums.

I'll throw my (belated) two cents in...

I think that an album by The Magnetic Fields (which is just one guy) - "Holiday" - is just brilliant. It is so clear and crisp, with so many subtle effects I have regularly thought that my speakers were distorting, when in fact they were doing everything right.

It's a very melancholy album filled with ironicly upbeat synth-pop... it's morose with a moog-style swing.

Worth a listen, even if you don't like whatever they call this music these days....

If there are any bluegrass fans out there, "Will the Circle be Unbroken" by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band(and friends)is a must have. But Be sure to get the latest 20 bit remastered release.

Does anyone have either of Coldplay's albums? I love their stuff on the radio, what's the cd like? Well recorded?

Very well recorded. If you like Coldplay, give Travis a try. The last 2 CDs "The Man Who" and " The Invisible Band" are works of genius.

Belatedly, here are some of my personal picks that I often use in speaker auditioning -- excellent performance and recording:

- Midori & McDonald / Elgar Vn. Sonata, Franck Vn. Sonata (Sony #SK63331)
- Kissin, Ozawa & Boston Symphony / Rachmaninoff Pf. Concerto No. 3 (BMG #09026-61548-2)
- Inbal & Frankfurt Radio Symphony / Mahler Symphony No. 8 (Denon #1564)
- Harnoncourt & Chamber Orch. of Europe / Beethoven Symphonies Nos 1-8 (Teldec #2292-46452-2)
- Canadian Brass / The Essential Canadian Brass (Philips #432571-2)