Has any of you tried using this to show off/test your HT system? Too gimmicky??

I have not tried that CD specifically, but Chesky recordings are usually quite nice.

A good audiophile friend introduced me to Chesky records a couple of years ago. They do a really great job on their recordings. From microphone placement and caputring gear, to the mastering and pressing of their CD's, they do stive for a higher level of quality than your mainstream CD's. That's sort of their purpose.

I have one of their CD's that has a few tracks of audio tests at the end. It's a simple 2-channel test suite that basically involves nothing more than one of their guys speaking to you as he walks around the stage describing where he is in relation to the microphone(s). Some other tracks involve simple percussion instruments. Utterly phenominal demonstrations of the depth and presence that can be achieved in 2-channel audio. From what they did there with 2 channels, I suspect the 5.1 stuff would be downright scary.

Of course, being a boutique brand, their selection is fairly limited. But if you like the kinds of music they sell, go for it!

http://www.chesky.com/

Peter,

I got the SACD and played it last night. Given that it's late in the evening, I only played to the level of -25db on my receiver panel so there is NO WAY that it's too loud. The surround is awesome, especially the "storm" track. But I do encountered problem/issue: When I played the 1st track "Blast Off", I did not hear the normal jet/rocket blast off sound. Rather, I heard when I thought was clipping sound coming from my M80. I don't think I played the track loud so now I am worried. Does your CD have the same "blast off" track?

I will post in another a/v forum to find out if that was what the track supposed to sound.

Sorry, but I don't know anything about that track specifically. I don't actually own that album, just one of the other Chesky albums that has a few simple stereo tests. Nothing like the full-on show-off demonstrations of the album you bought.

But to narrow down the problem, I'd suggest listening to the first track with headphones to see if it makes the same noises.

It could actually be clipping. Are your M80's being run full range? Does your amp/receiver fully support 4-ohm speakers? I know that these sorts of demo albums can often really push a system with high power demands. It's possible that it is trying to produce super-low frequencies and pulling so much power that you are clipping. Or if you are running your M80's full range, it could be that it's sending extremely low frequency sound to the M80's and you're exceeding their design capacity. They're great speakers, but they can't produce extremely high levels of subwoofer-grade bass.