Yes, Night on Bare Mountain is in one of the classical areas that I like and several of my CDs include performances of it. It's a bit hard to really say what someone else might consider to be "like it", but here're some of my ideas: Prokofiev's Scythian Suite and Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin on a CD that's one of my favorites was out of print but has now been reissued by Arkiv ; Stravinsky's Rite of Spring ; Respighi's Roman Festivals ; the Malambo from Ginastera's Estancia .

Thanks, JohnK. I've put them on order.

Well, John, I got 10 CDs and it took them 8 days to get here.

I started to listen to Planets, and on the first track, "Mars, the bringer of war," my 3yr old says, "Daddy, that music is scary." I haven't gotten to enjoy it yet.

Then on the first track on the Swan Lake CD, she said, "Daddy, that music is sad." Geez! I need to quit listening to my music with her in the room.

I did get to listen to the whole Swan Lake CD. I so enjoyed it. Track 2, "No 1. Scene (Allegro giusto)" was breath-taking. My speakers need a little tweaking, I think, but I could "see" so many instruments all over the (sound)stage.

I can't wait to listen to all the CDs.

Thanks again, John, for recommending these great recordings.

Regards,

3yrs old, eh? Those music critics start young these days.

Sounds like somebody's ready to listen to Peter and the Wolf.

Since the time I created this post, I've listened to over 200 stereo CDs selected from this post and others. I found that these works represent the best of the best for sound quality. By sound quality I mean soundstage and imaging...not just clarity. The dynamics on all of these albums have been preserved without any apparent compression.

By far, the most incredible album I've heard is Mark Knopfler's The Ragpicker's Dream. I wish all artists would record like him. When listening to this album in 2-channel, it fools people into thinking the surrounds are on (also the center but that's not unusual for any recording on my system). Also, the M80s simply disappear. There is only one other instance where I experienced this and that is on the Persuasions album listed below. On this track (I think #5), you'd swear that there's a guy 3 feet to the left and 2 feet forward from the left speaker. When I first heard this, I had my eyes closed, lights off and I completely freaked out thinking that someone was in the room with me .

All other titles that I list below have a wide, deep and tall presentation but not to the extent of Knopfler's. The problem with listening to albums with this kind of quality is that I don't want to listen to all the other crappy albums in my collection because I am now spoiled .

JohnK, The Planets and other classicals that you suggested did not make my cut. Don't get me wrong - they are great to listen to. But they just didn't "jump out" at me like all these others did. With the exception of the one classical I listed below, all others sounded like the orchestra was 2 feet high off my floor even when turned up loud. I also tried all my multi-channel modes and turning it up very loud to no effect. I found this strange but I don't think it has anything to do with my system or environment. And I also tried 5 or 6 recordings of The Planets. If you have any ideas about why this may be happening, I'd love to know.

Enjoy!

Mark Knopfler - The Ragpicker's Dream
Pink Martini - Hang on Little Tomato
Molly Johnson - Any
Govi - Andalusian Nights
Lisa Ekdahl - When did you Leave Heaven
Acoustic Alchemy - Against the Grain
Philip Glass - Koyaanisqatsi *
The Persuasions - Sing U2
Plastikman - Closer *
Craig Chaquico - Any
Godsmack - Other Side
Mark Knopfler - Any
Higher Octave Music - Evolution
Don Ross - Music for Vacuuming
Patricia Barber - Any
Guitarisma
Marta Gomez - Entre Cada Palabra
Johny Frigo - Live from Studio "A"
Olatunji Babatunde - Love Drum Talk
Eliades Ochoa - Y El Cuarteto Patria
Porcupine Tree - Stupid Dream
John Butler - Sunrise Over Sea
Modest Mussorgsky - Classic Creepies **

* Incredible bass
** Turn track 4 up loud to give your system the ultimate work-out.

Thanks for that list, Mojo. I'll probably check at least a couple of those out whenever I have money for that stuff again. I do like that Marta Gomez album. Some of the other names have come up as recommendations by Amazon.com.

There's always the public library. If you like it, you can buy it. If you don't, you can put your money towards a second 600. Speaking of which, how is yours sounding?

Mo, I'm not familiar with any of the discs or performers that you listed, but the few pop CDs that I've borrowed and listened to for various reasons in the past seemed to share two characteristics: they were recorded at a higher sound level(presumably correctible by turning down the volume a bit)and the microphones were much more close-up. Don't know if this is the primary factor in your "jump out" comment, but most classical recordings are specifically intended to give a sense of distance and hall-effect, the effect being more that of what a listener some rows back would experience, rather than what the conductor hears.

The 600 is sounding pretty good. I still have more experimenting to do. I haven't figured out good test material for gauging how quickly and tightly it is performing. Over the coming weekend, I'll put more time into playing with settings and going through my music collection. And thanks for the suggestion on the second 600. Wouldn't you know I've already been thinking about that. The basement plan keeps changing, but right now it's looking like a big wall will come down, making for a larger space than I'd planned on before. It's an eventuality, but I could see getting another 600 after all of the other stuff is done. Ha ha.