[TF1216]

I get bored at work so I frequent this site but it has been quiet for a week.

I decided to start a thread.

For all the owners of Jim's speakers out there, what music of yours gained special attention from you once it was played through the speakers?  Either positively or negatively.

I wouldn't mind hearing either if a particular genre of music sang to you when played through your speakers or if a particular artist sounded like the speakers were made for their music.\

Thanks!

[fRsimms]

Just about all forms of acoustic music sound great with my Salk HT1’s with my McCormack 225 amp.  Since the speakers image well, music with a good image is also great.  Forties and older music is often not as good due to quality.  Eighties and newer rock is often processed so much it spoils the effect.

I love to listen to the digital cable music channels.  I listen via the digital audio out to a good DAQ.  The music channels that sound great to me are: Singers and Standards, Soft Rock, 70’s, Oldies, Soft Rock, Jazz, Classical, Light Classical, Show Tunes, Soundscapes and Classic Country.  Almost every song on the mentioned channels sounds great!

Some of my favorite albums:

All three Linda Rhonstadt and Riddle albums
1.   What’s New
2.   Around Midnight
3.   Sentimental Reasons

Leo Kottke – My Father’s Face
Leo Kottke – Burnt Lips
Janice Ian – Between the Lines
Willy Nelson – Greatest Hits
Willy Nelson – New Orleans
Peter Frampton – Frampton Comes Alive
Simon and Garfunkle – Greatest Hits

[Papajin]

There's so much I like that's it's hard to boil it down to a small list.  I tend to like the acoustic stuff myself as well.  I also have S&G (as well as just Simon alone) in heavy rotation.  Burnt Lips being the only Kottke I currently own is in my playlist as well.

One of my favorite CD's, and I wish they had more of them or I could find something just as good, is an album called  "Telluride Sessions" by Strength in Numbers.  Excellent recording, interesting tunes, love the sparse instrumentation so you can easily place the individual players and instruments on the sound stage.  Other similar CD's I enjoy are Jesse Cook's "Gravity", and The Frank and Joe Show's "33 1/3".

Other things on my current playlist are:

Tracy Chapman (Crossroads, Matters of the Heart, New Beginning, Self-Titled)
James Taylor (Greatest Hits)
Ray LaMontagne (Trouble)
Amos Lee (Self-Titled)
Gordon Lightfoot (Complete Greatest Hits)
Keb' Mo' (Self-Title and Keep it Simple)
Jim Croce (Photographs & Memories)
Eleanor McEvoy (Self-Titled)
Leo Kottke (Burnt Lips)
Simon & Garfunkel (Complete Collected Works)
Paul Simon (Self-Titled, Still Crazy After All These Years, There Goes Rhymin' Simon)
Ben Harper (Fight For Your Mind)
Jack Johnson (Brushfire Fairytales, On and On, In Between Dreams)
Norah Jones (Feels Like Home, Come Away With Me)
Shelby Lynne (Identity Crisis)
Betty Elders (Crayons)
America (Self-Titled)
Donavon Frankenreiter (Self-Titled)
Eric Clapton (Unplugged)
Iron & Wine (Woman King)

This is more or less my default playlist as it currently stands.  There's probably a couple other things on it not mentioned.

Right now I'm running a pair of HT3's, a Boulder modded SB2, Blue Circle BC32 5 channel amp (only using 2 channels of it right now), and a BC 21.1 pre-amp.  The BC21.1 has a bypass switch and I intend to add an inexpensive pre-pro for 5 channel sometime in the future.  I've been thinking about the possiblity of room correction for the 2-channel side of things as a possible future addition.  Maybe replace the 21.1 with a TacT or something.  If anyone has any suggestions along those lines, please feel free to chime in as I don't know if that would be a worthwhile upgrade or not -- maybe if I can find a way to demo a unit I'll give one a try.  Right now I'm using the upgraded analog out of the modded SB2 for all 2-channel listening so some sort of outboard DAC is another possible future upgrade.

As far as the bad, I can't say there's really any CD's that have been actively bad.  Some don't sound as good as I'd like, but they sounded pretty crappy on my old speakers (NHT VT2's) as well.

[Dave G]

Papajin,

If you like "Telluride Sessions," you might also like "Skip, Hop & Wobble," which has two of the same musicians (Jerry Douglas and Edgar Meyer) and a similar feel.  

Dave

[TF1216]

Thanks guys!  Great replies!!

My home stereo has yet to be completed but I have some magnesium cone midranges in my car and my favorite acoustic songs to listen to in my ride are sung by the lead singer of Shinedown, Brent Smith.  Shinedown's album "Leave a Whisper" has come out in a special edition CD with acoustic versions of "Simple Man" and "45".  Absolutely awesome!

Also, my latest favorite CD is "G3 Live" with Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, and Steve Vai.  Check it out!

[Papajin]

Papajin,

If you like "Telluride Sessions," you might also like "Skip, Hop & Wobble," which has two of the same musicians (Jerry Douglas and Edgar Meyer) and a similar feel.  

Dave

Thanks for the reco. Dave G.  Already got that one on my "to buy" list.  Judging from the samples I listened to, I didn't like it as much, but sometimes the samples aren't very good, or my opinion will change after several listens, etc. so you never know.  Still it should be a good addition.

[DMurphy]

[Other things on my current playlist are:

Trace Chapman (Crossroads, Matters of the Heart, New Beginning, Self-Titled)
James Taylor (Greatest Hits)
Ray LaMontagne (Trouble) ]


The James Taylor Greatest Hits is a staple in my final voicing CD list.  But it's orchestral brass at full cry that really test a crossover.  I played various performances of the finale to Mussorgsky's
Pictures at an Exhibition a whole lotta times when I was finishing up the HT3.  Any kind of funny business in the crossover region will rob brass of the clarity, bite, and transparency that makes them so exciting in a live performance.

[randybessinger]

I am listening to the new Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris CD-"All the Road Running" as well as "The Collection" by Laurence Juber-both are excellent.  Also, the new Paul Simon CD.

[Carl V]

But it's orchestral brass at full cry that really test a crossover. I played various performances of the finale to Mussorgsky's
Pictures at an Exhibition a whole lotta times when I was finishing up the HT3. Any kind of funny business in the crossover region will rob brass of the clarity, bite, and transparency that makes them so exciting in a live performance.

Interestingly enough a number of years ago while litening to Dunlavey speakers up in Colorado, that same sentiment was expressed by that desginer as well.
In fact smaller brass Continuo (sp?) pieces were used.  
Solo brass was also demo'd to demonstrate "the wood" effect   i.e., absolute poarity.  Some Pre-amps
reverse polarity as do other components.  I can't say i can always here such differences but sometimes I felt there was an improvement when all components & connections (even the orirntation of the AC plugs) were intalled with this in mind.  Another point was brought out that steady intrument tones such has piano, bells, glockenspiel...can really point out shifts in timbre especially when the XO & different drivers come into play.

[randybessinger]

[Other things on my current playlist are:

Trace Chapman (Crossroads, Matters of the Heart, New Beginning, Self-Titled)
James Taylor (Greatest Hits)
Ray LaMontagne (Trouble) ]


The James Taylor Greatest Hits is a staple in my final voicing CD list.  But it's orchestral brass at full cry that really test a crossover.  I played various performances of the finale to Mussorgsky's
Pictures at an Exhibition a whole lotta times when I was finishing up the HT3.  Any kind of funny business in the crosso ...

Hey Dennis,

What would you recommend for someone not that well schooled in Classical, but would like to listen to something rousing and emotional. recommendations?

[brj]

Solo brass was also demo'd to demonstrate "the wood" effect   i.e., absolute poarity.

What is the "wood" effect, and why is solo brass a good demonstration of it?

Thanks!

[DMurphy]

Hey Dennis,

What would you recommend for someone not that well schooled in Classical, but would like to listen to something rousing and emotional. recommendations?

Hi Randy   I have a good sampler CD at home with a lot of selections like that.  I'll e-mail you tonight.

[randybessinger]

Hey Dennis,

What would you recommend for someone not that well schooled in Classical, but would like to listen to something rousing and emotional. recommendations?

Hi Randy   I have a good sampler CD at home with a lot of selections like that.  I'll e-mail you tonight.

Thanks Dennis.

[brj]

Hi Randy   I have a good sampler CD at home with a lot of selections like that.  I'll e-mail you tonight.

Dennis, is there any chance that you could make your demo CD more generally available?  Or perhaps at least to other Salk customers?

Thanks!

[mjgeorge]

Dennis,

Could you email me the info about that sampler CD as well?  As a brass player, I'm very interested in which selections/performances you prefer.

mjgeorge at ieee dot org

Thanks Dennis

Matthew George

[Carl V]

BRJ asks:

Carl V wrote:
Solo brass was also demo'd to demonstrate "the wood" effect i.e., absolute poarity.

What is the "wood" effect, and why is solo brass a good demonstration of it?

Thanks!

<< at the bottom of this post I've cut-n-pasted from a Stereophle test disc. CD-1--Ralph the dog disc>>

As I stated in the first post...during  the recording process Sound hitting the micorphone's diaphram-creating the +/- waveform & playabck 'same' waveform being amplified/modulated-- there is just one  'correct ' absolute phase with respect to the original event.
Whether or not you can hear this is up for debate.  Many would say
in theory it should matter, yet in practice it won't.  Some others would say active listening is an aquired or 'learned' skill.  That once you've trained yourself/ears to hear certains things you can readily distinguish
distortions etc.  There are a number of CDs available that can help tutor you on 'how to listen".  They are often available in the back of MIX magazine, Recording Musician magazines.  John Marks of Stereophile has mentioned this in one of his monthly columns.  Dr Floyd Toole has also emphisised the value in using trained listener's.  The Klippel site has a self test available on line which tests your abiltiy to hear decreasing amounts of harmonic distortion (it's humbling).  I can tell you that putting in some practice time with these test/training discs will yield results.


And as to why solo brass instruments....well, as it was demonstrated that
sustained trumpet tones...trombone...french horns can point out weakenss in the XO as well as the drivers'.  Also the KISS (keep is simple) principle comes into play. You can concentrate on distinct musical lines better when there is less going on...such as an Orchestra at full cry in a crescendo.  Also Brass instruments have tremendous Dynamic range.


Cheers
carl

Quote from Stereophile
Track 8 features an "absolute phase" demonstration. The sound starts out with its overall polarity one way around, but finishes with its polarity inverted. According to many writers, especially Clark Johnsen in his book The Wood Effect (footnote 3), the sound of human voice and many instruments will be more natural with the polarity correct—ie, so that an acoustic compression that reaches the microphone will be reproduced as an acoustic compression that reaches the listener's ear—than it will the other way. We have no idea which way 'round on Gordon's recording is correct, but as we have inverted the polarity somewhere in the middle, you will be able to hear for yourself if there is an audible difference between the two states. And can you identify where the change in polarity occurs?



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Footnote 3: Clark Johnsen's excellent The Wood Effect is available from The Modern Audio Association, 23 Stillings Street, Boston, MA 02210. Tel: (617) 357-8040. Price: $7.95 plus $1.05 shipping and handling.

[DMurphy]

Hi Randy   I have a good sampler CD at home with a lot of selections like that.  I'll e-mail you tonight.

Dennis, is there any chance that you could make your demo CD more generally available?  Or perhaps at least to other Salk customers?

Looks like it will be more efficient to just post it here.  It's not a sampler I've put together.  It's a 2-CD sampler of orchestral and choral spectaculars with Geogre Solti conducting.   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000DLUS/103-9599370-7944640?v=glance&n=5174#moreAboutThisProduct

I use in particular the following 3 cuts from CD1




11. Lohengrin: Prelude to Act III  (brass sound)
13. Requiem: Dies irae - Choral sound, and bass impact and power handling
18. Pictures At An Exhibition: The Great Gate of Kiev (full orchestra, brass)

[randybessinger]

Dennis, is there any chance that you could make your demo CD more generally available?  Or perhaps at least to other Salk customers?

Looks like it will be more efficient to just post it here.  It's not a sampler I've put together.  It's a 2-CD sampler of orchestral and choral spectaculars with Geogre Solti conducting.   http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000DLUS/103-9599370-7944640?v=glance&n=5174#moreAboutThisProduct

I use in particular the following 3 cuts from CD1




11. Lohengrin: Prelude t ...

Thanks Dennis.  I now have ordered it.

[Randy]

Everybody needs to get into classical if you want to take full advantage of your  hi fi rig.  Great equipment deserves great  music.

For starters, try Tchaikovsky, Syms. 4, 5, 6 and the Serenade for Strings.

Stravinsky, The Firebird, Petrushka, and the Rite of Sping.  

The list is endless.   Another one, Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra.