Tracks to use when auditioning speakers
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A couple of weeks ago, one of our clients came in for a demo of an amplifier. The wise man brought his own speakers in to see how they would match with the Yamaha he had his eyes on. The thing was, he wasn’t overly happy with his speakers, so he was tossing up between a new amplifier or alternatively tossing out the speakers and replacing those. Sadly, he could only afford one or the other.
Until good old Deano showed him that his speakers weren’t that bad at all. There were was actually nothing wrong with them, all that was needed was some decent tracks to review the speakers with. If your source is bad, there is no speaker in the world that will make it sound good.
Which tells us something about how important tracks are; not only when you relax at home, listening to some music. But also when you audition speakers (or headphones) for a future purchase.
And that brings us to the point: what tracks do you use when auditioning potential new speakers?
Here’s our 5 cents of wisdom: It may actually pay to put together a demo CD for auditioning speakers, headphones, amplifiers, etc. When done well, with a good demo CD, you can tell in a few minutes how accurate voices sound through a speaker, how natural a headphone’s tonal balance is, and how much output a subwoofer delivers at the deepest bass frequencies. And the more you use it, the more familiar you will be with the demo material and the more valuable it will become. After all, apart from your choice of tracks, there is equal value in how many systems you’re played the demo CD through. When you’ve heard, say, Stewart Copeland’s high-pitched splash cymbal on The Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” through a few dozen systems, you’ll have a good idea of what that cymbal’s supposed to sound like. You’ll be able to determine if a headphone has a soft-sounding tonal balance, or if a speaker’s tweeter has an emphasized, edgy top octave.
A good place to start when putting your demo CD together is with music you know inside out, favourite tunes you’ve listened to for years. Listen to how the speaker, headphones, etc., you’re considering changes, improves, or degrades the sound of those tunes. Try not to base a buying decision on just one or two tunes. Make the demo tracks a combination of the sort of music you listen to at home and thoroughly enjoy. Then add some tracks you picked to analyse specific sonic characteristics. They are there to reveal different aspects of the speakers performance.
Also, it’s good to consider that each recording is different, every production is different and as we mentioned; because you want to determine how the speakers you are reviewing colour or changes the sound of music, you really want test tracks with minimal production, compression, processing, equalization, and so on. You want to hear as much of the unadorned sound as possible.
But as much as you want to reveal the qualities of the speakers, you also want to audition the speakers with the source material you use at home. So, while we are big advocates of using CDs because the quality of the source material is much higher than say an MP3 track, if that’s what you use at home. You should also review your speakers using that.
You can put together your own demo CD using practically any computer with a CD-R drive and any music management software. I’ve done it in iTunes and in Windows Media Player with similarly good results. The important thing is to rip the tunes in WAV or in a lossless format, so you get a bit-for-bit copy of what’s on the CD. If you listen to music from an MP3 source, you may also want to consider ripping the tunes in, say, 256 kbps MP3, and put them on your smartphone or MP3 player so you have a portable test rig.
As an example, Deano has been kind enough to share his go-to demo tracks he likes to use when auditioning speakers. They will give a bit of an indication of the sort of thing you may want to watch out for when you do your own review:
1, Dire Straits – Love over gold (Love over Gold) – 1982
Things to listen for, the track opens with a piano and a guitar, the piano should sound delicate and precise, note also the guitar has a slight resonance to the strings but not a huge amount and should also sound snappy and you should have a nice balance of both
Mark Knopfler opens up with the lyrics of the song and he has a very distinctive growl to his voice all most croaky, this is what you should be hearing
At time stamp 4.04 the tempo speeds up and all the individual instruments are playing and you should be hearing guitar, bass, drums, synth & piano for the next minute or so, these instruments should all be heard and if you only focus on one instrument at a time you should hear it perfectly and all have the correct placement within the stereo soundstage.
2, Dire Straits – Romeo & Juliet (Making movies) – 1980
Another quick test is on this track is at time stamp 0.53 – 0.55 depending on the version, but you should here Mark click his fingers this should sound snappy and quite prominent on most systems you can hear something but on a really good system this should sound like the click is right in front of you and very its noticeable as a click of the fingers
3, Chris Botti & Yo Yo Ma – Cinema Paradiso – (Live in Boston)
As Chris is speaking about Yo Yo Ma in the introduction of the track, there is a man on the PA making an announcement at exactly the same time, on a good system you can hear this very clearly and it should sound like its coming from the left of you (right beside).
4, Norah Jones – Above Ground (Feels like home) – 2004
On this track there is snare drum playing throughout the track. On very well set up systems the snare drum actually sounds like its coming from behind you It’s very spooky!
In general, when auditioning speakers or headphones, these are a few boxes you want to tick:
Start off with getting a general feel of the speakers. How do the speakers make you feel? Pay attention to how much you are enjoying the sound. Speakers are a very individual thing. A speaker may grab your attention or it might want to make you shut it down right away. A speaker may make you forget where you are or it may right out irritate you. Only after you’ve done that, you shift into analytical mode.
Ben’s favourite track for getting a first impression is ‘Fragments of Time’ – Daft Punk ft. Todd Edwards. Audiophile pop recordings are still alive and well and the ‘Random Access Memories’ album makes for an excellent choice for testing speakers.
‘I like using the ‘Fragments of Time’ track as an all-round test. I just simply enjoy listening to this song and for me, it exposes any issues really fast. The track gives me an immediate indication of how clean the sound is. The punchy kick, snare and hi-hats of the drums give me a feel of the snap from the mids to the highs. Listening to this track on the Yamaha NS-5000 the other day made me realise how intricate the hi-hat rhythm is for most of the song (it sort of blew my mind). Also, this track gives me a first feel of the accuracy of the voice.’
For Bart, that song is ‘Private Investigations’ by Dire Straits. (Yes, the Rapallo guys like the Dire Strait tracks for testing speakers, I’ve noticedJ). In the second half of the song, the track builds from very quiet to a crescendo at the finale. In that crescendo, acoustic and electric guitar, xylophone, piano, drums are introduced on the base track of quintessential 1980s synthesiser sounds. There’s something about a mix of acoustic and electric instruments that is very revealing and a good pair of speakers makes it shine. Also, if you can hear the breaking of glass and footsteps in part of the song, you’ve got yourself a winner when it comes to detail.
Things to listen for when shifting to analytical mode:
- Space:the speakers should disappear into the soundstage. You should not feel like the music is coming from a box in front of you. Also listen for spatial separation between individual instruments and vocals and feeling like your living room just turned into the Royal Albert Hall and you’re on the right track.
Deano is a big fan of ECM recordings for tracks that check for soundstage. One of the reason ECM recordings sound so good (they record in Oslo and in New York and few other places) is the use of their go-to microphone, the Neumann U87. This design of microphone has been around a long time and has an omni directional design. It creates a much bigger soundstage which seems to translate into huge space. If you read up on the forums, you will find that many people will remark on the sense of space and depth with ECM albums.
- Rhythm and timing: Listen to the drum and bass guitar working together. The drum should not lag slightly behind the bass guitar, but rather lock in rhythmically. You don’t want the bass sound sluggish and slow.
- Treble:Listen to ‘s’ and ‘sh’ sounds in vocals. Also cymbals should not sound metallic, harsh or draw attention to themselves. They need to be integrated with the rest of the music. Violins need to sound clean, not dirty.
- Midrange:Listen for coloration in voices. A good speaker will present voices as open and pure. If it sounds likes it’s coming out of a box, walk away.
Nina Simone’s ’I put a spell on you’ is a good track for testing this.
- Bass control: listen for distinct pitches in bass notes, not a low-frequency one-note growling. The bottom end should be quick, tight and clean. The thing you don’t want is a ‘boom-box’. Listen to kick-drums and bass guitar working together.
Bart likes ‘Royals’ by Lorde because it really reveals a boomy bass very fast. On forums, you will often see ‘Brass Monkey’ by Beastie Boys recommended for this.
- Dynamic range:The ability to shift from ‘very quiet’ to ‘very loud’, whether it’s a voice, a single instrument or a large-scale symphony orchestra in full attack mode, is an essential loudspeaker talent. Speakers must make the switch instantly and without displaying any undue stress. Which is not as easy as you might think.
‘The Star Wars Theme’ from John Williams is very good for testing this. John Williams is a master of dynamics. High intensity (1:45) should feel just as lush and vibrant as the moments of low intensity (around 1:30) and they are supposed to flow perfectly into each other in a way that they should capture your auditory attention almost equally. You don’t want to feel like turning up the low parts of the track because the speakers don’t adjust well to low dynamic moments.
- Detail:Especially if you like listening to a piece of classical music, you want to pay attention to how well the speakers display detail. You want to be able to pick up on the nuances.
Pick a complex piece that you are very familiar with. Alternatively, you may want to check out ‘Caribbean Blue’ by Enya. New age music may not be your cup-a-tea, but the subtle layers of sound in this track seem almost infinite, which makes it a great speaker testing track. If your speakers are not picking up on the nuances, you’ve got a problem.
Don’t try to audition too many speakers at once. There is only so much info your ears and brain can process within one sitting without getting an overload.
On a final note, it’s good to remember that there is no such a thing as the perfect speaker. All speakers have strengths and weaknesses. What you want to find is the speaker that matches your listening taste and works well in the areas that matter to you and works within your budget.
Happy speaker hunting!
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