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From: chowkwan@priam.usc.edu (Raymond Chowkwanyun)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: Re: Source of test records needed
Message-ID: <10946@uwm.edu>
Date: 11 Apr 91 12:40:16 GMT
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Approved: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Originator: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu


The Swedish record label Opus 3 has a test record for
depth of image.  It's listed as AOP OP7900 in Acoustic 
Sounds catalog 800 525-1630.  

Personally, I find test records of little use.  It's a nice
idea.  If your system can play this record, then it will play
anything well.  It certainly would save a lot of time if
such a record existed.  Unfortunately, the world isn't that
simple.  When I was auditioning Classe vs. MFA pre-amps,
I found I preferred the sound of the above-mentioned Opus 3
disc on the Classe but that the other recordings I used
sounded better on the MFA.  Use of the test record alone
would have led me to buy the wrong unit.  

This is not to say that somewhere out there there isn't 
a magic test record that will indeed reveal all.  I'm saying
guard against easy assumptions and until you find that magic
record, it's better to rely on a representative sampling from
your own collection.  

I usually bring along 1 jazz, 1 classical,
and 1 rock LP.  Also, it's good to have examples of those old
standbys violin and piano.  Both are notoriously difficult to
record and reproduce.  It also helps to have listened to these
instruments live within a few days of doing your auditioning.
Human voice is also a useful yardstick because we all know
what it should sound like.

-- ray