This list is made to help you find records that can be used as reference to your Tannoy speakers and Luxman amps. Knowing how hard it is to find a good technical source of music that can be used every time you have to judge wether your speaker sounds correct. The records on the list can also be used to judge if your speaker or cabinet improvement is also a sonic improvement. Beyond that we know how hard it is to hear the difference between two speaker systems and be able to determine what the difference is. Aside from test equipment and test records we have always felt the need for technical "perfect" music sources, so we have some reference here. A reference that is also usable after several years, because we know our ears change over time. This list is the fruit of many years of listening and technical practice. We devided the list in two sections: vinyl and digital sources like CD. We have made sub-sections in musical taste too. We hope this list is of some advantage to you Tannerds and other audio nerds. We do not intend to get into the useless discussions as most audio magazines are in, they have loads of fuzzy references, thick purses, but mostly lack ears. You can mail to the Tannoy group with additions or proposals for the list. We shall do extensive testing of proposals and may place them on the candidate list or even on the reference list. How we make the rating list you will find at the bottom of this page.
Kind regards, Hans & Jean.
Vinyl records
Classical
Frescobaldi Fiori Musicali - Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini - Erato STU 70918/9 - rating 6.
J.P. Rameau Pygmalion - La Petite Bande & Gustav Leonhardt - Harmonia Mundi 065 99 914 - rating 7.
Shostakovich Symphony 1&9 - W. Weller & Orch. Suisse Romande - Decca SXL 6563 - rating 6.
Popular
Supertramp - Crime of the century - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab 1-005 - rating 7.
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours - Nautilus Nr: 8 - rating 8.
Cat Stevens / Best Of - Audiophile Series A&M SPJ 4519 - Rating: 7.
Kate Bush / The Kick Inside - Canadian Pressing CAPITOL SW-11761 - rating: 7.
Steely Dan / Gaucho - MCA 6102 - rating: 7.
Jazz / R&B
Charlie Byrd - Crystal Clear Records CCS 8002 - rating 7.
Stanley Clarke / Stanley Clarke - Nemperor Records NE 431 - rating: 7.
Chuck Mangione / Feels So Good - Audiophile Series A&M SPJ 1658 - rating: 8.
Special
Square wave tracking and intermodulation test record, CBS STR 112 - rating 7.
Compact Disk
Classical
Los Impossibles - Christina Pluhar / L'Arpeggiata - Naive classique records V 5055 - rating 8+.
Recitar Cantando / Accordone - Marco Beasley / Guido Morini - Cypres records CYP1645 - rating 7.
Marin Marais - Jerome Hantai etc. - Virgin 7243 5 45358 2 6 - rating 6.
Purcell Funeral Queen Mary - David Hill & Choir Winchester etc. - Argo 436 833-2 - rating 6.
Popular
Joe Jackson / Body & Soul - A&M CDA 65000 - rating: 8.
Donald Fagen / The Nightfly - WB >USA: 23696-2 / WB >EUR: 92-3696-2 - rating: 7.
Radiohead / Kid A - EMI 72 435 277532 3 - rating: 6.
Ultravox / Ultravox - ISLAND MASTERS / IMCD 146 (846 159-2) - rating 7.
Jazz / R&B
St. Germain / Tourist - EMI / Blue Note / 72 435 251142 6 - rating: 7.
Billy Cobham / A funky thide of sings / Atlantic 7567-8-766-2 - rating 7.
Special
Stereophile test cd's - Stereophile STPH 002-006 - rating 7.
Ratings:
0. Nothing we can't give. So zero is not accepted. Nothing is totally worthless.
1. Bad record should be removed from the list.
2. Not good, has some qualities but not on technical level.
3. The average better record, but not for the list.
4. Comes close, just does not have it all.
5. About this record there must be a lot of debate, lots of doubt is there.
6. This is the minimum level a record should have to be on the list.
7. The average high quality listed record.
8. Superb quality record, this is the real reference, no flaws found.
9. Unbelievable record, could this be true? Yes it is almost heaven.
10. This is what we try to achieve, but never reach, only the real thing does.A record has to score 6 or more to be on the list.
We do NOT rate any artistic qualities, only technical quality is an issue here.Candidate list:
On the candidate list you will find the voted for records. CLICK HERE (under construction)
Weblinks:
MFSL: http://www.aurealm.com/jade.htm
Naive classique: http://www.naiveclassique.com
Tannoy Yahoo group and the Luxman Yahoo group
© Reviewed by:
Hans Hilberink & Jean Croux & all voting Tannoy-Luxman groupmembers: after all these sites have more than two members. (although not less pretentious)
webmaster: PE1MMK® - last update: 15-01-2008.