Linn Forums

I'm always interested to know the what is the first track people reach for when asked to demonstrate their system, perhaps to a visiting friend or relative...

The way it usually works out is that i have just a couple of minutes to crank up the volume and justify my systems living room domination to people generally fairly sceptical of high quality audio, so i tend to go down the route of an impressive track rather than a subtle one.

...i'm a bit of a Bass Fiend myself - so i tend to favour "Bug Powder Dust" from the Kruder and Dorfmeister's K&D Sessions...



I've never heard a track with deeper and more powerful Bass on it (but am very open to suggestions?!?) and this has some unbelievably powerful bass "squelches" which always impress and scare in equal measure!

There is also a long lost track on the Talvin Singh "Back to Mine" compilation (which is brilliant from start to finish!) that has Killer Bass on it....



...the track is by the Higher Intellegence Agency and is called "Delta" - just brilliantly clear (almost) subsonic Bass...

My final demo track of choice at the moment is from the Martin Hamnett Remix album of Dare (the classic Human League album) called "Love and Dancing"



...with the track "Things that dreams are made of" being a favourite. Really Rhythmic, funky and foot tappling stuff, with some great Stereo effects.

Really interested to hear what other people use for that "5 minute Demo" and particularly interested to have any suggestions for tracks to add to my list of monster Bass tracks!

Hehe.
Nothing beats asking "what artist/album/track do you hate most"?
Then playing it and observe the reaction when the jaw hits the floor.

The tracks I've listened to most on any upgrade are American Tune, by Paul Simon, from his There Goes Rhymin' Simon album; no reason, but I feel I know the track inside out (it's a favourite as well, so I don't listen through gritted teeth!), and The Most Beguiling Eyes, by Clive Gregson and Christine Collister, from their Love Is A Strange Hotel album.
There are loads of other tracks I dip into as well, but those two are at the top of my list and have been for years, although I have many 'better' recordings.

Mick

Couldn't agree more.

Failing that either

• FGTH: Two Tribes (A' Mix) played very loud indeed (95+ on the Klimax Kontrol) works even better if people know the track because they expect the world to end at the loud bit - it doesn't..
• Handel's Harp ...*
• Anything from "Girl's Aloud"
  

These are from diametrically opposite ends of the audio spectrum.

Rik

*A friend of mine who considers NiN easy listening simply looked at me and said "Sh1t" when I played it to him.

I've got into music this way at hifi demos.

In the early 90s Linn had this demo CD they were using at some hifi shows, it had 30 seconds of various bits of music. One of which was an extract of Whitney Houston singing I Will Always Love You. Which I absolutely hated.

Until I heard it on a Karik, Numeric, Kairn, Klout aktiv Keltics. I now own the soundtrack album.

I also remember once someone complaining at Hear Linn Live in a Park Lane Hotel, "why do you only play ..." and some style of music. I don't recall what type of music he mentioned, I just remember thinking 'no they don't'. Anyway the Linn rep cleverly responded, "What do you want to hear?" "Nirvana, and play it loud." So Lithum was played on this Mimik aktiv Keildhs. And surprise surprise I now own Nevermind.

I also ended up getting Lene Marlin's Playing My Game after hearing some cable demo at some hifi show.

Being smart, at the LP12 SE demos at the Bristol show, Linn played Black Coffee and mentioned they had Claire Martin's Too Darn Hot on LP to sell. It is good.

Mino Cinelu self titled. The whole disc is really excellent but the second track has some very powerful, big drums as well as lots of excellent percussion.

When listening to new purchases, I seem to keep coming back to the same three records

Scritti Politti - "Boom there she was" (from Provision).
Good for testing timing - plenty of noise gated instruments

Michael Hedges - "Rickover's Dream" (from Aerial Boundaries)
Good for testing the reproduction of guitar string attack and sustain

Renaissance - "Can you hear me?" (from Novella)
Lots of quiet detail in the instrumental section mix. Revealed by a good system and hidden by a bad one

I have an old 12" single of a Jimmy Nail track called Love Don't Live Here Anymore (from 1985 I think), not the greatest piece of music of all time but the low bass will astound you!

On the subject of bass check out any album by Marcus Miller, quite simply one of the greatest bass players on the planet. His first lp sounds fantastic on my system.

Good Thread. Already checked out some of the suggestions.

I tend to go for one of the folowing, depending on who it is I am trying to impress.

1. The Blowers Daughter by Damien Rice. Makes them think there's not a lot of bass until about 2/3rds the way through.

2. My heart will go on by Celine Dion. My friend John Campbell played this to me through a set of Isobariks and I could not believe the quality of the sound. This really impresses the 'Older' generation.

3. Two Princes by The Spin Doctors. Great kick drums. Blew away a drummer friend of mine when I was showing off my system.

4. Won't you take me Home by Brian Kennedy from the album 'A Better Man'. A suberbly recorded album and this song has a great bass line when it comes in after about 2 minutes. Watch their faces when it happens.

5. Any track by Kings of Leon for the young ones. Great band.

Also can't go wrong with most stuff by Pink Floyd, Paul Simon or The Eagles. Bob Marley (any reggae) also goes down well.