Best way to test your system?


One of the best ways I've found to test my system is to hook up my dvd player to my DAC and watch a movie for a short time. Since so much music is hyper-produced in the studio, I think many people don't really know what an instrument actually sounds like in native sound. Unless of course they're around a musical instrument in the home or go to acoustic concerts. Yet, nearly everyone is interacting with people, hearing the everyday noises that occur in movies on a daily basis. The reference is fresh.

I find that to hear regular conversations/dialog over some of the systems I've owned really told me how accurate and realistic my system was in reproducing sounds. I've heard people say that music sounds great on their system but film sounds poor. They should both sound good if the system's good. Yes, movies use compression on the soundtrack but still I've had the same exact experience - music sounded great but normal dialog didn't.
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However, for those of us that aim for a more intimate musical experience, or are focused on acoustic instruments, moonlighting as a home theater is most likely out of the question.

I can agree with that.

Not everybody is into HT and audio.
Sorry to disagree,but movies will only reveal the dynamics of sound and not the subtle nuances required of music.This is strictly my opinion,I'm not trying to change your mind.Everyone hears things differently.Glad your experiment worked for you.
The biggest problem with Movies and your idea, is that the vocals are all compressed, AND vocal sounds are only a small percentage of total range of sounds heard.
The rest of the soundtracks are totally useless for any sort of comparison to real world music. If I want a system that can reproduce an oboe, or a saxophone.. what good is knowing it can reproduce loud car exhaust, bombs going off, gunshots, various wierd noises? And who knows WHAT that particular actors voice sounds like in real life? Most of us know what musical insturments sound like in real life.
On the other side, for voices, one of my favorite Cds for sound check of a system is PJ Harvey 4 Track Demos.. Her voice.. is 'spectacular' (to say the least)
Then, on the opposite side of the spectrum is Emma Kirby
singing Mozarts' Extante Jubilante.
The main climatic group singing in Rossini's Barber of seville.. the texture, the harmonies... heavenly... awesome.
Nearly anything sung by Maria Callas...
Janis Joplin....
Nina Simone..
Johnny Mathis Early.. Johnny Mathis (yeah he's corny as hell but a good voice)
Mark Murphy, not much singing, but cool, cat cool.
Pavarotti. early p only...
Vocal CAN mean a lot in auditioning a system.. but I would have to skip movie scores, or movies in general.
For me, I test a system with piano solo's playing the frequency spectrum. The piano should sound more like there is a piano in the room during soft and loud passages alike, and much less like there is piano music coming through a set of speakers in the room. It's a really tough test, but if your system can do that, it's really well put together. Comparison testing will make it cleary evident what I mean by the above statements. Happy listening,

I disagree, I believe music is mixed more accurately than movies and if you get the music to sound right then the movies will sound good too.