A lot of people ask us to recommend well recorded pieces of music that will allow them to hear just how good their Q Acoustics speakers really are – and which they can also use to demonstrate their speakers to their friends.
But before we do that, we need to make a declaration!
There are music lovers and there are hi-fi lovers. You don’t have to be both; but we are. That means our design goal is to produce speakers that will deliver a ‘being there’ experience. By that we mean we want listeners to be able to sit in their favourite chairs, shut their eyes and enjoy a musical experience where they can almost believe the performers are in the room with them.
So we don’t go for recordings that are just loud and dynamic, we choose recordings that, provided the speakers are correctly sited, deliver a well presented three dimensional and immersive soundstage.
There are an infinite number of great performances available to enjoy. There are also a great number of excellent recordings. Unfortunately, there are rather less examples of when these two factors come together.
Here are six of our favourites:
First up is a truly outstanding ‘jazz piano’ track called ‘Grandmama’s Blues’ by Cyrus Chestnut and it’s featured on his CD ‘Earth Stories’. The performance is excellent and the sound engineers have managed to capture the full percussiveness of the piano notes. We can’t find this one to share with you on YouTube but it is definitely worth adding to your collection: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Earth-Stories-Cyrus-Chestnut/dp/B000002J8U?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
Second is Paul Simon’s ‘The Boxer’, but not Simon & Garfunkel’s version. To enjoy a wonderful soundstage, listen to this lovely song performed a cappella by ‘The King’s Singers’. It appears on their CD ‘Good Vibrations’. The sheer joy of it will make you smile.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHYGoXwgKtk
Third is Livingston Taylor’s rendition of the Stevie Wonder classic ‘Isn’t she lovely?’ The song opens with Livingston (brother of James) Taylor whistling right in front of you. You feel as though you could just reach out and touch him. The track is on his CD ‘Ink’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR1JCKIz6qg
Fourth is a good old hi-fi show favourite; Chris Jones’ beautifully recorded album ‘Roadhouses & Automobiles’. Frankly, every track is amazingly dynamic and ‘hi-fi’. Bass heads will particularly love ‘No Sanctuary Here’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z11VNEgVl4&list=RD6z11VNEgVl4#t=15
BBC Radio 2’s ‘Sounds of the 80s’ comes in at number 5. Sounds unlikely doesn’t it; but this double CD/download contains 37 excellently recorded songs from the 1980s – but performed by modern artists. We often use ‘Wonderful Life’ performed by Katie Meluar and the brilliant Chris Izaaks ‘Wicked Game’, performed by London Grammar. The Whitney Houston hit ‘How will I know?’ performed by Sam Smith is also quite haunting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abGe6uM9Ias
Lastly, at number six comes ‘Antiphone blues’ from the album of the same name, by Arne Domnerus. An extraordinarily atmospheric jazz recording that is a joy to listen to (and will remind you of the opening credit of every episode of ‘The Simpsons’).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tEjulVGuog
We have created a playlist on Spotify with our recommendations. Search for the playlist on Spotify “Q Acoustics Demo Tracks” and watch it grow as we continue to grow it!
