System Setup CD

[sbnx]

Hello fellow audiophiliacs.

If you are like me then you have a bunch of the so called setup CD's (Stereophile, XLO, Nordost, Chesky, …). These are all good and most of the time I reach for the Nordost one for the LEDR tests. I wanted to share a setup CD I ran across a few weeks ago. It is the IsoTek ultimate system setup disc. I got mine from music direct but I'm sure your favorite web store has one.

So you might ask why is this one different? It has a person talking and a castanet (wood block). (There is a description of what you should hear but no instruction on how the speakers should be moved to achieve the desired result.) It starts out with the standard stuff left/right and phase. Then it moved to lateral spacing with the person/block being center, 1/2 distance to speaker, in the speaker and outside speaker. It has 33 castanet clicks as it moves across from left to right. That's all great but nothing you really can't get form the lateral LEDR test. It is the next set of tracks that really help you judge your setup. These tracks are for depth of image. For example on one of them the speaker and the castanet are on opposite sides of a room and walk in a circle while the person speaks and the castanet clicks. There is also one where the castanet alternates between left and right as it moves from the rear of the soundstage to the front.

Last weekend I helped the person who bought my Vivid G1's finish his speaker setup. So I pulled out this disc to see if it offered any additional insight. Well, on the track where the castanet is alternating left/right with moving forward it was obvious that the timbre was different from left to right and the depth of image was also different. This person's room is not symmetric and the speakers are shifted to the left of center. He had the sidewall absorbers symmetric. We moved the right absorber about 6" and viola the timbre of the castanet and imaging of the two speakers were spot on.

If you feel like splurging then this CD might help with some subtle fine tuning of your speaker placement.

~Todd

 

[treitz3]

This CD has the same LEDR test. Many of you may already have it.

You can download it for $12.00 here >>> https://www.hdtracks.com/chesky-records-jazz-sampler-audiophile-test-compact-disc-vol-1

Or you can get a hard copy. Depending on the day/week, I have seen them from $18 to well over $40. Once they go over $40, go ahead and get the Nordost unless you have patience and can wait for a deal to come up.

Doing the circular test with a castanet sounds interesting though. Is that the only difference between the Chesky, Nordost LEDR test? BTW, I ordered the CD. Thanks,

Tom

 

[sbnx]

Hello Tom,

That Chesky Jazz one is a good one too. The Chesky one that came to mind was "Dr. Chesky's Amazing, Fantasic, … Binaural Sound Show". The Jazz one has the trumpet in/out of polarity test which is interesting as well as the LEDR tests as you mentioned. I will summarize what I find useful on the various CD's but as they say YMMV. I kinda break down what they usually have into 5 categories. 1. System setup tracks to ensure good imaging and soundstage 2. Various instruments playing solo to ensure good timbre and tone matching 3. test tones 4. system burn-in type tracks 5. well recorded music

Nordost Setup Disc -- has left/right; in/out of phase; pink noise and LEDR tests. It also has a bunch of specific frequency test tones.
Stereophile CD3 -- has an electronic chromatic scale played in the left and right speaker.
Chesky Amazing, fantastic …. -- I like the electric Guitar and pipe organ that plays one note at a time working its way up the scale. Nice for bass checkout.
IsoTek Ultimate Setup -- The soundstage depth checks will really reveal setup issues. The castanet moving front to back and in a circle is really good. -- this is similar to the tambourine track on the Chesky Jazz but on steroids.
Audiophile Speaker Setup (HD Tracks -- See pic) -- Has a bunch of individual instrument tracks to check how each frequency band sounds. The really nice thing is that there is a soundstage map for each of the songs that is recorded so you know both left to right and front to back where each instrument should be placed. The music ranges from solo to two, three, four instruments and more.

I have moved most of the stuff I use to my aurender. But someday I should consolidate all the good stuff onto a single burned CD.

~Todd