GM Audio Engineers list top 10 songs for testing your car's stereo

Jstas
Jstas Posts: 14,820
edited September 2010 in Car Audio & Electronics
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/09/audio-engineers-10-songs-to-test-any-car-sound-system/1
From the article:

Here are Kirsch's "10 Songs for an Audio Test Drive" and what he says to listen for in each track:

1. "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones. Listen for Norah's voice to sound natural, and centered in front of you.
2. "Diamonds and Rust" by Joan Baez. Listen for strong vocals, and for the instruments to be set across a wide sound stage
3. "No One" by Alicia Keys. Listen for clarity in Alicia's vocals and spacious background sound.
4. "Hotel California" by the Eagles. Listen for the clarity and dynamic range during the opening guitar solo, and of course the powerful drum beat.
5. "Boom Boom Pow"by the Black Eyed Peas. Listen for powerful, accurate bass beats, even at full volume.
6. "Rock that Body"by the Black Eyed Peas. Listen clear, intelligible lyrics over the powerful, persistent bass beat.
7. "Hide and Seek"by Imogen Heap. Listen for the enveloping ambience of the song, building on the openness and dynamic vocals.
8. "He Mele No Lilo" by Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu from Lilo and Stitch.Listen for the ambience and staging as the children's chorus is offset by powerful bass.
9. "Bird on a Wire" by Johnny Cash. Listen for the clarity in Johnny's distinctive voice, and his guitar to sound natural and free of any coloration.
10. "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box"by Radiohead. Listen for the punch from the percussive bass, and the ring of the steel drums.


I dunno if I agree with all of that.
Expert Moron Extraordinaire

You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you!
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Comments

  • nooshinjohn
    nooshinjohn Posts: 25,408
    edited September 2010
    Now I know why they can't build a car worth a shiznit... They are to busy listening to music.
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  • StephSte
    StephSte Posts: 5
    edited September 2010
    Have you put the tape into another tape player to see if it does the same thing?
    Could be a problem with the tape mechanism as the little wheels spin.
    Doubt it has anything to do directly with the tape player and definitely not the head as that doesn't move.
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  • arun1963
    arun1963 Posts: 1,797
    edited September 2010
    Jstas wrote: »
    [url]

    From the article:

    Here are Kirsch's "10 Songs for an Audio Test Drive" and what he says to listen for in each track:

    1. "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones. Listen for Norah's voice to sound natural, and centered in front of you.

    4. "Hotel California" by the Eagles. Listen for the clarity and dynamic range during the opening guitar solo, and of course the powerful drum beat.

    7. "Hide and Seek"by Imogen Heap. Listen for the enveloping ambience of the song, building on the openness and dynamic vocals.

    I dunno if I agree with all of that.[/url]

    Dunno about all either, but these I agree with.

    1. Norah Jones - Good voice. Norah stands on the dash with her head at the rear view mirror. The instruments on this song are spaced out a bit, hence great stage width and excellent contrast between light (where there is sound) and dark (silence) across your stage. If your eq is out for L/R at any frequency, you will hear the smearing on this song. Norah is nice but I'm surprised singers like Rebecca Pidgeon or Diana Krall didn't makle to the list ahead of Black Eyed Peas and Radio Head or even Norah herself. :)

    2. Eagles - Yeah!!! I love this group. A bunch of old fogies like me.....a bit older though :p. This song is perhaps as much of a reference tune in the sq lanes as is 'Spanish Harlem'. Imho, the best rendition of this song is on the 'Hell Freezes Over' album. Watch the video on utube and then listen to the song in your car. Does it image up exactly like the live stage? Amazingly well recorded album. 'I can't tell you why' and

    <object width="480" height="358"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/xihkf?additionalInfos=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/video/xihkf?additionalInfos=0&quot; width="480" height="358" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always"></embed></object><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xihkf_hotel-california-the-eagles_news">Hotel California- The Eagles</a></b><br /><i>Uploaded by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/dream_ks">dream_ks</a>. - <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/in/channel/news">Up-to-the minute news videos.</a></i>

    3. Immogen Heap - She's a British singer with mind blowing upper end extension. The album 'Hide and Seek' is a great one to tune your 5khz+ range, thanks to her voice.

    This song is in the Acapella genre so its pure vocal with little or no instrumentation. Plus, parts of the song are recorded via a harmonizer which gives the song a layered feel. The song goes back and forth between natural and harmonizer mode. I played this song on a buddy's excellent 2ch and we sat and counted the layers. Got to 22. Did the same in the car and got to 16 :mad: :o
    DSkip wrote: »
    Bad music at that.

    Music is music. There's well recorded and poorly recorded music. Thats all.....;) BTW MJ and Madonna inspite of being the ultimate kitch, have some amazing recordings.
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  • Midnite Mick
    Midnite Mick Posts: 1,591
    edited September 2010
    Weird article as I just bought a 2010 extended cab Silverado and it has the worst audio sound of any vehicle I have been in over the last 20 years. Ironically, one of the best basic factory audio system I have heard was in a 91 regular cab S10.
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  • MacLeod
    MacLeod Posts: 14,358
    edited September 2010
    I agree with most of those. Kinda surprises me that GM actually tests their stereo's. I always thought they just threw some crap speakers in after everything else was built and called it a day.

    I had to drive a Toyota Corolla while my Edge was in the shop a couple months ago and that thing had almost dead center imaging. Kinda cool. Kinda thinking about trading in the wifes old Mazda on one and let her drive the new Edge. Then I could make the Corolla over as a kick **** competition ride. Would be nice to be able to build a competition system without having to worry about room for luggage, baby strollers, groceries and other daily driving concerns.
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  • VR3
    VR3 Posts: 28,639
    edited September 2010
    Sounds like neodymium magnets
    - Not Tom ::::::: Any system can play Diana Krall. Only the best can play Limp Bizkit.
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  • MacLeod
    MacLeod Posts: 14,358
    edited September 2010
    The Corolla has speakers in the door panels at the bottom and as far forward as you can get. Since its such a small car, the path length difference between left and right is pretty small. It wouldnt take a whole lot of EQ'ing to get those things sounding pretty good in stock locations.
    polkaudio sound quality competitor since 2005
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    08 Car Audio Nationals 1st ~ 07 N Georgia Nationals 1st ~ 06 Carl Casper Nationals 1st ~ USACi 05 Southeast AutumnFest 1st

    polkaudio SR6500 --- polkaudio MM1040 x2 -- Pioneer P99 -- Rockford Fosgate P1000X5D
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  • arun1963
    arun1963 Posts: 1,797
    edited September 2010
    MacLeod wrote: »
    I agree with most of those. Kinda surprises me that GM actually tests their stereo's. I always thought they just threw some crap speakers in after everything else was built and called it a day.

    You mean kinda like Ford who placed the driver side mid to fire directly into the steering column 10" from the speakers location. :mad::p:D
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