SDA Playlist

emotiva!

The best one I have found so far is Madonna "Vogue" It separates so severely it is unnerving. Her voice in the intro is 10 feet to the right of the right speaker. the rest of the song is a splendid crossing of sounds far lft to far right and front to back. I've had folks point to sounds with eyes closed and it never fails to amaze them when their eyes open and they are pointing to the wall 10 feet away from a speaker. Have to hear it to believe the distance that can be achieved from a properly set up pair of sda's. My Kappa 9's do the same but not quite the distance and separation. (close though) Try it, you will hear the same!

SpiderMan1

What do you mean ?

musky1963

Yello has amazing recordings. Very dynamic.

musky1963

Another good one is Mickey Hart-Planet Drum.

quadzilla

I started a google docs project to get all this onto one page, because, frankly, it's a PITA going through the entire thread to find all the recommendations. It's open to editing by anyone with the link. And the link is... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Apz4Elg1rTmcdGpxZGZIN1VFZk1URFZCRkdxYXVNanc

chumlie

Great idea.

quadzilla

I'm taking a bit of liberty with this. In the "individual tracks" listing, anything listed as "many tracks" is getting moved to the album recommendations, as I'm familiar with several of the albums already listed, and not every track on some of those albums shows off the SDA effect. I'll do another update when I've gotten through the entire thread. I'm also adding a few of my own, like L.A. Woman by the Doors.

headrott

Great idea in compiling the SDA playlist. Thanks Rob for the effort.

Greg

evhudsons

Thanks Quad, that is super cool!

I'm checking to make sure I have everything on the list so far.

quadzilla

nnnnnnnggggg.... all the posts with just a track name are filling me with an almost uncontrollable urge to find the poster and beat them to death with a fence post. That's why this is taking so long... finding the album some of these tracks are associated with takes a while.

headrott

We can definately add Roxy Music - Avalon to the SDA list. The whole album is spectacular on SDA's, but especially the song India. It is very well recorded as well. Not to mention the album is extremely good. Please add this one Rob.

Greg

quadzilla

headrott wrote: »

We can definately add Roxy Music - Avalon to the SDA list. The whole album is spectacular on SDA's, but especially the song India. It is very well recorded as well. Not to mention the album is extremely good. Please add this one Rob.

Greg

Anyone with the link can edit the file. I make backups about once a week in case someone does something either dumb or just plain naughty.

I've gotten a bit more done, but a huge list of nothing but artists/tracks is taking as much as an hour to hunt down the album for some of those. And some appear to have only been released as singles, but might appear on a "best of" or other album. So it is what it is. Feel free to pull any track listed as "released as single" and let me know if you have better luck than I did. Or I might come back to some of those after I get through the entire list.

bmbguy

'New' SDA-2a owner here - less than 48 hours. I knew little to nothing of the SDA series a week ago, but after doing a little research, I was complete intrigued by the idea and simply couldn't pass up a great deal. And now I feel like I'm completely rediscovering my entire music collection.

On the SDA effect, I have to concur with previous posters on music like Rush - Moving Pictures, particularly on "The Camera Eye" track. Always one of my favorite lesser-known Rush tunes, it really comes alive with the SDAs.

Also concur with Yes, Close To The Edge -- all very good (of course, hey, it's Yes after all), but "Siberian Khatru" really stood out to me.

Yesterday, just on a fluke, I tossed in my Blood, Sweat and Tears Greatest Hits CD and checked out a few tracks. At first, I thought the effect on "And When I Die" was pretty darned nice, and then the track ended. Then the horn intro on the next track, "Spinning Wheel", just walked up and smacked me upside the head.

If anybody's got that old "Spinning Wheel" track, toss it in and just let those horns blow over you. Very nice.

Thanks to all for the great suggestions. This new experience of my first really "good" speakers in 50+ years of stereo listening is like being reborn. I get to start all over at the beginning...what fun!

evhudsons

Welcome to club polk!

I had the same feeling when upgrading my sda speakers. last night I was playing some good sda list music, and had to double check to make sure my surrounds weren't on because I was running it in 2 channel. It's amazing how the music comes alive to become a huge private performance just for you.

-Everett

bmbguy

If only I still had my younger, less abused ears...

- Randy

quadzilla

OK, it's all caught up. Enjoy. I'll watch the thread for new posts.

bmbguy

Added Yes "The Yes Album" to the list. Excellent SDA effects -- check out "Perpetual Change". Amazing.

bmbguy

Sorry guys, but as I said, I'm completely rediscovering my (old) music collection with these SDA speakers. A very enjoyable experience.

Any Little River Band fans out there? Add "Sleeper Catcher" to your playlist (added to master list).

TennMan

bmbguy wrote: »

Sorry guys, but as I said, I'm completely rediscovering my (old) music collection with these SDA speakers. A very enjoyable experience.

Any Little River Band fans out there? Add "Sleeper Catcher" to your playlist (added to master list).

First Under The Wire is one of my favorite albums. Wish I had it on CD $$$. I hate to wear my vinyl out.

Toolfan66

bmbguy

TennMan -- I know what you're sayin'. It was the LRB stuff and scarcity of CDs for albums like Diamantina Cocktail and First Under The Wire that got me started doing my own vinyl restoration. And listening to those things over and over on headphones while doing the restoration gave me an even greater appreciation for the music on those albums.

Another entry for the SDA list: Bonnie Raitt's Grammy-award winning album, "Nick Of Time". Superbly recorded and mixed, and sounds spectacular on SDAs. Great stuff. If "Cry On My Shoulder" on the SDAs (with Crosby/Nash on background vocals!) doesn't give you goose bumps, you ain't breathin'.

xoaphexox

'Reflection' off of Tool's Lateralus is great, but I see it was already mentioned.

colddirt

Took Shadowfax - too far to whisper to audition my 3.1's..............then Al Dimeola - kiss my axe for the home audition!

transmaster

My tastes in music are wide spread and can be a little on the strange side. What can I suggest. There is the only bright spot in the Beavis and Butthead do America Movie, Rob Zombie doing "Ratfinks, Suicide Tanks and Cannibal Girls" from his 2008 album Let Sleeping Corpses Lie. In the realm of Orchestral Metal, Nightwish, and Bless the Child, or Amaranth. Next The Art of Noise, their absolute best is The Seduction of Claude Debussy, track 3, Dreaming in Color will have your house moving on its foundations.

Now we get into stuff that will teach you what SDA was designed for. The Tallis Scholars; they perform the music of Tallis, Palestrina, Sheppard, Byrd, Henry Tudor, etc, plain chant, Madrigals, English Anthems, and especially Masses. When possible the music is performed in the original location where it was first preformed. I Have not yet owned an SDA system but I had a very expensive 5.1 Klipsch system for my PC. Listening to the Tallis Scholars with such a system with recordings that are actually in surround sound is an incredible experience. To hear Church Music written by a young King Henry Vlll in the surviving halls and Cathedrals where his music was performed in his life time, sublime. If you want to make your SDA's happy go here:

http://www.gimell.com/

you can down load the recordings in various formats, Flac is one, and for a musical religious experience with your personal 5.1 system there is Surround Sound 5.1 FLAC. The site has CD quality samples so you can at least get a taste of what you are in for.

xoaphexox

Thanks for that Gimell link! I downloaded all the test files, I'm going to have some fun doing blind A/B comparisons with friends and family!

transmaster

Xoaphexox I envy you, hearing Gimell's recordings for the first time is a religious experience. I have been a fan of Gimell's since the early 1980's.

transmaster

A great series is the Buddha Bar compilations they are up to at least 12 volumes. Soft Jazz, Euro-Trance, ambient, NewAge, World fusion, etc can all be found on these recording. One that will stand out is Mars Lasar. His National Park series; The Music of Olympic National Park, Yosemite - Valley Of The Giants, and Tahoe Spirit are beautiful tone poems. Mars Lasar has an interesting series of recordings, Baby Escapes, intended for unborn babies, and Babyscapes: Safe In Sound/New Born, music for new born babies, His soft jazz is very tasty. Mars Lasar has 51 CD releases.

boston1450

today i finally have had time to listen to my sda2 speakers. the first cd i listened to is kansas. oh my. BEAUTIFUL. very theater effects. WOW i may take the day off tomorrow n stay up all night....

transmaster

Holly Dunn, Why Wyoming, from her album Cornerstone
Why Wyoming should be Wyoming's State song.

sheathensemble

Burial - untrue . Very well done production, with a very 3 dimensional sound. The SDA effect and this album are very nice together.