Do You Have “Go-TO” Songs For Tuning Your Stereo?

[biggripper]

I’ve been following the Ideal Settings For HK thread and it got me curious about what favorite tracks other people use when trying to dial in their stereo.

I’ll most likely start with the settings recommended by Lincoln30 since they are born of the most objective methodology amongst when compared to the recommendations offered by others. I’ll tweak to taste from there.

Anyway, with all that said I definitely have some favorite “go to” tracks that I use to demo stereos and dial in my sound as much as possible to my personal taste. I tend to use tracks that I’m thoroughly familiar with and I tend to use tracks that cover a variety of genres and varying sonic styles.

Here’s the tracks that I’ll turn to first when I take delivery of my F82 in August:

1. Another Brick In The Wall (Part 1) - Pink Floyd
2. Good Times Bad Times - Led Zeppelin
3. Tom Sawyer - Rush
4. Lines In The Sand - Dream Theater
5. Hotel California - The Eagles
6. Wishful Thinking - Wilco
7. Hate It Here - Wilco
8. Datura - Tori Amos
9. Pantala Naga Pampa/Rapunzel - Dave Matthews Band
10. No Way - Pearl Jam
11. Porno - Arcade Fire
12. Rococo - Arcade Fire
13. Last Living Souls - Gorillaz
14. 1976 - RJD2
15. Thank You - Jay-Z
16. Devil In A New Dress - Kanye West
17. No One - Alicia Keys
18. Don’t Know Why - Norah Jones
19. Giant Steps - John Coltrane
20. Autumn Leaves - Cannonball Adderley (feat. Miles Davis, Hank Jones, Sam Jones & Art Blakey)

[RocketBoots]

I think you're on the right track using songs you know well. The amount of "tuning" afforded by the HK system is so lacking compared to a real DSP. There are a number of tuning discs out there; Focal, Autosound, I'm sure EMMA has some; but those are more for systems that have the capability to time align, phase adjust, level adjust, para-EQ, etc.

[BMWJ]

Haven't purchased my F8x yet. But my go to for tuning has always been a Pantera album, usually Vulgar Display of Power or Far Beyond Driven, and not in a compressed form. It has a good range, and between the kick drum and very guitar driven sound it's a great start for any of my favorite styles of music where I care most about tuning of system.

[biggripper]

I’ll probably tinker with mine for a short while but I’m 99% sure I’ll be doing MUSICARNW sub system. I need to feel that kick drum rattling my spine.

[Vectors2final]

I was looking for a random place to put his without starting a new thread, but have some of you experienced an issue streaming Pandora?

Whenever I stream, it sounds like the speakers are only playing through the front, EQ sounds different, but settings haven't changed. Almost like it is down on power. I've tried messing with the phone volume as well, but without results.

I haven't had a lot of time to thumb thumb through the manual, so tips would be welcome.


Sorry for the thread jack.

[biggripper]

I don’t have my car yet so I have no experience presently.

[Robotechnology]

My number one demo for audio systems is:

Al DiMeola "Kiss My Axe"

The Embrace is the best all around demo song on the CD but, half of the songs on this CD are great for demo purposes (and are also great music if you are a fusion and/or guitar fan). The low end content of "The Embrace" is AMAZING! Your sound system will either cry or sing during playback.

[Mr. Hankey]

Originally Posted by biggripper

I’ve been following the Ideal Settings For HK thread and it got me curious about what favorite tracks other people use when trying to dial in their stereo.

I’ll most likely start with the settings recommended by Lincoln30 since they are born of the most objective methodology amongst when compared to the recommendations offered by others. I’ll tweak to taste from there.

Anyway, with all that said I definitely have some favorite “go to” tracks that I use to demo stereos and dial in my sound as much as possible to my personal taste. I tend to use tracks that I’m thoroughly familiar with and I tend to use tracks that cover a variety of genres and varying sonic styles.

Here’s the tracks that I’ll turn to first when I take delivery of my F82 in August:

1. Another Brick In The Wall (Part 1) - Pink Floyd
2. Good Times Bad Times - Led Zeppelin
3. Tom Sawyer - Rush
4. Lines In The Sand - Dream Theater
5. Hotel California - The Eagles
6. Wishful Thinking - Wilco
7. Hate It Here - Wilco
8. Datura - Tori Amos
9. Pantala Naga Pampa/Rapunzel - Dave Matthews Band
10. No Way - Pearl Jam
11. Porno - Arcade Fire
12. Rococo - Arcade Fire
13. Last Living Souls - Gorillaz
14. 1976 - RJD2
15. Thank You - Jay-Z
16. Devil In A New Dress - Kanye West
17. No One - Alicia Keys
18. Don’t Know Why - Norah Jones
19. Giant Steps - John Coltrane
20. Autumn Leaves - Cannonball Adderley (feat. Miles Davis, Hank Jones, Sam Jones & Art Blakey)

Great list! Like others said it has more to do with music you already know from listening to other sources (ie home stereo), so play the best sampling (preferably cd) of what you normally listen to and dial in based on that. Lincoln30's settings are spot on for a starting point. I have done my fair share of competition car stereo as well and feel HK is well balanced for the power it has, but it needs more power!

I would add to your list:
1. Eagles Hotel California - Live Hell freezes over tour (great recording)
2. Urgent - Foreigner (good for dynamic range when baseline starts)
3. Silver spring - Fleetwood Mac "the dance" album (live recording). Great for highs. There are also some other great songs for tuning on that album.
4. Lightning Crashes - Live. Good for highs, and lows when bass guitar starts so there's a nice place to get dynamic range tuned. Then toward the end there's a lot of guitar that will make the song muddy if you have too much midrange.

Oh god I can go on...

In the end I find that the audio of the HK system sucks because I enjoy the sound of the car so much I turn down the radio and keep a window cracked at all times...the nuance of the sound is lost on me on the F80 and I love it.

The exhaust noise with my valve open mod and wind from window open make the radio difficult to hear. With the car off and listening to the radio only in the garage it's a very solid system and I'm pretty anal about sound (that's a lot of bass for a 1/4 inch speaker ), and have no desire to upgrade components. It would take at least $2K to really make this system sound great. But it's very good, and I'm happy with it. Much more tunable for a "stock" installed radio than most car manufacturers.

Sorry I keep editing...what I love so much about this car...then you roll up the window and put it in efficient so the exhaust valves close and it turns from roaring beast to normal car, and you can hear the HK system and the details in the music, and it's great! Bet you can't wait to get your car!

[Vectors2final]

Originally Posted by biggripper

I don’t have my car yet so I have no experience presently.

I kinda figured it out... but not really. Ithe worked up until yesterday, then it went back to the front sound. I restarted my phone and it seemed to do the trick. I'd love to get a new phone, but the Note 5 doesn't come till October.

Originally Posted by Robotechnology

My number one demo for audio systems is:

Al DiMeola "Kiss My Axe"

The Embrace is the best all around demo song on the CD but, half of the songs on this CD are great for demo purposes (and are also great music if you are a fusion and/or guitar fan). The low end content of "The Embrace" is AMAZING! Your sound system will either cry or sing during playback.

I'd recommend AL DiMeola to anyone who has any interest in guitars.

I have just about all those you listed on FLAC, rhk118

[biggripper]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! I’ll look for those tracks to add to my list.

[Mr. Hankey]

Also once you've had the car for about a month go back and re-tune the stereo. Once the speakers burn in they get more efficient and you'll probably find it to be a bit too tinny and need the mid-range adjusted...I figure a month is about 10 hours of playing time for the average person...if you are driving more then they'll break in sooner. Sound doesn't really change *that* much with burn in but my readjusted settings did change a bit.