antennaguru
Senior Member
I thought that it would be helpful for those that care about Stereo Imaging to start a thread listing some recordings that can demonstrate clear Stereo Imaging. Those that don't care shouldn't be bothered to read any further. These tracks can be listened to for pure enjoyment assuming one likes the music, and/or can be used to compare the Stereo Imaging between different audio components (e.g., loudspeakers, electronics).
1. Image Depth:
a. Dire Straits - Album: Love Over Gold. Track: Private Investigations - at 5:42 into this track there is the sound of a glass breaking. It should be deep in the left corner of the soundstage and the transparency of the system can in some cases allow you to hear that the wineglass breaks on its initial impact and then larger pieces then break further into smaller pieces. This is apparent on the LP, CD, and SACD.
b. Opus3 various artists - Album: Depth of Image. Many tracks display natural imaging due to the simple "figure of eight" dual microphones that were used, with minimal post-processing. However, the Track: Tiden bara gar has the lead singer, Therese Juel, presented center stage and a little ahead of the plane of the speakers. It was released on LP, CD, and then SACD as Test-records 1,2,3 which are all really "sampler albums" for many of the artists on the Opus3 label.
2. Image Left to Right Placement:
a. Michael Tilson Thomas conducting The Cleveland Orchestra - Carmina Burana. On the LP side 2 and on the CD/SACD the tracks titled "In Taberna" present individual singers and instruments as well as a Chorus of voices from left to right. Played over highly transparent systems the voices all can be localized individually.
b. IsoMike Tests 2006. This SACD was produced to explore a unique microphone array using specially placed microphones isolated with absorption panels to present clear imaging. Again in the Chorus pieces the voices across the stage from left to right can all be localized individually. At 4:10 into Track 7 the singing breaks into Tap Dancing, which is differentiated not only by left to right, but as coming from the floor below the voices. There are a number of IsoMike recordings using this unique microphone array, and more details are via the link below:
3: Image Height:
a. Pepe Romero - Flamenco (LIM XRCD) - Tracks 9 and 13 have Flamenco guitar playing and singing accompanied by dancing. The dancer wears thick heeled dancing shoes and uses a stomping action for percussion plus has clacking castanets overhead. With all of these elements of Flamenco music there is an image height differential. You can hear the voices and guitar playing from the expected height, and should hear the dancing shoes from the floor and the clacking of the castanets overhead.
b. Felipe de la Rosa - M&K Flamenco Fever - Track: Llorna. This is again Flamenco music with the same vertical imaging cues as indicated above.
Since the M&K record is Direct to Disk and rare it can be expensive, so this track also appears on the more widely available and less expensive promotional album produced by TELDEC for Ohm Loudspeakers to showcase the imaging abilities of their products. The back cover of the record jacket highlights what imaging cues should be evident in all of the tracks on this album:
This is only a small sample of what's out there that is known to image clearly and reliably, to get the ball rolling. Please add any recordings you think also image clearly and reliably to this thread! That way this thread can be used as a reference for examples of Stereo Imaging.
1. Image Depth:
a. Dire Straits - Album: Love Over Gold. Track: Private Investigations - at 5:42 into this track there is the sound of a glass breaking. It should be deep in the left corner of the soundstage and the transparency of the system can in some cases allow you to hear that the wineglass breaks on its initial impact and then larger pieces then break further into smaller pieces. This is apparent on the LP, CD, and SACD.
b. Opus3 various artists - Album: Depth of Image. Many tracks display natural imaging due to the simple "figure of eight" dual microphones that were used, with minimal post-processing. However, the Track: Tiden bara gar has the lead singer, Therese Juel, presented center stage and a little ahead of the plane of the speakers. It was released on LP, CD, and then SACD as Test-records 1,2,3 which are all really "sampler albums" for many of the artists on the Opus3 label.
2. Image Left to Right Placement:
a. Michael Tilson Thomas conducting The Cleveland Orchestra - Carmina Burana. On the LP side 2 and on the CD/SACD the tracks titled "In Taberna" present individual singers and instruments as well as a Chorus of voices from left to right. Played over highly transparent systems the voices all can be localized individually.
b. IsoMike Tests 2006. This SACD was produced to explore a unique microphone array using specially placed microphones isolated with absorption panels to present clear imaging. Again in the Chorus pieces the voices across the stage from left to right can all be localized individually. At 4:10 into Track 7 the singing breaks into Tap Dancing, which is differentiated not only by left to right, but as coming from the floor below the voices. There are a number of IsoMike recordings using this unique microphone array, and more details are via the link below:
3: Image Height:
a. Pepe Romero - Flamenco (LIM XRCD) - Tracks 9 and 13 have Flamenco guitar playing and singing accompanied by dancing. The dancer wears thick heeled dancing shoes and uses a stomping action for percussion plus has clacking castanets overhead. With all of these elements of Flamenco music there is an image height differential. You can hear the voices and guitar playing from the expected height, and should hear the dancing shoes from the floor and the clacking of the castanets overhead.
b. Felipe de la Rosa - M&K Flamenco Fever - Track: Llorna. This is again Flamenco music with the same vertical imaging cues as indicated above.
Since the M&K record is Direct to Disk and rare it can be expensive, so this track also appears on the more widely available and less expensive promotional album produced by TELDEC for Ohm Loudspeakers to showcase the imaging abilities of their products. The back cover of the record jacket highlights what imaging cues should be evident in all of the tracks on this album:
This is only a small sample of what's out there that is known to image clearly and reliably, to get the ball rolling. Please add any recordings you think also image clearly and reliably to this thread! That way this thread can be used as a reference for examples of Stereo Imaging.
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