What is your speaker test song?

darkzrobe had a video to watch said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 12:07am ET

When I worked in a refurbisher of all things you plugged in I needed a test song to play on speakers to make sure they sound functional.

This became my test song:

If I Apologised from the movie "Mirrormask"

Do you guys have a test song?

Bonus:
My test video for every AV/Home Theater Setup has always been fifth element, I bet you can guess which scene.

37 comments, 13 replies
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bobby_drk said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 12:20am ET:

Glitch Mob - Seven Nation Army cover.

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InnocuousFarmer said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 12:20am ET:

I’d just listen to different songs that I liked and see if they sounded like emotions. If they sounded like a cheap TV instead, all boomy like plastic, or if they were bland and uninteresting, I’d know the speakers were broken or worthless.

Maybe a good microphone of some kind and white noise? And then some kind of spectrum analyzer graph software thingy?

/giphy twilek

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- @InnocuousFarmer Meh the company was too cheap to buy anything. And usually we were just checking to see if stuff was blown.
  
  darkzrobe said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 12:34am ET
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awk said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 12:42am ET:

It’s been a while since I’ve done this, but almost always a deadmau5 track (such as Strobe) in a lossless format. His mixing is some of the best in electronic/EDM/whatever.

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- @awk I like his stuff. Some Chords is dangerous for me while driving as I forget speed limits.
  
  darkzrobe said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 8:38am ET
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BuddTX said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 12:52am ET:

Anything from Dire Straits, of course!

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- @BuddTX Meh’ney for nothin’ and your clicks fer free.
  
  huja said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 11:20am ET
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BuddTX said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 12:53am ET:

Fanfare for the Common Man

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- @BuddTX That’s almost perfect. Nice dynamic range, percussion, brass, what more do you need out of a speaker?
  
  themutilator said Thu, Aug 3rd 2017 at 10:42am ET
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daveinwarsh said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 1:01am ET:

Well, I inverted a woofer in one of my AR3a speakers in the early 70’s playing ELP ‘Tank’. LOL…

But really, for just hearing how the music balances out takes a few songs.
Maybe include SRV ‘Tin Pan Alley’?

Of course, I mostly play my albums or at least a lossless format of music.

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BuddTX said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 1:18am ET:

I once played Black Sabbath at 78 speed.
What happened?
I saw God!

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- @BuddTX DON’T try that backwards!
  
  G1 said Fri, Aug 4th 2017 at 1:25am ET
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djslack said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 1:22am ET:

In the 90’s it was always Flashdance.
/youtube irene cara flashdance

Now it’s whatever is handy. I have the Girl Talk albums loaded on my phone so a lot of times it’s that.
/youtube girl talk feed the animals

Oh yeah that’s very NSFW

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2many2no said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 2:16am ET:

/youtube Mars Bringer of War

I have the CD, lots of tympani.

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- @2many2no My high school orchestra played that. Jupiter too.
  
  sammydog01 said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 10:12am ET
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- @2many2no @sammydog01 Even though I’m primarily a jazz listener, and I studied saxophone for years, that entire suite is one of my favorite pieces of music.
  
  luvche21 said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 4:23pm ET
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RiotDemon said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 2:48am ET:

/youtube dj magic Mike drop the bass

And then any random helping of metal.

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moondrake said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 2:50am ET:

Also Sprach Zarathustra, aka the theme music from 2001. When we were kids we used to blow out my dad’s speakers with that LP.

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- @moondrake Excellent choice. The Interstellar and inception soundtracks are also excellent testing music.
  
  j8048188 said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 3:27am ET
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j8048188 said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 3:23am ET:

/youtube stolen dance milky chance

Has bass, guitar, and vocals. Well-rounded song to test with.

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lichme said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 8:40am ET:

If I’m testing out for speaker quality, I go with this:

(Sorry, didn’t post the NSFW video)

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DrWorm said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 9:21am ET:

“Dumbshit, Summer’s Almost Gone”

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- @DrWorm Preferably Celine Dion’s cover
  
  huja said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 10:49pm ET
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SSteve said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 10:07am ET:

Flaming Lips, “A Spoonful Weighs a Ton.” When the synth kicks in at 1:24 I can tell whether or not the subwoofer is working.

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wiffleboy said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 1:18pm ET:

Peter Gabriel “Growing Up”. This song has everything so you can really test the limits of your speaker.
Growing Up

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BuddTX said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 1:31pm ET:

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BuddTX said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 1:32pm ET:

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BuddTX said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 1:34pm ET:

Oh, this is one of my favorites! Listen to the cymbals and triangle!

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BuddTX said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 1:36pm ET:

For a cover, parody song, the music is EXCELLENT!

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BuddTX said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 1:39pm ET:

Oh wait, that was the REAL song, here is the parody:

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BuddTX said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 1:42pm ET:

OK two more:

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BuddTX said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 1:43pm ET:

skip to :45 to go right to the music

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darkzrobe said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 3:57pm ET:

@BuddTX You seem to have a lot of videos there… You also in the business of testing things?

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daveinwarsh said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 4:06pm ET:

Jim Kweskin!

Earl Scruggs & Lester Flatt?

Just pop Pink Floyd DSOTM on the turntable. Lots of highs, bass, voices & synth.

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- @daveinwarsh
  yup, “Time” is my go to
  
  dickie541 said Fri, Aug 4th 2017 at 1:20am ET
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medz said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 4:18pm ET:

fifth element scene?
/youtube leeloo in the tube

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brhfl said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 5:04pm ET:
I went to reference a blog post I made regarding a playlist for day one with the turntable that currently lives in my system, but I realized most of what was in that list had very little to do with testing from a technical standpoint, and everything to do with familiarity - music I just really wanted to hear spit out by new equipment. I think that is part of a good test… you want some technical challenges, but you also want music you know very intimately. Maybe you’ll hear something new. Maybe something will be missing, that you wouldn’t pick up on a less familiar track. I guess a 10-track testing playlist I would aim for now would be something like (in no order)…
- “Gullesol (Sweet Golden Sun)”, Susanne Rosenberg et al.
- Tormis: “Laivassa lauletaan (Singing Aboard Ship)”, Tõnu Kaljuste: Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir
- Pärt: “Tabula Rasa”, Yuli Turovsky: I Musici de Montréal
- Reich: “Music for Mallet Instruments, Voices, and Organ”, Alarm Will Sound
- Lang: “The Little Match Girl Passion”, Paul Hillier: Theatre of Voices
- “Wetlands”, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
- “Emmeleia”, Dead Can Dance
- “Phaedra”, Tangerine Dream
- “Pine”, ilyAIMY
- “Monkey & Bear”, Joanna Newsom
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duodec said Wed, Aug 2nd 2017 at 11:27pm ET:

I can’t find it right now but we once bought a movie on DVD, and it came with a Dolby test suite on it that was capable of testing either a 5 or 7 channel setup, with different frequency tests, balancing tones, ascending and descending tones and chords, etc. It was really impressive and actually was more memorable than the movie (since I can’t remember which movie disk it is on…).

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hems79 said Thu, Aug 3rd 2017 at 12:01am ET:

Beck - Que Onda Guero

Metallica - And Justice for All

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Moose said Thu, Aug 3rd 2017 at 4:38pm ET:

I get the feeling that a lot of these songs aren’t really for testing speakers.

If I’m testing bass, then the answer is easy:

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- @Moose needs more
  /youtube bass sweep test
  
  medz said Thu, Aug 3rd 2017 at 5:10pm ET
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- @Moose Shreveport represent! I cannot confirm Hurricane Chris’ oft-stated assertion that the white folks holler “a bay bay” along with the gangstas and the thugs.
  
  I’ve never actually watched that video. I see that Ms. Peachez Getto BBQ bus makes a cameo. I use her song to test the speaker in my combination speaker and grill.
  
  /youtube fry that chicken
  
  djslack said Fri, Aug 4th 2017 at 3:14am ET
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G1 said Fri, Aug 4th 2017 at 1:31am ET:

This will get to the limits of the speaker rather quickly.

/youtube thunderstruck

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medz said Fri, Aug 4th 2017 at 9:35am ET:

/youtube fried or fertilized

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medz said Fri, Aug 4th 2017 at 9:42am ET:

/youtube magic carpet ride

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curtise said Sun, Aug 6th 2017 at 3:20pm ET:

This is my goto for all speaker/headphone testings. William Orbit’s Water from a vine leaf. It really shows off stereo separation, and has some high highs, lots of low lows, and some strong mids that really do a good job of letting you know whether the sound is full.

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- @curtise Ooo that was a fun song.
  
  darkzrobe said Sun, Aug 6th 2017 at 11:00pm ET
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medz said Sat, Aug 12th 2017 at 11:08pm ET:

/youtube no mediocre

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jbartus said Sat, Aug 12th 2017 at 11:54pm ET:

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UncleVinny said Sun, Aug 13th 2017 at 1:15am ET:

This all reminds me of a song about cars that go Boom:

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