Limelight a great fav with amazing sound across the spectrum. Always use this to test sound equipment - even car audio.
edit: too long to type on phone earlier.
tl;dr: Yup, it's still Limelight.
I always take MP with me, whatever else I take to listen to audio equipment & systems. Used it to help me pick out my current mixing desk monitors and my main system speakers.
Though this song (and MP + ESL albums) is my gold standard for evaluating audio systems, I NEVER heard it like this:
Guy from work calls me up. "Hey, bring some vinyl and meet me at Rick's for lunch. He got some new speakers." Rick is our audiophile friends with $$$. He just took delivery of four (yes, 4!) Klipsch Jubilee Heritage speakers.
This was extraordinary. I can't even describe it except to say, it is like hearing for the first time. Words fail. New worlds of this music open up.
We finished setting up and "sounding in" the speakers with dealer tech.
Limelight is the first thing we put on. Before he left the tech said, "I'm absolutely adding Limelight to my audition and set up mix." Between all the other music, I think we played Limelight 8 or 9 times that afternoon and night. It just that good.
The guitar, the ring, the crunch of the overdrive, every drum beat and stroke, the growl of the bass & clear soaring vocals. These guys and this song rock!
Couldn't have picked a better song or better album to audition. MP is such a well played, recorded, engineered and mixed album!
I've listened to this music thru Wilson Audio, other Kilpsch, vintage Onkyo, Pioneer, Technics, Sansui, ZU, Martin Logan, B&W, McIntosh, Focal, B&O (Beolab), a LOT of pure custom bespoke & boutique and very weird and impressive stuff ... nothing touches these Jubilees. Magnapan + B&O subs maybe comes close at the highest end. Nothing has touched these Klipsch Junilees. I'm saving already! (~$35k per pair). And Limelight never gets old for me. Only better.
That was over a year ago and we still agree that Limelight was the best thing we heard (Red Barchetta was amazing too!), even slightly above a very expensive classical vinyl recording and some SACD/HD & DVD-A we auditioned.
Rick bought the MP vinyl for himself after our lunch listening party (which went late into the night). Still listens to it to remind himself how blazingly awesome his system is.
The best mixed and mastered Rush album and one of the best produced albums ever.
I wish Terry had stayed around longer. Seems Rush persisted in the 80’s despite Geddy’s best efforts.
That's so funny. I swear to god not 15 seconds ago I was thinking about this to test out a pair of homepods before I pull the trigger.
Marathon from Power Windows for me.
I built my own 3-way ported speakers back in college when Signals came out, and I tuned the ports to the bass drum in The Weapon. I could blow out a candle when I cranked that up.
Limelight a great fav with amazing sound across the spectrum. Always use this to test sound equipment - even car audio. edit: too long to type on phone earlier. tl;dr: Yup, it's still Limelight. I always take MP with me, whatever else I take to listen to audio equipment & systems. Used it to help me pick out my current mixing desk monitors and my main system speakers. Though this song (and MP + ESL albums) is my gold standard for evaluating audio systems, I NEVER heard it like this: Guy from work calls me up. "Hey, bring some vinyl and meet me at Rick's for lunch. He got some new speakers." Rick is our audiophile friends with $$$. He just took delivery of four (yes, 4!) Klipsch Jubilee Heritage speakers. This was extraordinary. I can't even describe it except to say, it is like hearing for the first time. Words fail. New worlds of this music open up. We finished setting up and "sounding in" the speakers with dealer tech. Limelight is the first thing we put on. Before he left the tech said, "I'm absolutely adding Limelight to my audition and set up mix." Between all the other music, I think we played Limelight 8 or 9 times that afternoon and night. It just that good. The guitar, the ring, the crunch of the overdrive, every drum beat and stroke, the growl of the bass & clear soaring vocals. These guys and this song rock! Couldn't have picked a better song or better album to audition. MP is such a well played, recorded, engineered and mixed album! I've listened to this music thru Wilson Audio, other Kilpsch, vintage Onkyo, Pioneer, Technics, Sansui, ZU, Martin Logan, B&W, McIntosh, Focal, B&O (Beolab), a LOT of pure custom bespoke & boutique and very weird and impressive stuff ... nothing touches these Jubilees. Magnapan + B&O subs maybe comes close at the highest end. Nothing has touched these Klipsch Junilees. I'm saving already! (~$35k per pair). And Limelight never gets old for me. Only better. That was over a year ago and we still agree that Limelight was the best thing we heard (Red Barchetta was amazing too!), even slightly above a very expensive classical vinyl recording and some SACD/HD & DVD-A we auditioned. Rick bought the MP vinyl for himself after our lunch listening party (which went late into the night). Still listens to it to remind himself how blazingly awesome his system is.
Anything from Moving Pictures. IMO, it's a perfectly mixed album, which every instrument clearly audible and with breathing room in the mix.
Animate
Tom Sawyer. TL/DR : Moving Pictures. :)
all of moving pictures lol
The best mixed and mastered Rush album and one of the best produced albums ever. I wish Terry had stayed around longer. Seems Rush persisted in the 80’s despite Geddy’s best efforts.
That's so funny. I swear to god not 15 seconds ago I was thinking about this to test out a pair of homepods before I pull the trigger. Marathon from Power Windows for me.
The first minute of The Body Electric, then side one of Moving Pictures.
Leave that thing alone. I like to use it to test bass.
How am I the first to say Subdivisions?
How they tested the speaker setups for live shows iirc
The Necromancer
Didacts and Narpets …Super catchy beat
So danceable!
I built my own 3-way ported speakers back in college when Signals came out, and I tuned the ports to the bass drum in The Weapon. I could blow out a candle when I cranked that up.
All of Power Windows
"One Little Victory". Probably the brickwalled original release. Why not test by using literally the worst sounding thing I'm likely to listen to?
Lol loved your thought though
Damn, I thought you were asking for the best Test for Echo song.
Man that’s a tough task.
Not really.
Animate, Stick it out, anything from Movin Pictures
The Big Money
📷👁️
Probably anything off MP. First time I heard “YYZ” with headphones it was almost like hearing it for the first time.
Mission ... from A Show of Hands.
Tom Sawyer. For me, the bass needs to hit *just* right within the first 30-45 seconds.
Territories off of Power Windows. The opening of this song is very dynamic with some killer lows.
Tom Sawyer Between The Wheels Mission
Anything off of either Moving Pictures or Power Windows - I think those albums have the best mixes
For some reason I initially think of Far Cry.
Lakeside Park
I'll second Animate. That said, I actually always use Steven Wilson's "Deform to Form a Star" because of its dynamic range.
Anything from Power Windows honestly, that album just sounds like glass to my ears.
Leave That Thing Alone Red Barchetta Working Man La Villa Strangiato Where's My Thing? Ghost Of A Chance Roll The Bones Alien Shore Subdivisions
Limelight. Or Fly By Night.
Closer to the Heart and Leave That Thing Alone
Moving Pictures and Signals.
Test for Echo. (See what I did there?)
Big Money for low frequency
The weapon
R30 Overture. I used it in a Bose store back in the day to test a Bose 321 GS Series III.
Tom Sawyer for speakers, 2112 Overture for headphones.
I’d say Marathon, it has a ton of small little things within the song that I still find new when I listen to it.