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Speaker Destroying Playlist

Prestochango

Prestochango

Member
Browsing through my music selection, I always come across a few songs that I have to turn the volume down before cuing them up... fear of having a speaker driver fire at me like a projectile. What are you all time speaker destroying tunes? I'll start with...

These New Puritans - "Hidden" (almost every song on this cd is a dynamic freight-train from hell)
 
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There is a drum solo on one cut on the second side of Emerson Lake and Palmer "ELP" that is a real killer. I think the song is "Tank." My friends and I used to use it to test speakers.
Also the first cut of Pink Floyd's "The Wall" is good. It took out a woofer in my old AR 1's. Of course it was probably close to 40 years old...
 
I can think of a number of tracks in my music collection that can destroy speakers if you are not careful with the volume. Three notable ones are:

"Indus" on the album Spiritchaser, by Dead Can Dance.

"Gather" on the album Kin, by Sounds From The Ground.

The first 30 seconds of the track "The Infernal Dance of Kastchei's Subjects", by composer Igor Stravinsky, on the Sheffield Labs Firebird Suite CD. Whether you like classical music or not, this is an impressive, visceral piece.

Here are two sample tracks I've posted on YouTube:

"Gather"

"The Infernal Dance of Kastchei's Subjects" 1:00
 
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Fresh Aire
Mannheim Steamroller
Chocolate Fudge
1975 MoFi

Remember the "brown sound" of South Park fame?

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That's it ...

Goodie ... found a link to an MP3 sample:

http://www.soundunwound.com/music/mannheim-steamroller/fresh-aire/924743
 
There's a Digital Domain test/demo CD with a track that starts out with insects and a babbling brook, then a jet flies over about 100' off the ground.

The ELP track listed above is good- back in college the test was that if the lights dimmed in time with the music, you had enough power and big enough speakers. The 1812 Overture/Wellington's Victory with the canon and gunshots and the right version of the Saint Saëns Organ Symphony finale will do it.
 
Another good one

Lightbulb Sun
Porcupine Tree
Russia on Ice

I'm sure the tail end of that one is responsible for shredding a lot of woofs, making amps cry for their mommies, and liquifying the occasional organ or two ...

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sKiZo said:
Lightbulb Sun
Porcupine Tree
Russia on Ice

I'm sure the tail end of that one is responsible for shredding a lot of woofs, making amps cry for their mommies, and liquifying the occasional organ or two ...

.
Click to expand...

Great song!
 
sKiZo said:
Lightbulb Sun
Porcupine Tree
Russia on Ice

I'm sure the tail end of that one is responsible for shredding a lot of woofs, making amps cry for their mommies, and liquifying the occasional organ or two ...

.
Click to expand...


Boy, I missed what you are talking about on this one, I went to Youtube and played the song and its just a standard slow song.

Same thing with the song "Hidden", and the one from Dead Can Dance, Sounds From the Ground, they all sounded like normal songs...must be unable to play all the subsonics on my PC speakers, do they all have subsonics or something else I'm missing?
 
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Oh yeah...

Robert Shaw and the Atlanta Symphony doing Stravinsky's Firebird, 1919 version, Telarc digital recording. Second and last movements were what we used to blow up speakers at the audio store I worked at. You can see the grooves with the naked eye. Big fat kettles and tympani - Igor was a rock and roller at heart.
 
I've played Ghosts and Stuff on my subs at home.. yeah.. good bass, but it didn't have jack on that Meat Beat Manifesto tune..
 
On Rhapsody there is an album called Tibetan Meditation Bowls. One of the tracks is a Korean gong or something. If your speakers have a weak glue joint or fastener that track will find it. It almost vibrated the dash and door panels off my Chevy truck.
 
Another title is the Dorian Recordings CD of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (catalog # DOR-90117), transcribed for pipe organ. This disc used to be a favorite at Stereophile Magazine for testing the low frequency performance of speakers under review. There are a couple of potential speaker destroying tracks on this disc -- track # 2, Gnomus, and if I remember correctly, track #11, Promenade, with a sustained high level 16Hz low note. In fact, there is a written warning in the liner notes, cautioning the listener to be careful with the volume level.

612OCrACMXL._SS400_.jpg
 
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hobie1dog said:
Boy, I missed what you are talking about on this one, I went to Youtube and played the song and its just a standard slow song.

Same thing with the song "Hidden", and the one from Dead Can Dance, Sounds From the Ground, they all sounded like normal songs...must be unable to play all the subsonics on my PC speakers, do they all have subsonics or something else I'm missing?
Click to expand...

And therein lies the problem with the whole YouTube, pc digital, and earbud thing. Granted ... they do have their place, but I don't expect even the creators of such "goodness" ever intended them to replace a REAL sound system. What you're listening to is merely a shadow in the night of the music's potential.

(Sorry ... my inner audiophile escaped for a minute there ... back I say ... BACK!! ) :D

Russia on Ice IS melodic, and I suppose the first part of the song can be described as slow ... same could be said about a lot of PT's catalog, but ... they have a way of sneaking up on you. They ARE the kings of the classic layered build to crescendo ... tickle your ears for a bit, then follow up with a sucker punch. WHAM! BAM!! Thank you, man!

Try it at 600wpc instantaneous peaks on big box speakers, expanded with synthed sub ... I guarantee you'll notice a bit of a difference. And yes, I actually did shred a set of 15" woofs with that one, but they needed a rebuild anyway. <G>

Speaking of Sucker Punch ... get the soundtrack and roll Army of One ... I'm not normally a fan of Bork ... or Bark ... Worf? Favre?? ... or what's her name ... oh yeah ... Björk, but that cut has POWER behind it.
 
Thanks for the explanation, I figured these shitty PC speakers rolled off at a 24db/octave rate around 100hz...lol

I'll order that CD today and put my woofers to the test in the Honda CRX system with (2) 18" woofers
 
If I'm listening to shuffle play it seems whenever Radiohead comes on I make a mad dash to turn it down before something gets damaged. Their CD's are much more "loud" and dynamic and definitely can put a strain on the system.
 
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