No Jazz, No Country and No 70s/80s Rock please

That reminds me of some other criteria in order to be welcomed at such events.

A liking for the Krall and the Cassidy, the ability to remain awake/look interested and some middle-aged-spread forming nicely. Again, I tick all the boxes.

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The Fez is always removed when entering such a room. I have manners you know.

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… and the sales rep catching up on his twitter feed…

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Yes, if you are going to have literally hundreds of people coming through your room it makes complete sense to play music that both sounds good on your equipment and won’t frighten people away. Hifi shows are there to sell hifi, not to introduce people to new music.

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There is a Coen brothers film in this thread somewhere to be found…

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I posted this as a mickey-take a while back as the kind of thing you hear at hi-fi shows. It’s completely fabricated using one of my own pics.

Nobody noticed.

G

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I agree but I sometimes feel the music at shows and demos is aimed at the type of punter I have described, resulting a self-fulfilling prophesy.

As Naim, and other manufacturers, introduce more products aimed at a younger customer or those more interested in convenience (new Uniti range) and physical form, but differentiated by superior SQ, then a broader range of music will be needed to attract and retain a broader range of customer in the demo room in question. This could also be true when attempting to market Classic products to newer (younger) entrants who may have decided they now want more than an Atom, for example.

I am guilty of not entering/leaving a room because of the dreadful music being sampled. I also feel that a greater variety of music could be played if the demonstrators didn’t insist on playing every track in its entirety.

Judging by the posture of the bloke in the front row wearing the light blue shirt and glasses , the music is just about going to send him to sleep

Perhaps they would be better off listening to a series shrill test tones. rather than some obnoxiously unassuming plinky plonky lift music… perhaps there may be more attentiveness that way…

Or here is a thought…

Have a real musician… record them playing whatever instrument or even singing and what ever music genre in front of the audience , … it almost certainly won’t be that important… and then play back and compare… a) that would be interesting, b) possibly also quite informative on performance… the recorder could have say three different profiles of compression of reverb to give insight to mastering techniques… in these days of affordable high performance DAWs this feels quite achievable.

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You are right why just jazz some people hate jazz. They should put on a Bruckner symphony.
Which is loud. Or classic rock Eagles etc.

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At a show a couple of years ago Vertere had the singer Elles Springs and her guitarist Mark playing live (acoustic and Dobro), then Touraj put on her album (on the Vertere label). System was Vertere RG-1/Reference arm/? Cartridge, FM Acoustics amps, PMC MB2SE.
Yes the live music was clearly more involving, but full marks to Touraj for showing his system in that context. (The system was superb.)

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Sheesh - nobody uses classical?

Try Mahler’s Second or “Pictures at an Exhibition.” I prefer the Decca sound, but there are other good choices (rarely DG though).

Bring a disc with well recorded violin too.

My demo list used to be U2/Madonna/Def Lepard/Handel’s Messiah or a Brahm’s violin concerto.

Recently it has been London Grammar/Royal Blood/Foals

If you have never listened to recent rock music try
Foals/Royal Blood/Man of Moon/Mystery Jets

I used to too. But on recent shows, when I’ve asked if I can play a CD, the guys generally look aghast and have faces that says “What ? A CD ? What’s a CD ?”

I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s a waste of time now taking any of my CD’s to a show. The electronics there don’t have a slot to fit them in… :grinning:

And yes, twiddly jazz rules there.

:smiley:

I (try to) use Dohnanyi’s New World Symphony on Decca. Stunning performance and sound.

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Classical music is also good to demonstrate hi fi. Beethoven. Bruckner etc.

I assume that’s because it is fairly uncomplicated (in terms of instrumentation and complexity of sound), which doesn’t stress the kit too much…

I prefer the dealers demo. My dealer always plays excellent music. Rock. Jazz .classical.
Fortunately not country Or pop or easy listening. Apart from myself the crowd are young.

When I go to demo equipment I usually take some LPs which I have actually played recently for pleasure, and any digital music is on a USB stick. Again, what I’ve been listening to recently.

I tend use a mixture of Classical (including opera), Rock, Modern Country (which to me often sounds like old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll), and metal. What I don’t take is anything with that awful autotuning.

ATM I am listening to Jon Strong “Follow Me” (Linn LP). That would go with me if I were demoing anything this week.

Sounds like you’ve got your Deep Purple and Guns N Roses mixed up there.

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