What is the first song you (would) play on new speakers?

My new speakers arrived today, and I pondered a question that I have never before had the pleasure of pondering: What do I play first? Serious speakers deserve a serious consideration of inaugural music. Do I pick something with subtle nuances and expressive musicality? Do I go with classical or classic rock? Alternative or a cappella?

In the end, it wasn’t a hard decision. The maiden musical voyage: Van Halen’s Jump. It did not disappoint. (Well, the neighbors might have minded.)

What would you pick?

SPEAKERS HAVE A BREAKING-IN PHASE, JUST LIKE A NEW CAR

The drivers need time to flex, the cabinets need to resonate for a while.
The sound will change after a couple of weeks. Some audiophiles break in speakers by playing white noise through them for a while, I’ve never done that.

Enjoy your music!
Listen to the Van Halen in a month, after using the speakers, and see if you can hear any differences.

David

Ein Straussfest. That will get them loosened up.

Seven Nation Army or Interstellar Overdrive.

Brahms - Double Concerto in A Minor.

Dave Brubeck - Unsquare Dance

Depends on the mood I’m in.

Some of my speakers have had their initial cone-throb to the cadence of Alan Parsons Project’s “In the Lap of the Gods” from Pyramid; some were charged with reproducing Richard Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra (I do love that opening organ bass note); and Stokowski conducting Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade has been used a couple of times too.

Eric Kunsel and the Cinncinati Orchestra’s recording of An American in Paris

Don’t substitute any other version. Let your neighbors enjoy this one too.

The usual, sir?

Break-in is bullshit, there is a slight increase in bass as the cone suspensions loosen but other than that, “break-in” is just a matter of getting used to the sound of the speakers.

What speakers did you get?

I’d want to hear how they’d handle the 1812 Overture, then the Brahms Violin Concerto and some Glenn Gould.

Meatloaf.

Missy Elliott - ‘Pass That Dutch’

Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells.

This - I find it to be a perfect test of a speaker’s range.

Polk Audio RTi A7s for front, CSi A4 for center, and RTi A3s for surround. I’ll probably add some FXi surrounds when I move to a bigger place.

When I got my new car, the first thing I played in it was Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

When I installed my surround-sound home theater system, the first thing I played was Dark Side of the Moon (which I bought specifically for the purpose).

Steely Dan usually has a lot of detail in the sound, try Aja.

The only possible choice is Also Sprach Zarathustra.

ETA: Damn, I now see AHunter3 has beaten me to it.

Mars, the Bringer of War from Holst’s The Planets