"What a refreshingly honest blog about listening to music through hi-fi. So happy to see views based upon the enjoyment of music rather than so-called sound 'quality'." - Peter Comeau, Director of Acoustic Design at Mission / Wharfedale

Thursday 28 March 2013

Linn's New Speaker

Linn has announced a new speaker in the Akurate range - named Akubarik.

Currently active only with the amps built into a unit at the back of the cabinets.  Looking good, hopefully more details very soon.



Monday 18 March 2013

Chester Hifi Show March 2013 Review

Must be show season, with Scalford on 3rd March, Manchester coming up on 23 / 24 March and last weekend's Chester show put on by Acoustica and held at the Doubletree Hotel on the outskirts of the City.  A bijou show this one - just 6 systems on show, and a couple of iPod docs from B&W too.

Here's a summary of what we heard:

Naim electronics / Guru speakers sounding very good in the top of the stairwell - not exactly the ideal place to put a system, so quite challenging. Perferred the standard Gurus to the new Juniors - the Juniors sounding very good with some music but going hard and unforgiving on other music.  The standard Gurus are quite remarkable for such small boxes - going very deep and filling the room without any signs of strain.

Rega RP6 / Classe / B&W 805s (the RP8 they were hoping to demo had failed in the morning). We were in this room when they played Dark Side Of The Moon and it was rubbish.
The disc that is, should've been binned - sounded like the dog had eaten its dinner off that disc, why on earth anyone would use that to demo anything is beyond me. We waited a good 15 minutes into the first side to see if it cleared up but it didn't. Demoing at its worst. Unfortunate for the system, but we didn't bother going back for more.

Naim electronics (2 x NAP300 bi-amping, HDX and DAC as a streamer, not sure about all the power supplies nor the pre-amp) into the £145k AudioVector R11s. On first entering the room this system sounded mighty impressive - oodles of detail, rock solid imaging etc. But after about 20 minutes I realised I hadn't been toe-tapping at all, bass was so tightly controlled it was somewhat lacking and the sheer height of those things make them completely impractical for 99% of homes. But it was the lack of involvement in the music that struck me. They played a live version of Smoke on the Water that had 2 people leave the room and the rest of us begging them to stop playing it. I've never felt the need to ask someone to stop playing something at a hifi show before.

Naim electronics (NDS streamer and lots of NAP300s) driving the new to maket £30k Ovator 800 speakers in active mode. In a converted barn. Magnificent room, completely unsuitable for listening to a home hifi.  Why? What are the dealers and manufacturers trying to achieve by putting a system in such an unsuitable environment?  Are they trying to put people off buying their stuff? Pretty much everything pop / rock sounded congested and cardboardy (anyone who has head the smaller Ovators will probably recognise that description). Sounded good with some very simple choral music, but went all congested (compressed even?) when the whole choir and organ ensemble joined in together.

Naim electronics (NDS, 252, not sure on the amps) into Kudos Super 20 floorstanders (£4,250). At last some musicality. Really superb. Saved £141k on speakers there then, in comparison to the AudioVectors! This really was the stand out system for all 4 of us. Beautiful sounds here - no nastiness, no real compromises, but also worth noting that this was probably the most realistically "domestic" room in the whole show - and the type of room the show needs to concentrate on. They also played some vinyl on a DPS turntable with Naim Aro and Dynavector XV II which was a pleasure - great dynamics and no background noise at all.

Arcam DVD player and Arcam top end AVR receiver, B&W 5.1 system - played Toto's Africa from a recent concert on Blu-ray. A band clearly enjoying what they were doing and a very immersive experience - wanted to applaud at the end. One of our group thought it sounded poor, but I thought it sounded like a real concert PA system, so you can make your own mind up on that one!  Watching the remastered Star Wars on Blu-ray was good too, but a touch of harshness now and then.  As usual, it might be better to demo these systems at a slightly lower volume - high enough to show off the dynamics, but not so loud as to strain the system.

Sorry about the vagueness regarding kit, but these "professionals" need to learn from the enthusiasts at the Hifi Wigwam Show at Scalford - they give you lots of information about the kit in use and many provide playlists too. Yesterday at the Doubletree there were no kit lists in evidence and no playlists to choose music from.  It would be a very small amount of effort to put a kit list on the door or wall and to print a few music lists out - make an effort please professionals - you are trying to sell product here, this kind of detail should be a given, not seen as a nuisance.

There were some live musicians in the bar too - mainly just jamming, but clearly talented and good to listen too when we took a 15 minute break from the systems.

Another Peak Week

Following on from the review of the Linn Akurate / Klimax system, the blog has reached another record peak of activity in one week:

Summary


Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun Total Avg
Pageloads4768602241956788749107
Unique Visits285146167167536958183
First Time Visits254343136146485749871
Returning Visits38331215128312

Thursday 14 March 2013

Akurately Kontrolled Klimax

One of the best sounding systems I've heard over the years was a Linn LP12 with Naim electronics (135 mono power amps in particular) driving active Linn Isobarik speakers.  It must have been 25 years ago, but I still remember being stunned by the musicality of it all - although coloured in a charismatic way, the uneven tonal balance of the system became irrelevant because it just allowed the music to flow.

So what?  Why am I recounting a 25 year old experience from a time when telephones had just become pretty much standard in our houses (not in our hands) and the nearest you got to an audio blog was the letters page of the monthly HiFi Answers magazine?  Because an experience listening to a fellow Linn Forum member's system earlier this week had some distinct parallels.  Number one - it was Linn's top of the current range (like the Isobarik was all those years ago) 350 loudspeaker.  Number two - both were in rooms that, at first glance, seemed unfeasibly small for such large speakers.  25 years ago I was in a room that was about 12ft x 10ft with the speakers on the longer wall, hence they were about 7ft in front of me.  Earlier this week it wasn't quite so extreme, but it did bring the 'bariks in a corrugated iron shack on the top of a moor in Kent to mind again.

After a number of interchanges on the Linn Forum, I met one of the forum members (let's call him Andrew) at the recent Scalford Hifi Show where he visited our room a couple of times to both enjoy the system, but also to provide him with a "Linn sound" reference point against which to baseline the other systems at the show.  He made some very complementary comments about my system too, which was much appreciated.  As it happens, through a number of coincidences of location and timing, I was in the right part of the South East of England earlier this week when Andrew had a free evening, so a listening session was set up.  As a consequence, Andrew has kindly agreed to let me write a few words about the evening and my thoughts on his system.  A brave man.

So let's start with a few pictures plagerised from the Linn Forum (note that the system now has a Pioneer Blu-ray on the top shelf and the Akurate DS has been replaced by a Renew DS since these pictures were taken).  The centre speaker really is THAT big and really is THAT close to where you sit.  In the middle picture in the bottom left hand corner you can seen the main listening seat - a reasonable distance from the main stereo speakers, but the centre speaker kind of dominates the room and is very much "in your face".  Also changed since these pictures is that the centre speaker is fitted with a full frontal black grille now, which does tone down the effect a little - at least it doesn't feel like you're being stared at by this speaker.  I have to say though, hats off to Andrew for not letting anything as trivial as room size from stopping him having the system he really wanted:








And a kit list:

Linn Klimax Renew DS streamer
Linn Akurate Kontrol/0/D pre-pro
Linn Klimax Twin (non D) to drive the 3K array in the 350p speakers
Linn 350p main speakers (in-built Akurate amps for the bass drivers)
Linn 340a active centre speaker (in-built Akurate amps)
Linn 345 active subwoofer
Linn Majik 2100 amp for rear speakers
Linn Akurate 212 rear speakers
Hutter rack
Linn K20 speaker cables
Linn Silver interconnects


Let's not talk too much about prices here, as that would be tasteless at this level.  However, Andrew was wise enough to find many of his speakers just as Linn were ending the Maple finish, so end of line pricing helped put this system into this room, which is a great result.

Andrew is a big advocate of the opening sequence from Quantum of Solace, so that was my first experience of this system.  I guess its probably also worth mentioning that I'm going to describe what I heard relative to my own Akurate / Majik active system at home, although I will try and describe what I heard in absolute terms where I can.  I know its a bit of a cliche now, but I think I understand the origins of the term "shock and awe" now.  My own system can go pretty loud, but once passed about 65 on the volume control with music (which is pretty loud already) you can start to tell that its working hard - normal serious listening is usually between 55 and 60 volume levels.  Andrew's system is still cruising at volume levels of 71-75.  It's just astonishing how loud it goes, yet somehow you're no more aware of the system working hard than you are at more sane volume levels.  Even at these volumes, there is absolutely no sense of strain, distortion or any other nasties.  I've also heard, but never experienced, "trouser flapping bass" before.  Now I have - the lower fronts of my chinos were literally flapping in the bass - astonishing. Good job the house is well built.  How you can get such steering, impact and power in such a small room without it sounding OTT is beyond me, but Andrew's system manages it with ease.  And you know what?  That centre speaker works really well - you don't notice it's existence in the soundfield that envelopes you - whilst it's visually right there, in terms of sound, all the speakers disappear - you're just not aware of them as point sources.  We watched the last song from a live Shakira concert too - the welly available in this system made for a very realistic concert experience - that thumping you get from a PA system, but without the grittiness that you get higher up the frequency.  Made Shakira's music enjoyable, which is not something I'd normally say.

After recovering from the introduction, we turned the volume down somewhat and started listening to some music - the system defaulting to the 350s for L and R and the 345 sub for music.  We used Yello (The Race, Otto Di Catania from Flag), Kiki Dee (Don't Go Breaking My Heart from Almost Naked), Fleetwood Mac (Go Your Own Way from Rumours 24/96) and a couple of other tracks that slip my mind.  During these tracks we briefly listened to just the stereo speakers, taking the sub out of the equation.  First of all lets get the musicality out of the way - this system delivers.  Toe tapping is impossible to avoid, be it on music or music videos.  In more "hifi" terms then clarity and effortlessness are probably reasonably good descriptions.  Oh, and I'm not sure what the techie term is, but the system's ability to do starting and stopping is stunning.  I think my own system is good at this, but the separation of instruments and understanding when they start and stop is in a different league altogether (but you can, of course, have my entire system for the price of the 350 speakers), and I'm pretty sure that its this aspect that makes the system so tuneful and easy to toe-tap along to.  I can't really emphasise enough how easy this system is to listen to - not in the sense that its inoffensive or easy going, but that attacking cymbals attack but don't mug you, bass slams but doesn't wallow (when not using the subwoofer - goes deeper still with the subwoofer, but becomes a little too dominant for my taste) and voices are as natural as you could hope for.  We listened to a Seal track from a HDTracks 24bit download (it may have been "Prayer For The Dying") in which the singer's voice had real three dimensional character and texture, in addition to being rock solid centre in the soundstage.

The only real criticism I would have is probably more down to Andrew's set up of the system than the system itsself.  I really enjoyed the system for music without the subwoofer and feel that the sub becomes too dominant at times, detracting from the rest of the mix.  It's great for movies, I think dialling it out altogether or experimenting with turning down its influence on the music side would bring some benefits.  To be fair, Andrew did mention this and I'd encourage him to experiment a bit more with that.  Along with the 350's occasionally slightly "detached" sounding bass.

Then Andrew's mate turned up - he's much more into the movies side of things with his own system, so we put my copy of Yello's Touch Virtual Concert DVD into the Pioneer's drive to give it a quick whirl.  With the sofa kicked back into lounger mode, we just let the whole DVD play through - transfixed by the visuals and the music.  Brilliant - there was a bit of stunned silence as the film came to an end, then Andrew's mate immediately got online and ordered 2 copies of the disc - one each for the locals.  One thing that has given me food for thought for quite some time is the lack of a pre-pro in Linn's current line-up.  On this evidence, it seems that the Akurate Kontrol/0/D is quite capable of holding its own in a Klimax sandwich.  Good, because I just don't have the cash or the room to have separate stereo and cinema systems - it seems that the AK is well up to much further upgrading of the system around it.

So my thanks go to Andrew for his hospitality and friendly welcome (and also thanks to Andrew's wife and daughter for letting us play!).  It was a most enjoyable evening.  I hope Andrew will be up in my neck of the woods sometime so he can call in to hear my system in its natural habitat where it sounds a bit better than it did at Scalford.

Now, how long will it take for 350 speakers to get down to about £3k???

Chester Hifi Show 16/17 March 2013

Chester dealer Acoustica are holding a show on 16/17 March at the Doubletree by Hilton in Chester - J12 of the M53.

Looks like:

Naim
Classe
Audiovector
B&W
Kudos
Rega
Arcam
SIM2

http://www.acoustica.co.uk/wp-conten...ing-13-web.pdf

Thursday 7 March 2013

Scalford HiFi Show - Exhibitor's Experience

Our mission: give exhibiting a try to see if its a good thing, whilst giving show goers the opportunity to hear something they won't have heard at Scalford before - an all active Linn system based purely around streaming - hopefully giving the doubters (Linn and streaming) something to think about.

Planning started months before, thinking through and discussing what we liked about the show when we went last time (e.g. signs on doors, a list of available music to choose from, how rooms are laid out etc.) - mainly thinking about what music to play, how to make it easy to find and deliver, what kit we would need beyond the actual components, when we would travel over etc. etc. Broached the topic with our partners and got the relevant domestic passes to be allowed out to play.

Searched the Wam for ideas, top tips, what to avoid, what not to forget etc. - there's lots in there and now James has consolidated it into one guide, which is very useful. Concerned that show goers wouldn't want to hear a Linn system, but received positive encouragement in the forum. Lots of this done in advance of finding out if we'd even get a room at the show.

Followed all the threads about how to apply for a room etc., found out we were successful then mild concern about if it was a good idea or not. We had a tiny room allocated which wouldn't suit the system so (and this might be considered a mistake!), convinced James to let us have one of the bigger syndicate rooms on the 2nd floor which James had initially left out of his planning - maybe he's had to help others carry their speakers up there before!

About 6 weeks in advance, disconnected the streamer from the network and NAS at home and hooked it up to an independent network along with the laptop and the HDD - had it up and running in about 10 minutes which was a great relief that it would be quite so easy. Took final decision not to even attempt to set up wifi and tablet control of the system, being concerned about wifi interference etc. in a strange environment. KISS principle applied here. Worked on checklist of stuff, finalised playlist (created an album called "Demo Tracks" and copied the relevant tracks in there, then all we needed to do was select tracks from that album or just let it play) and put the data onto the HDD. Arranged with Richard to have spare laptop with software installed and created another copy of the music on a separate HDD as back ups.

2 weeks before we finalised times for travelling, agreed on who was going to fund what, etc. More jitters about if the system was going to sound any good. Worried about insurance for a while, decided it was too complicated and that Richard would sleep in the hotel room and that I would take an airbed and sleeping bag so I could sleep in the exhibiting room.

Friday before the show and all the boxes had to be brought down from the loft and the kit dusted and packed into them. Chose to do this on Friday so that Saturday morning would be free to spend with the kids. Richard arrived about 2pm and we set about packing the car. Crisis! Too much stuff to fit in! We had a couple of receivers to drop off with wammers, so these were the first thing we thought about leaving behind, but it turned out that by unpacking the Isoplats from their box, we were able to wrap them in plastic bags and slot them into various little gaps in the car. With a bit of re-jigging of what went where and some pillows and cushions for packing we managed to squeeze everything in and once the doors were shut then everything was solidly located with no chance of anything flying forward under braking. Kit included laptops, HDDs, equipment rack, Isoplats, cables (with at least one more of each for ethernet, interconnects, power etc.), system, bedding, tools, soldering iron, stuff I'd sold, some CDs to give away, bottles of water, snacks etc. etc.

After a 2.5 hour drive, arrive at Scalford and get a prime spot outside the front door - result! It was easy to get sorted with room keys etc., only we were given the keys to the correct room number but it wasn't the room on the show guide. A quick chat with James and we decided to go with the room that was on the show guide rather than the correct room number to keep it easy for visitors to find us (or avoid us of course!). Keys swapped and unpacking began. That was the real hard work - 2 flights of stairs were hard work. We must have made a good 10 trips up and down, if not more. Its good exercise this exhibiting stuff! Much consumption of water. Took about an hour to unpack boxes and return them to the car, then system build time (top tip - if you value the finish on your system, remove rings and watches before unpacking). Wiring up and testing took another hour but all went very straightforward. We dumped the flipchart and one of the tables on the first floor landing with other such stuff and arranged the room. Then listened to the system and did some basic set up. Then decided the seats were too close to the system so then we re-arranged the room and finalised positioning. Happy enough with the sound - maybe a touch bassy with the bouncy floor and the cardboard end wall.

Knackered.

Time for chilli and beer - rather good Doom Bar real ale and a good natter with other exhibitors around the tables. Chilli OK, but would've liked some pudding! Did a bit more room tidying and put up the playlists and kit lists on the wall, built my bed etc. Then messed about with the Wychwood interconnect and called on our neighbours such as Lodgesound, LencoHeaven and Pluto to see what they were up to and introduce ourselves. All very friendly. Down to the bar just in time to find that the band had just finished - very disappointed to have missed them. Richard off to bed around 11pm, I had another wander around some of the rooms to have a listen (including the insane amount of bass from the monster horny system playing Yello's "Expert") and a chat with a few wammers. Relieved to find that they're all a friendly bunch, somewhat in contrast to online behaviour!

Crash out about 12:30 and listen to monster bass in the distance for about 40 mins when a curfew seemed to be declared. Slept moderately well - still stuff going around in my head about if anyone would actually come to listen to the system, what the reactions would be, what would go wrong etc.

Visitors started arriving about 9:45 and we had 2 or 3 at a time until about 10:15 when the room filled up and pretty much stayed that way until about 4:30pm. Sometimes there wasn't even standing room and folks looked in then moved on as there just wasn't room. Played music pretty much non-stop all day - tried to avoid any silence if possible. Even with playlists on the seats and signs on the wall saying "ask for what you want to hear" you still have to prompt visitors to ask for stuff. We probably played about 50% of tracks that were requested. Hopefully we introduced some little known tracks (e.g. Kiki Dee's live acoustic version of Dont Go Breaking My Heart, Nils Lofgren Acoustic Live, some lesser known Yello tracks, Blues Company (the most played tracks of the day)) and many of these had visitors making notes or taking photos of the monitor we had showing the currently playing track. Richard had a good few hours to visit other rooms, I managed about 90 minutes and thoroughly enjoyed that bit too.

Liked the visitors positive comments, happy to have visitors who smiled, nodded or said thanks on their way out. Disappointed with visitors who can't even be bothered to acknowledge you exist as they leave the room. Even if you think the system sounds rubbish, as a visitor it shouldn't be too much work to say thank you to exhibitors who put in so much time, cash and effort for your benefit (rant over). The day flies by, and I really enjoy such unbroken listening - just don't get the chance to do that at home very often. We had many re-visits and some folks who stayed in the room for a good length of time. There was much discussion through the day on explaining how the system works - where the data is, how it gets to the streamer, how the active crossovers work with the power amps and speakers etc. etc. - there seemed to be some genuine interest in all that stuff. I think perhaps a diagram on the whiteboard would've been a good idea.

Visitors fade around 4.45 with only a couple of determined re-visits to entertain. Started packing up spot on 5pm and after many more trips up and down 2 flights of stairs, we were ready to go by about 6-15pm, so a very speedy process compared to setting up. Keeping control of the speakers on the way down the stairs was a bit of a challenge. Trip back was a bit quicker at 2 hours 15, so we got to say goodnight to the kids before bedtime.

Observations on exhibiting: if you've ever considered exhibiting but had cold feet, hesitate no longer - get your name on the list as soon as possible for 2014. Its hard work, but if you do good prep it should be a very enjoyable experience. Go Saturday, even if you don't set up until Sunday morning as the atmosphere is excellent and as an exhibitor you get the chance to hear some of the rooms on Saturday night, meaning you at least get to do some visiting, even if you don't get the time on Sunday. Wammers are really friendly people and are not at all the abusive vitiriolic lot they appear to be from the forum. Everyone is happy to chip in. If you want to have a long chat about how a system works, perhaps its best to step out into the corridor for a couple of minutes to avoid disturbing the listeners? Take handouts of your playlist and make sure you encourage your visitors to select some music - make sure that the list is as wide ranging as possible, within the boundaries of your collection. Best if there's at least 2 of you for carrying and to take turns looking after visitors during the day on Sunday.

Wednesday 6 March 2013

Scalford Hall Hifi Show Playlist 2013

Here's the playlist we used at Scalford Hall, about 50% of tracks played were requested from this list, the rest Richard and I just selected as we went along:

Artist Track Genre
Afterlife Makes Me Feel Electronic
Ane Brun Words Folk/Rock
Ane Brun Worship (Feat. Jose Gonzalez) Folk/Rock
Annie Lennox Why Pop
Art Of Noise Moments In Love Electronica
Black Sabbath Planet Caravan Hard Rock
Blues Company Cold Rain Blues
Blues Company Dark Day Blues
Blues Company Red Blood Blues
Brendan Perry Death Will Be My Bride Folk
Brendan Perry Medusa Folk
Chris Rea Looking For A Rainbow Rock
Chris Rea Texas Rock
Damien Rice Cannonball Folk/Rock
Damien Rice Cold Water Folk/Rock
Damien Rice Delicate Folk/Rock
Damien Rice Volcano Folk/Rock
Dave Brubeck Quartet Take Five Jazz
Dead Can Dance Agape Folk
Dead Can Dance All In Good Time Folk
Dead Can Dance American dreaming Folk
Dead Can Dance Amnesia Folk
Dead Can Dance Anabasis Folk
Dead Can Dance Children Of The Sun Folk
Dead Can Dance Opium Folk
Dead Can Dance The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove (Remastered) Folk
Dean Fraser Big Up/Armageddon Time Jazz/Reggae
Dean Fraser Dick Tracy Jazz/Reggae
Death On The Balcony Them 3 Words (Original) Electronic
Dire Straits Fade to Black Rock
Dire Straits Planet of New Orleans Rock
Eagles Hotel California [Live] Rock
Eddi Reader Dear John Folk
Eddi Reader Hello In There Folk
Elbow Asleep In The Back Indie
Elbow Mirrorball Indie
Elbow One Day Like This Indie
Emily Barker Nostalgia Folk
Eric Clapton Layla Blues
Eric Prydz Pjano (Dana Berquist & Peder G Remix) Electronic
Erykah Badu Next Lifetime R&B

Artist Track Genre
Erykah Badu Rimshot (Intro) R&B
Eva Cassidy Fields Of Gold Folk/Rock
Fac15 Stay With Me Til Dawn Electronic
Fleetwood Mac Go Your Own Way Rock
Fleetwood Mac The Chain Rock
Ganga Don't Wake Me Up Electronica
Ganga Down But Up Electronica
Ganga You Are My Sun Electronica
Gare Du Nord Pablos Blues House
Georges-Emmanuel Lazaridis Grandes Etudes de Paganini Etude III Classical
Goldfrapp Let It Take You Away Electronica
Goldfrapp Ooh La La Electronica
Gorillaz Superfast Jellyfish Pop
Gotye Don't Worry We'll Be Watching You Indie/Rock
Gotye Puzzle With A Piece Missing Indie/Rock
Gotye State Of The Art Indie/Rock
Holly Cole Train song Rock
Hue & Cry Makin' Whoopee Jazz
Ian Shaw A Case of You Jazz
Ian Shaw A Good And Simple Man Jazz
Ian Shaw Barangrill Jazz
It's Immaterial Driving Away From Home (Jims Tune) Pop
Jakatta American Dream (Afterlife Mix) Electronica
James Taylor Gaia Folk/Rock
Jay Fisher Old Man McKeensley Folk/Rock
Jennifer Warnes Big Noise, New York Pop
Jennifer Warnes Way Down Deep Pop
Jenny Lewis Bad Man's World Country
Jenny Lewis Pretty Bird Country
Jesca Hoop Peacemaker Alternative
Joan Armatrading Love And Affection Soul/Rock
Joe Bonamassa Feelin' Good Blues/Rock
John Lee Hooker The Healer (with Carlos Santana & The Santana Band) Blues
John Martyn A Little Strange Folk/Rock
John Martyn Feel So Good Folk/Rock
John Martyn Sunshine's Better Folk/Rock
José González Crosses Acoustic
Justin Currie No, Surrender Rock
k.d. Lang Constant Craving Country
Kaiser Chiefs Everything Is Average Nowadays Indie
Kaiser Chiefs Ruby Indie

Artist Track Genre
Kate Bush Lake Tahoe Alternative
Kate Bush Misty Alternative
Keb’ Mo’ For What It's Worth Jazz
Keb’ Mo’ Wake Up Everybody Jazz
Keb’ Mo’ What's Happening Brother Jazz
Kiki Dee Amoureuse Folk
Kiki Dee Don't Go Breaking My Heart Folk
Lux So La Ra Dsa Electronica
Lyle Lovett North Dakota Alternative Country
Lyle Lovett Penguins Alternative Country
Lyle Lovett Record Lady Alternative Country
Lyle Lovett She's Already Made Up Her Mind Alternative Country
Marta Gomez Lucia Folk
Massive Attack Three Electronic
Michael Jackson Liberian Girl Pop
Millenia Nova Beautiful Electronica
Nalin & Kane Beachball (Joris Voorn Remix) Electronic
Nick Drake 'Cello Song Folk
Nick Drake Fly Folk
Nick Harper The Kilty Stone Folk/Rock
Nils Lofgren Black Books Folk/Rock
Nils Lofgren Keith Don't Go Folk/Rock
Nils Lofgren Wonderland Folk/Rock
Nitin Sawhney Broken Skin Fusion
Nitin Sawhney Letting Go Fusion
Nitin Sawhney Nothing Fusion
Pete Alderton (She Said That) Evil Was Her Name Blues
Pete Alderton Jesus In A Bottle Blues
Pete Alderton Passing Ships Blues
Pete Alderton Song For David (alternative version) Blues
Peter Gabriel Don't Give Up Folk/Rock
Peter Gabriel Mercy Street Folk/Rock
Peyton Falling (EK's Poolside Mix) House
Renegade Creation Bullet Blues
Renegade Creation Nazareth Blues
Renegade Creation Too Much Of Nothin' Blues
Richard Thompson Easy There, Steady Now Folk/Rock
Richard Thompson Mingus Eyes Folk/Rock
Robben Ford Make Me Your Only One Blues
Robben Ford Peace Love And Understanding Blues
Robben Ford & The Blue Line I Don't Play Blues

Artist Track Genre
Robben Ford & The Blue Line Mystic Mile Blues
Royksopp Sparks Drum & Bass
Royksopp What Else Is There (Trentemoller Remix) Drum & Bass
Sam Cooke Chain Gang Jazz
Sam Cooke Cupid Jazz
Samantha James Breathe You In Electronica
Samantha James Right Now Electronica
Samantha James Rise Electronica
Sarah McLachlan Hold On Folk/Rock
Sarah McLachlan Ice Folk/Rock
Sarah McLachlan Sweet Surrender (DJ Tiesto Mix) Folk/Rock
Sarah McLachlan Wait Folk/Rock
Schiller Das Glockenspiel (Schill Out Mix) Electronica
Seal Kiss From A Rose Soul
Semisonic Closing Time Rock
Semisonic Secret Smile Rock
Shawn Colvin Kill The Messenger Rock
Shawn Colvin Polaroids Rock
Silverchair Israel's Son Grunge
Sinead O'Connor Nothing Compares 2 U Folk
Slovo Killing Me Electronica
Slovo Whisper Electronica
Solu The Way I Feel (Extended Mix) House
Solu Music Featuring Kimblee Fade (Full 12 Vocal)" House
Steely Dan Babylon Sisters Jazz/Rock
Steely Dan Cousin Dupree Jazz/Rock
Steely Dan Hey Nineteen Jazz/Rock
Steely Dan Two Against Nature Jazz/Rock
Steely Dan What A Shame About Me Crossover
Stéphane Pompougnac (with Nicole Graham) Eden Lounge
Stéphane Pompougnac feat. Charles Schillings Sunday Drive (Remix) Lounge
Stephen Fearing Carsten Folk
Stephen Fearing Dublin Bay Folk
Stephen Fearing Out To Sea Folk
Stephen Fearing Welfare Wednesday Folk
Sun Kil Moon Half Moon Bay Acoustic
Sun Kil Moon Third And Seneca Acoustic
Swing Out Sister Breakout Pop
Talking Heads Road To Nowhere Pop
Tchaikovsky 'Dance Of The Reeds' From The Nutcracker Classical
Tears For Fears Mad World Pop

Artist Track Genre
Terri Walker This Is My Time Pop
The Australian Pink Floyd Show Time Rock
The Black Keys Dead And Gone Blues/Rock
The Black Keys Lonely Boy Blues/Rock
The Black Keys Sister Blues/Rock
The Black Smoke Organisation Danger Global & Warming (Trentemoller Remix) Electronic
The Blue Nile Let's Go Out Tonight Rock
The Blue Nile The Downtown Lights Rock
The Brand New Heavies Boogie (Eric Kupper Mix) Dance
The Cardigans Erase/Rewind Pop
The Chemical Brothers Galaxy Bounce Electronic
The Chemical Brothers Hoops Electronic
The Farm All Together Now Pop
The Jeff Healey Band Blue Jean Blues Blues
The Killers Human Indie
The Memory Band Why Electronic
The Ray Gelato Giants Exactly Like You Swing
The Ray Gelato Giants That Old Black Magic Swing
The Ray Gelato Giants Up A Lazy River Swing
The Wailin' Jennys All The Stars Folk
The Wailin' Jennys Bird Song Folk
The Wailin' Jennys Swing Low Sail High Folk
The Zutons Valerie Other
Thea Gilmore Bad Moon Rising Folk/Rock
Thea Gilmore Coffee And Roses Folk/Rock
Thea Gilmore Ever Fallen In Love Folk/Rock
Thea Gilmore God's Got Nothing On You Folk/Rock
Thea Gilmore Icarus Wind Folk/Rock
Thea Gilmore The Old Laughing Lady Folk/Rock
Thievery Corporation Amerimacka Electronica
Thievery Corporation The Richest Man In Babylon Electronica
Thievery Corporation Until The Morning Electronica
Thievery Corporation feat. Emiliana Torrini Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes Electronica
Tiny Tunes Will You Catch Me (Twin Tunes Mix Edit) Electronica
Tom Baxter Night Like This Jazz
Tom Baxter Skybound Jazz
Tom Jones Thunderball Soundtrack
Tom Robinson The End Of The Rainbow Folk/Rock
Tomboy Flamingo (Trentemoller Remix) Electronic
Trentemoller Evil Dub Electronic
Trentemoller Vamp Electronic

Artist Track Genre
T-Rex Get It On Pop
U2 Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me Rock
U2 In A Little While (N.O.W Remix) Rock
Underworld Banstyle, Sappys Curry Electronica
Underworld Sola Sistim Electronica
Underworld Twist Electronica
Underworld feat. Dockhead Choir, Dame Everlyn Glennie, Only Men Alound, Elizabeth Roberts, Esme Smith, Alex Trimble Caliban's Dream Electronica
Wamdue Project Feat. Jonathan Mendelsohn Forgiveness (Beach Angel '07 Mix) House
Was (Not Was) Papa Was A Rolling Stone Pop
Weekend Players 21st Century House
Willie Nelson What Is It You Wanted Rock
Willy Porter Cool Water Folk
Willy Porter Jesus on the Grille Folk
Wyclef Jean Ft. Mary J. Blige 911 (LP Version) R&B
X-Press 2 Lazy (Original) House
Yello Celsius Electronic
Yello Drive / Driven Electronic
Yello Friday Smile Electronic
Yello Get On Electronic
Yello Indigo Bay Electronic
Yello Junior B Electronic
Yello Kiss In Blue (Feat. Heidi Happy) Electronic
Yello Ocean Club Electronic
Yello Otto Di Catania Electronic
Yello Petro Oleum Electronic
Yello Stay (Feat. Heidi Happy) Electronic
Yello The Rhythm Divine Electronic
Yello Till Tomorrow (Feat. Till Brönner) Electronic
Yello Time Freeze Electronic
Yello To The Sea Electronic
Yello X-Race Electronic
Yello feat. Dorothee Oberlinger Takla Makan Electronic
Zero 7 Destiny Electronica
Zero 7 Give It Away Electronica
Zero 7 In The Waiting Line Electronica