Nordost is reintroducing the System Set-Up & Tuning Disc.  This test CD contains everything that you need to get a system sounding its best – and keep it that way. An extensive range of proven diagnostic tracks (plus a few innovative and extremely useful ones) helps with speaker placement and sub-woofer integration, performance checks and assessment, problem location and system conditioning.

The disc comes with its own instruction book, which clearly lays out the purpose and benefits of each track.  In addition to basic channel and phase checks, there are discrete left and right channel pink and white noise tracks, as well as alternating ones, which are ideal for checking that speakers are working properly and voicing them in-room. The computer generated LEDR tests provide a repeatable method for mapping and adjusting sound-staging and toe-in while uncompressed drum tracks test dynamic range and rhythmic integration. As well as conventional sweeps, there is a timed low-frequency sweep that will allow you to identify principal room modes. Used in conjunction with the discrete low-frequency tones this is a huge help in diagnosing problem environments, placing speakers and integrating and optimizing sub-woofers. Throw in system burn-in and degauss tracks and you can see why we consider this an invaluable part of our audio arsenal.

The System Set-Up & Tuning Disc will get you on the right path to having your system sound its best.  For more tweaks and helpful hints: