attend live music performances. That way, you have a known reference. But ultimately it all depends upon your musical tastes. If you like rock mostly, you can't go wrong using "Nirvana Unplugged" or "Alice in Chains Unplugged". Both are superbly recorded and feature both acoustic and electric instruments. I promise you the double vinyl issue of Alice in Chains sounds so much better than the CD version, it's ridiculous ! If you don't trust your ear and want to take a more analytical approach, Ethan Winer recommends a free program called Room EQ Wizard that can help analyse speaker placement and a room's sound quality. Let's walk through both processes to get you current gear up to snuff. A great set of speakers can still sound like junk if you set them up incorrectly. The direction and placement is just as important as everything else. It's a complicated process we could spend pages talking about, but Wired has an excellent guide to set up speakers that covers everything you can imagine. Ethan Winer adds this: The key is to optimise the low frequency response, to minimise the peaks and deep nulls that are typical in all home-size rooms. Another goal is to have the speakers and listening position centred left-right in the room, with the left and right sides symmetrical (see the image on the right taken from Winer's article How to Set Up a Listening Room ). If there's an opening on one side wall, set up so that