Also, test equipment with music you are familiar with as long as it has some of the dynamics intact.
Recommended recordings based on your tastes include, but not limited to, the following: (often times older CD masterings are much better sounding than the latest remasters, but there are exceptions)
Include a lot of high fidelity jazz recordings (e.g. Miles Davis-Kind of Blue, Dave Brubeck-Time Out, any of the classic Fantasy Records jazz recordings such as Vince Guaraldi-Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus, plus classic Atlantic and Blue Note jazz, etc.)
some good classical recordings (e.g. RCA Living Stereo series, Mercury Living Presence series, Columbia Masterworks series, plus some of the better Deutsche Grammophon, Telarc, etc.)
CDs issued by DCC Compact Classics, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Analogue Productions and other audiophile labels
50s-70s easy listening/MOR pop recordings (especially on Columbia, Decca, RCA Victor, etc.)
vintage folk music and some of the higher fidelity blues recordings such as B.B. King-Live At The Regal, also lots of bluegrass is high fidelity and also lots of well known singer-songwriter folk-rock
Pink Floyd recordings notable for their dynamics (e.g. Dark Side of the Moon, Animals, Wish You Were Here, etc.)
RCA Victor, Decca, Columbia/Epic country and country-pop crossover recordings from the 50s-70s (I will even include Ssgt. Barry Sadler's "Ballads of the Green Berets" album in this because it was a huge hit in both country and pop in 1966 and a hi-fi recording)
Norah Jones-Come Away With Me
The Sundazed label is known for very well mastered psychedelic and surf rock oldies (engineered by the same people who have engineered the usually very well done Sony/Legacy series reissues)
Glenn Miller's stuff if remastered well (e.g. less compression, EQ, processing, etc.)
Mason Williams Phonograph Record - (although this is mostly an MOR album from 1968, it is listed separately as it is very unique in its production (done by Mike Post, who would later become famous for TV Theme composing) and blending of music styles of the time which range from country to folk to classical to rock to pop and more
Les Paul's work with and without Mary Ford
Eva Cassidy's work
older CD masterings of Amy Grant's early work
A lot of k.d. lang's music
Harry Belafonte-Belafonte At Carnegie Hall
Buddy Holly - From The Original Master Tapes (BTW, check out just about anything mastered by Steve Hoffman)
One thing I do not recommend using as test discs for the fidelity of the system are modern hit recordings in pop/rock, country, Contemporary Christian, R&B, etc.
This YouTube video explains why I do not recommend using modern hit recordings as recordings to audition:
YouTube - The Loudness War but there are lots of hi-fi modern recordings in other genres.
High fidelity magazines such as Stereophile and The Absolute Sound may guide you with recordings to test a system with as well as hi-fi websites like stevehoffman.tv, musicangle.com, audioasylum.com, head-fi.org, stereophile.com, enjoythemusic.com
Hi-Fi oriented magazines and websites will also help the vinyl enthusiast and vinyl DJ get the most enjoyment out of their setups as well.