Ask The Reader: what's the first record you play when you christen a new turntable?

A photograph of a white Rega Planar 2 on a wooden hi-fi rack
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

The first play is a big moment for any turntable. You've agonised over exactly which model to buy, possibly lugged it home from the shops, taken time to set it up properly and now, finally, is its time to shine.

But what do you play on it?

It's a big decision, as chances are, this performance will live long in the memory. Get it right, and your new deck will be off to a flying start. Choose a dud, and it could taint everything you play on it subsequently.

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Do you go for a well known classic from a band like The Beatles? Something more obscure that only you know and love? A track that brings back memories of a certain time in your life? Or something modern that you've been loving of late, to see how the sound compares to how you've previously been enjoying it?

Whatever you go for, it's not a decision to take lightly.

If you can't make up your mind, we've got plenty of lists of test tracks for your system, from acoustic tracks and movie scores to those by artists like Radiohead and Nick Cave. But that's us. For this month's Ask The Reader, we want to know what you choose.

You can tell us about your favourite first-play tracks in the comments below, on our forum, or on our social media channels. We'll put them all together in a follow-up article so you can see your fellow readers' picks. So let us know!

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Joe Svetlik

Joe has been writing about tech for 20 years, first on staff at T3 magazine, then in a freelance capacity for Stuff, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine (now defunct), Men's Health, GQ, The Mirror, Trusted Reviews, TechRadar and many more. His specialities include all things mobile, headphones and speakers that he can't justifying spending money on.

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