I definitely don't want to play them on a cheap turntable or cartridge. It doesn't have to be a several thousand dollar turntable, but it does have to have a tone arm with precision bearings, a cartridge with a good stylus, and it has to be setup properly with regards to geometry, tracking weight and anti-skating force.

A few years ago, I was looking to buy a good turntable under a grand. I went to one of the local dealers here in Tulsa, and they looked at me like I was crazy wanting a turntable. So I asked the manager to check his sources and find something good. I paid him a deposit so he would understand I was serious, and expected him to do a little rudimentary research and bring in something good like an API or Rega. But after waiting two months, what arrived was a little $200.00 table that was so flimsy and cheap looking, I was embarrassed to even look at this thing. I told him to keep it, and I've never done business with him again.

I'm not saying that I think turntables have to be exotica to be good, but I am saying that if it isn't a precision device, it probably isn't worth having. You can't replace the records in your collection very easily these days, so it makes some sense to have a decent turntable to play them on.