Best LPs to Test Turntables

Perhaps not quite that simple.  Start with a good solo (or small ensemble) piano recording and listen for excellent pitch stability.  Listen carefully to the decay of notes or chords at the end of musical phrases.  Do you hear any pitch waver as the note decays?  If you do, move on.  Be careful, however, and make sure that the pitch waver is not in the recording itself.  Keith Jarrett recordings on ECM are pretty much guaranteed to not have this problem.  Narrow your choices this way then move on to other sound considerations and be mindful of the inevitable effect of different arm/cartridge combinations.  Pitch stability impacts just about every other aspect of LP sound and is the one aspect that is almost entirely dependent on the turntable regardless of arm and/or cartridge.  Good luck.

With respect, I think some of you guys are missing the point of the question.  He is auditioning turntables.  Not cartridges, not arms, not entire audio systems; turntables.  

I completely agree that “audiophile spectacular type albums” are not always the best choice, @whart. I too often use records that might be considered average in the ear candy department, but that are great musical performances. I find that in an unfamiliar system the spectacular aspect of “sonic spectaculars” can actually be a distraction. But, I think that the impact of “speed constancy”, or lack thereof, is seriously underestimated by many. Way before the issue is perceived as obviously poor speed constancy the rhythmic feel of the performance is being impacted in a negative way.