![]() I checked that both of the grounding spades were connectedthey werethen noticed that the hum changed volume as I repositioned the phono cable, suggesting it was being affected by noise from nearby power supplies. And when I first listened to the turntable, I heard a distractingly loud hum. The tonearm offers no way to adjust VTA, so changing cartridges and platter mats remains a dicey proposition. The mystifyingly short cable of the wall-wart power supply barely reached my floor, making connecting the Pro-Ject to AC power needlessly kludgy. Which brings me to my favorite, stealth feature of the Pro-Ject: a second belt that allows it to play 78rpm discs, a gift to those of us with beloved shellac collections.Īs it turned out, not every kink has been ironed out. And changing speeds from 33 to 45rpmpreviously accomplished by removing the platter and manually moving the belt from one pulley to anotheris now done with a discreetly placed three-way rocker switch. The shielded, directional phono cable included in the box appears far more substantial than the no-frills RCA interconnect usual at this price point. The reassuring 3.75lb steel platter is damped along the outer edge with a strip of thermoplastic elastomer watching it from the side, I could barely tell it was moving. The carbon-fiber tonearm features a tiny screw near the base for azimuth adjustment, and I could detect no play in its synthetic sapphire bearings. Much about this turntable struck me as thoughtful and cool. I checked the cartridge alignment with a Dennesen Soundtracktor. ![]() Someone at Pro-Ject had thought carefully about assembly and taken the time to iron out the kinks, a sign of a mature product. But setting up this one turned out to be almost tedium freefollowing a poster-sized sheet with logical, well-illustrated instructions, I had the Debut assembled, connected, and leveled on my Box Furniture stand in about half an hour, a personal best. ![]() I probably shouldn't admit this, but for me the fussiness and tedium of setting up a turntable rank somewhere between scrubbing a bathtub and doing taxes. As Coates told me, this was a totally different beast. Instead of the Ortofon 2M Red, the new turntable comes with an installed Sumiko Rainier, a high-output moving magnet cartridge that retails for $150. "We hated to raise the price," Coates told me, "so we thought hard about practical ways of upgrading the turntable with existing technologies from our more expensive models." The EVO ended up with a new motor suspension, a heavier and better-damped platter, adjustable metal feet, and a motor-control circuit said to improve speed accuracy and stability. Jeffrey Coates of Sumiko, Pro-Ject's US importer, told me that part of the impetus for the EVO, which retails for $499, was an unfavorable exchange rate and production cost increases at Pro-Ject's factory in the Czech Republic. So, a few weeks later, I was suitably delighted when Pro-Ject's follow-up to the Debut Carbon DCthe Debut Carbon EVOarrived at my door. This compact system filled his small New York City apartment in a pleasingly fleshed-out and satisfying way, whether playing Stevie Wonder or Sibelius. With its hefty steel platter, carbon-fiber arm, and Ortofon 2M Red cartridge, it made for an effective combination with my friend's Bellari outboard phono preamp and Audioengine powered speakers. The turntable I ended up recommending was Pro-Ject's best seller, the Debut Carbon DC ($449). Yet, in the trenches of our hobby, $500 can be an awkward amount to spend on a turntable, much less an entire record playing system it's a price more commonly associated with a perfectionist USB cable. ![]() His answer: $500, tops.įor a sane, music-loving American, that's a reasonable sum to allocate to buying a really good record player, way better than the ones you'll find at big box stores or, God help us, Urban Outfitters. "How much do you want to spend?" I asked cautiously. Last time, it was Scott Walker, Fela, Joni Mitchell, Jacques Brel, Burzum, and both glorious sides of The Chronic. This friend knows and loves music as much as I do when he visits, we spend our time drinking wine and listening to records. A few months ago, a friend asked me to recommend a record player.
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