![]() Best to have at least one or two audiophile LPs available with a critical turntable like this to know how good it can sound when fed decent material. The Debut with 2M Red cartridge came over generally as not-warm, strong mid-band insight pushing out vocals and instruments vividly.The penalty here is that old or damaged LPs can sound harsh or noisy, because the turntable reveals LP problems rather than ameliorating them. In my head I am comparing it with our SME309 arm fitted with an Ortofon Cadenza Bronze MC cartridge, a quality standard imprinted into my brain. Her soaring crescendo in the last grooves held steady and was brightly clean but not sharp and edgy.There was a little glare and lack of solidity perhaps, but heavens this is a seriously budget turntable. Two Countries One Heart also has a great end-of-side ‘test track’ where Rosella Caporale gloriously sings Time To Say Goodbye (I love the weepies!) and again the Debut showed it could deliver this track beautifully in true and best analogue fashion. More about this in Sound Quality and Measured Performance, I have good memory of the 2M Red as such, so I wondered whether the 2020 unit in this turntable had been softened up a tad from its predecessors – going back 13 years no less. Its stand-out feature is a flat frequency response with small treble lift, so it doesn’t sound warm like MMs of yore”. ![]() Back in our March 2015 issue review of the RPM I Carbon turntable similarly fitted I said “The Ortofon 2M Red MM cartridge we first measured and reviewed back in 2007. Pro-Ject say the Ortofon 2M Red cartridge fitted has “a slight touch of warmth”. ![]() I should mention that a heavy 1.7kg pressed steel platter, with thermoplastic elastomer damping pad around its internal periphery, must be placed onto the hub and there’s meant to be a felt mat it seems, but ours was missing – perhaps moths got there first! Manual cueing using the finger lift is not easy because it is flat, slippery and close to the LP surface on this arm. The arm is entirely manual, so it must be cued down using the damped platform then cued up at the end of a side. Music LPs are usually cut well below that of test discs in terms of level, so no big issue here, more a matter of assurance. The final touch is to fish out the bias weight and thread from its bag, carefully thread the loop over a small rear rod and settle it into one of the three grooves i used the furthest groove from arm pivot to apply maximum bias, as tracking tests show this is necessary for best performance when things gets difficult Pro-Ject recommend the middle groove. Screwed forward to the 1,8gm mark I used 2gm, the upper limit Not that the 2M Red is a bad tracker, so much as the sense of security that comes from highest force when playing hot (loud) cuts. All standard practice nowadays and a very good methodology too. ![]() power inlet hides underneath and the signal cable outlets are easily accessible at rear, together with an earth terminal that must be used, not for safety but to earth internal metal parts to avoid hum pickup from possible induction into them. The power rocker-switch is hidden underneath the platter at front left and is easy to get at A small d.c. ![]() The simple MDF plinth also has three height-adjustable feet so it can be perfectly levelled, as a turntable needs to be if the arm is to perform as expected. It can be slipped off the hinges if preferred, as can be necessary in a shelf system where space between shelves is limited. Whilst a measly short power cable might seem like penny-pinching, Pro-Ject still manage to supply an attractive vacuum formed clear acrylic dust cover, that moves on friction hinges. Slightly irritating here was the very short (120cm) power lead of the supply that will demand an extension lead in many systems I suspect. ![]()
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