Here at Audio Affair, we’re always on the look out for ways which we can give you excellent value. We adore every facet of the hi-fi industry, but there are times you can’t tell a good price from a ‘bad’ one, owed in part to the luxury nature of the industry. This is why, whenever we get the chance, we jump on a bargain with all of our might, and shout it from the rooftops.
Yes, super hi-end hi-fi can be affordable. Yes, you can get a lot of bang for you buck… and the incredible Pro-Ject are a good place to start!
Let’s take a closer look at the Pro-Ject SB DC turntable. Aside from its incredibly dashing good looks, it features the Pro-Ject 9cc Evolution tonearm. It sounds humble enough, but it’s far from that. It’s made from carbon fibre (one of the lightest substances known to man), a high end substance, for what is ultimately a very high end design.
Yes, £1049 for a turntable is still a lot of money to pretty much everyone, but there was a time that you’d have to spend a great deal more than that just to add a tonearm of this calibre to the rest of your turntable. Let’s put it this way, this package includes an Ortofon 2M Silver moving magnet phono cartridge. This cartridge isnt actually available separately, but would likely cost around £200 (or more!) if it were! That alone makes this set up worth far, far more than you’ll ever pay for it.
Another benefit to this particular package is the cartridge comes pre-aligned from the factory! You’ll still need to set the downforce and do some other minor adjustments (we have a blog on that subject right here) before unpacking your vinyl, but it saves you fitting the cartridge which, in our eyes, saved you a lot of potential money wasted in breakages. Cartridges are very fragile!
There are few more little tricks up this turntable’s sleeve that make it the great value it is. It features Electronic speed control with ultimate speed stability alongside an offset motor which is to the side of the platter (rather than underneath it) to reduce the chance of noise from the motor being picked up by the cartridge. A cartridge this high end will pick up everything, so this lack of interference will help no end.
The electronic speed control system on the turntable ensures it will run very accurately at both 33.3rpm or 45rpm. Pitch is important. Although all turntables are designed to run at 33.3rpm, the accuracy with which they run at this speed can make a big difference to the sound.
To top this off, you have the heavy duty sandwich design MDF platter, all reassuringly heavy and substantial. It all screams “high end design” like a hi-fi banshee, and also ensures minimal resonance during playback. The result on sound? Less noise and deeper, heavier “blacker” backgrounds.
Your Xperience will conclude with something beautifully finished (in your choice of piano black, olive or mahogany. Our favourite is the mahogany!) It isnt available in white, although if you like what you have seen here and you simply must have gloss white, Pro-ject do the higher end Xtension 9 Super Pack model in gloss white, although it will cost you twice as much!
Take a closer look at the full listing here, or get in touch with us if you have any questions… or even fancy a cheeky demo!