Pro-Ject Audio Systems is a European brand established over 25 years ago in 1991 and is renowned for designing excellent value turntables, tonearms, Box range hi-fi separates and vinyl accessories. Their current range includes many award winning turntables and critically acclaimed audio products.

Looking for a great value way of getting into vinyl? Pro-Ject offer some of the best value well-made turntables available, in a range that spans from the affordable Pro-ject Debut range to the high end Signature series.

Most noticeable models include the VT-E vertical turntable, Essential III Flexi-range and Classic. The Artist Series turntables exhibit collaborations with large names including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Guns N' Roses, Ringo Starr, Hard Rock Cafe and Parov Stelar.

Pro-Ject has also created special edition turntables for many industry leaders like the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra or Ortofon for their jubilees.

Each model is designed to offer excellent sound quality. With an eye for future trends, Pro-Ject turntables are consistently awarded the highest praise and industry awards available and the brand has become equated with analogue excellence.

Pro-Ject's expanded Box range offers miniature hi-fi separates that include Phono Box phono stages, Pre Box preamps and Power Box power amplifiers in DS+, DS2, S2 and RS models alongside Stereo Box RS and Pro-ject MaiA (My Audiophile Integrated Amplifier), DACs, streamers and more.

Box range is designed to offer excellent value from a space saving design and carry the excellent sonic properties Pro-Ject products have become known for. The Pro-Ject range also includes vinyl accessories for turntable set-up, maintenance and spares for existing turntable models.

Pro-Ject was founded in 1991 with the goal to offer the best analogue experience for reasonable prices. In a time where the digital audio media had been on the rise, and vinyl was declared as outdated and dead, Heinz Lichtenegger kept his belief in turntables.

Pro-Ject uses only the best components for the price and manufactures handmade goods solely in Europe. They ship to more than eighty countries and have won multiple awards from the renowned HiFi press.

They produce all turntables from scratch in Czech Republic by hand and in house from the tiniest screw to the chassis. In Slovakia, Pro-Ject manufacture micro-sized premium audio components with lasting value offering customer’s satisfaction in all their audio needs.

Unlike Moving Magnet (MM) cartridges, Moving Coil (MC) cartridges do not feature replaceable styli, meaning that if your stylus becomes worn or broken then the entire cartridge needs to be replaced. Moving Magnet cartridges are therefore more cost-effective. However, while it may seem scary to have to replace the entire cartridge, particularly as some models can be quite expensive, it is not as bad as it seems! Most manufacturers offer an exchange program, allowing you to buy a replacement Moving Coil cartridge at a significantly reduced rate when exchanging your old or broken stylus. It is also worth remembering that phono cartridge styli are made out of diamond, as this is one of the hardest materials available, meaning a well looked after and maintained stylus can last for a long time.

The output of Moving Coil (MC) cartridges is typically much lower than their Moving Magnet counterparts, and so having a phono stage which is able to offer sufficient gain is key in getting the most performance out of your cartridge possible.

Some cartridges are described as High Output Moving Coil, which means their output levels are much higher and closer to those of a Moving Magnet cartridge. High Output cartridges can be used with a wider range of phono stages, and some are suitable for use with Moving Magnet phono inputs, allowing you to use these cartridges with a much wider range of equipment.

The technology employed in Moving Coil (MC) is different to that used in Moving Magnet designs. Two coils within the shell of the cartridge are connected to the cantilever and end of the stylus. The coils are much lighter and smaller than magnets, and so can track and trace the grooves of the record better, which results in greater detail and ultimately sound quality.

Phono cartridges are available with two different types of stylus – tipped or nude. A tipped stylus is a diamond tip on a metal shank which is in turn connected to the cantilever. This is the design typically found on most budget Moving Magnet cartridges. However, this can add weight to the stylus and its tracking, so nude styli are preferred, and virtually always used in Moving Coil cartridges. A nude stylus is a whole diamond attached to the cantilever, offering greater stability and less weight, therefore improving transient reproduction.

Spherical diamond styli are typically found on most budget Moving Magnet cartridges and are the most simple and cost efficient styli to produce. They are arguably the most robust, and make maintaining your cartridge a little easier. However, from a purely sonic perspective, and for the enthusiast, the elliptical stylus found in higher end Moving Magnet and virtually all Moving Coil cartridges is certainly preferred. This stylus shape is much more similar to the cutting stylus used to create grooves in master discs, and is therefore much better suited to tracking the record’s grooves, and offering extra detail, soundstage and insight, particularly towards the inner portions of the record itself.