Naturally, those inclined to tweak can do so, and should you swap the cartridge for another brand, there are options for adjustment. It even comes with the brand's own Connect-IT E shielded RCA cable and dust cover. You then add the tonearm bias weights, and Robert is your mother's brother. Mercifully for vinyl newbies, the cartridge comes already fitted, so it's a case of slipping the belt around the pulleys and carefully dropping the platter over the spindle. One thing that any Pro-Ject owner can attest to is that you can go from unpacking to spinning your first LP in moments. All in, the Debut Carbon EVO tips the balance at 5.6kg, measures 415x118x320mm (WxHxD) and sits on a trio of heavy-duty metal, height-adjustable damped feet. Pro-Ject says the deck's signal-to-noise ratio is 68dB, with wow and flutter figures of ☐.17% at 33rpm and ☐.15%, at 45 – that's hardly Technics SP-10R territory, but not bad at the price. Speed control comes by way of a rocker switch that flips between off in the centre position and 45 or 33.3RPM at either side. I was told that Pro-Ject took inspiration from more advanced TPE damping and high-mass sandwich constructions to come up with a new motor and suspension solution for the Debut Carbon EVO. The 1.7kg steel platter is acoustically damped by an integrated thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) ring, and its belt is spun by a motor with an improved mounting. In Australia and New Zealand, buyers can also opt for the Debut Carbon Acryl, the same as the Carbon Evo but sporting an Acrylic Platter (AUD $1,059 / NZD:$1,149)Īfter the swish grown-up finishes, the second thing that grabs your eye is the one-piece 8.6-inch carbon fibre tonearm with a lowish quoted effective mass of 6g, meaning it's perfectly tailored for moving magnet cartridges. It comes loaded with the very decent Ortofon 2M Red moving magnet cartridge, although USA buyers get a Sumiko Rainier as standard. Available in black, red or white gloss, our review model came wrapped in a beautiful blue satin finish other no-cost satin options are black, white, green and yellow, and there's also a classy-looking walnut finish if you so desire. That said, it does appear that Pro-Ject has been slowly elevating its Debut class turntables from the initial pared-down options to a competitively-priced mid-ranger. Why this trip down memory lane? Well, the latest Debut Carbon EVO seems to share more with the 1 Xpression than the original Debut. If that's your thing, then more power to you – but this deck showed us that there was a larger audience out there who simply wanted to enjoy their LP records…

I'm talking about a suspended subchassis and overly-complex tonearm arrangements that demand hours of pin-point aligning accuracy. Personally, I still love its design as it eschewed what some lead us to believe to be requirements for quality vinyl playback. My first Pro-Ject was a bargain 1 Xpression, more-or-less a hot-rodded Debut as it came with a tapered carbon fibre tonearm and 2.2kg aluminium alloy platter while retaining an MDF plinth and plain-yet-attractive styling. This no-frills design rightly won its fair share of praise as well as becoming one of hi-fi's best selling products, ever.

The original deck sported a pressed steel platter, MDF plinth and a bundled Ortofon OM5E cartridge bolted to its aluminium tonearm. Making its first appearance in 1999, it was designed to be an entry-level turntable at a time where LPs were still called records and music was played on Compact Disc – unless you were a geek already messing around with MP3s. Fast-forward eight years later, and the affordable audiophile market welcomed the Pro-Ject Debut. Heinz Lichtenegger's Pro-Ject 1 turntable was launched in 1991 and proved an instant sales success thanks to its honest and unpretentious design, decent performance and bargain price tag.

Project debut carbon evo review