Project turntable9/19/2023 In operation once you flick the plinth-mounted Start switch, in classic automatic style, the tonearm lifts off its cradle, lands on the start of the record, plays to the end, automatically lifts off the record and swivels back to the tonearm cradle whereupon, the turntable switches itself off. And it should be obviously positioned – somewhere on the plinth. But it should have been easily visible and even easier to use. If you’re aiming the A1 at the beginner, the non-audiophile, the guy who doesn’t want to faff with HiFi, who may very well be technophobic, the guy who just wants to listen to music, then asking him to fiddle with a switch, mounted directly to a circuit board, accessed through a platter window, under the platter mat, is slightly bizarre. Tracking force and anti-skate are non-adjustable and are fixed which, considering the target audience for this design, is not only understandable but I would venture to say an essential requirement. That’s industry speak for a tonearm that’s about as spindly as Tinkerbell’s magic wand. To the right is the ULM, this is a very basic-looking, 8.3” aluminium tonearm which Pro-Ject describes as “ultra-light-mass”. I was expecting a light and fluffy basic plinth design here but the company insists that most of the plinth is solid with only enough space within to hold the actual mechanism. The A1 tries its best to stick to what’s necessary to operate the turntable and no more.įor what it is, the plinth is surprisingly solid and heavy. It may be a boon for any nervous beginners out there who might be wary of lots of buttons, knobs and other controls. Oddly for an automatic, it does retain a certain minimalist design ethic. The turntable is a fairly basic-looking device. During the actual play, the automatic mechanism is reportedly disengaged, taking a back seat, which should help sound. The key point in the A1’s design is Pro-Ject’s assertion that the automatic operation only engages before and after the record is being played. The twin-speed, belt-driven A1 or, to give it its full name, the Automat A1, is the first in a new line of turntables from Pro-Ject under the Automat banner. Pro-Ject, it appears, doesn’t know the meaning of the word. What many music fans have been crying out for is a fully automatic turntable, priced around £300 or so, that goes big on features but also gives a big nod to audiophile-level sound quality.įor many years, such a goal seemed impossible. That’s all well and good but for many vinyl fans out there. That is, at the flick of a switch the tonearm of the said record player would lift itself up in the air, it would swing over to the start of the record – whether that record be a 12” album or a 7” single – it would lower itself to the record surface and, upon completion, lift itself from the record surface, return the tonearm to its cradle and then switch off the record player.ĭuring the later 70s and 80s, the fully automatic turntable beam deeply unfashionable and faded from view while the manual turntable began to dominate the market. In my case, that was a Dansette-a-like fully automatic record player presented in a big box with a built-in amplifier and single speaker. For many of us currently into our HiFi and music in general, we began our road to sonic nirvana via a solid and no doubt decidedly stout record player. There is something oddly apt about the name of this new turntable from Pro-Ject because it will take many of us back to the beginning. Taking record playing back to it historical roots, Paul Rigby looks at the fully automatic turntable, the Automat A1
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