Buying a new turntable to ride the current wave of interest in music on vinyl records can be both daunting and expensive. Austria's Pro-Ject is looking to make the process less so with the launch of a new line of budget-friendly hi-fi disc spinners.
Appropriately enough, Pro-Ject's new E-Line turntables for the "budget-conscious budding audiophile" starts with the E1, which is available in three versions. The E1 Standard, E1 Phono and E1 BT are all hand built in Europe and share the same essential plug and play design.
The E-Line models feature a CNC-machined composite fiber plinth in a choice of glossy black, glossy white or walnut finishes. Pro-Ject has included a new anti-resonant ABS polymer platter and new damped DC motor driving the under-platter belt setup, with electronic speed change and 0.25 percent wow and flutter (speed fluctuations) at 33 rpm and 0.23 percent at 45 rpm.
The budget turntables come with a reworked 8.6-inch straight tonearm rocking an aluminum tube and new headshell with a pre-adjusted Ortofon OM 5E cartridge. The tracking force and anti-skating settings have also been pre-adjusted by the company's factory technicians so you can get the vinyl party started straight out of the box.
The E1 Standard model will need your hi-fi amplifier to include a phono stage or you'll need to buy a phono pre-amp to sit in the middle, but the E1 Phono comes with one built in for setup ease. As the name suggests, the E1 BT also allows listeners to wirelessly connect the turntable to external Bluetooth speakers or BT headphones, and it also comes with an integrated phono pre-amp.
Whichever model listeners plump for, Pro-Ject is promising a rich, lively sound with no compromise in performance despite the beginner-friendly pricing. The E1 Standard model is priced at US$349, the E1 Phono version comes in at $399 and the E1 BT costs $499. Each ships with an acrylic dust cover.
