![]() ![]() Setting it up is simple and just a case of taking it out of its tightly packed box, removing the packaging and placing the deck onto a level surface to fit the counterweight and set the tracking force. The X1 is available in a choice of walnut wood veneer and black or white gloss paint, and feels of decent quality at the price. The company’s Connect-IT E shielded RCA cable is bundled. It has a Kardan ultra-low friction four-pin point precision bearing, and the review sample comes pre-fitted with Pro-Ject’s new Pick-IT S2 MM cartridge, voiced by Lichtenegger and manufactured by Ortofon. It’s a one-piece design and comes with Pro-Ject’s TPE-damped counterweight it can be easily set for azimuth and VTA adjustment from its sturdy aluminium base. The new 8.6in tonearm has been upgraded with carbon and aluminium sandwich construction, claimed to be light and stiff. The motor is better isolated and now gets its juice from a DC/AC generator rather than being powered direct from the mains, and there’s a push-button three-speed control. The 1.5kg platter is also improved, being a heavier, low-resonance acrylic design. Better, height adjustable feet are fitted, with useful isolation properties. The plinth then gets eight layers of paint with a hand-polished gloss finish. Lichtenegger says the air trapped inside lower grade particleboard contributes to a soggy bass sound, hence the change – despite it costing twice as much. ![]() This uses a new denser MDF material that’s less resonant than what was originally used. Every facet of the deck’s design has been improved, starting with the plinth. ![]() Rather than simply tweaking the old product, however, the company has reimagined it, remaking it with better materials. This now lives on with the new X1, which costs £700 as supplied here with matching cartridge or £600 without. The upside of it being fully manual was its simplicity it was the epitome of the “less is more” credo. Hand assembled in the former Soviet Czech Republic, it was inexpensive to make and had no fripperies. The Pro-Ject 1 was his response, an unashamedly cheap and cheerful entry-level deck that went straight for the mass market. This left an opening for his new company to become a big fish in a smaller pond. Big corporates need large volumes to make money, and if these drop they get nervous very quickly. Speaking to me recently in Antwerp, he explained that when mass market manufacturers move out of a market, “little guys” can move in and do well. It seemed the worst time to launch a new turntable, but Pro-Ject’s Heinz Lichtenegger didn’t see things in quite these terms. This was due to two things the number of new LPs in record shops was dropping like a stone and fewer turntables, tonearms and cartridges were being sold. Had you resisted the urge to buy a compact disc player throughout the eighties – thinking that the reality didn’t match the hype – it now felt like you were about to be forced to go digital anyway. As far as analogue addicts are concerned, 1991 was not a happy time. ![]()
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