Last year, Pro-Ject released the Debut Pro turntable to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Now it's improved on that design with the Debut Pro S, while also launching a box that promises to "de-crackle" your battered old vinyl.
The Debut Pro S saw its first preview at High End Munich 2022 back in May, but has now had a proper unveiling. It keeps many of the innovations made with the Debut Pro, but is better suited to systems where you need to change between turntable cartridges.
A key feature is the 10" s-shaped tonearm, which gives you more control over how the turntable is set up. Its aluminium tube is mounted into a precision-milled bearing housing, which sits atop a mounting plate that allows for VTA (Vertical Tracking Angle) adjustment. And its SME-type connector allows for easy switching between headshells, so you can quickly swap in different cartridges depending on the type of record or genre you're listening to.
The Debut Pro S comes with a Pro-Ject Pick-IT S2 C cartridge pre-installed, but switching this for another should be a doddle.
The new tonearm necessitates a larger, more stable MDF main chassis which is machine-made and finished in satin black. Add to this the AC drive which is decoupled from the main chassis by a mounting plate with TPE-damped fixing points, and you should get minimal interference when listening.
Holdovers from the Debut Pro include a diamond-cut aluminium sub-platter and three height-adjustable, damped metal feet.
It comes with accessories, including a dust cover and a Connect-IT E phono cable in the box. All you need to add is a hi-fi system with a moving magnet phono pre-amplifier and you're good to go.
And if you want to breathe new life into your battered old record collection, Pro-Ject has just the thing. The Vinyl NRS Box S3 removes the crackles, pops and other noise common to old records, making them sound good as new.
It connects between the phono stage and amplifier and uses a digital signal processing algorithm at 24-bit / 96kHz to clean up the sound. And you don't have to disconnect it from your system when playing mint condition vinyl either – just activate its galvanic bypass function to remove it from the signal chain.
The Debut Pro S costs £799 ($923, AU$1357), and the Vinyl NRS Box S3 is £289 ($334, AU$491). Both are available now.
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