Mellotronix
Super Member
I wish I were more of an expert in the turntable field. There are a few resources online about The Classic, but they are mostly pro reviews from people who may have some sort of stake in Pro-ject. The deck itself is a bit of a conundrum. It occupies a difficult position in the market--too expensive to be considered budget; not exotic enough to be a high end contender. It will be interesting to see how it fares in the long run.I am very interested in your thoughts regarding "The Classic."
Here's my take. First off, it's exceptionally quiet. The motor is mounted to the outer frame which is separated from the central plinth via sorbothane spheres. The assembly containing the platter and tonearm floats above the frame with what appears to be just the right amount of cushion. Not too springy, but not too stiff. I'd imagine that it took a lot of prototyping to get this just right, but it's beautiful in its simplicity and it is effective.
The tonearm is not as prone to picking up stray sympathetic vibrations from speakers/subs as the Carbon Debut that I own. It has a core of lightweight aluminum sandwiched in carbon fibre, and the main bearing is supposedly very high quality Japanese construction. The gimbal is adequate and it allows for azimuth adjustment and vertical tracking alignment (hope I'm using the right terms here). The caveat is that VTA is fiddly and the assembly tends to dive as you are tightening the adjustment screws. It is a challenge getting the (uhf) allen wrench into the screw slot without completely screwing up the alignment and having to start over. Frustrating, but doable if you are patient and steady handed. Azimuth was good from the factory, so I have not had the pleasure of trying that yet.
It came with an Ortofon 2m Silver which is a slight upgrade from the red. Same bonded tip and cantilever, just some silver coils. I upgraded to a nude diamond Ortofon Blue immediately. Since I purchased mine, I have noticed that some dealers are selling the Classic sans cartridge for a $50 discount. I say, get the Silver for $50 and keep it on hand for utility. It retails for around $100. Use it with your badly damaged LP's.
The design of the tonearm head is sweet with the drop handle at a nearly perfect angle. The felt mat is crap, but not as crappy as the ones that come with the Carbon Debut line. Anyway, I read that this heavy, heavy platter needs a cork mat to make it sound its best, so that's what I'm using. The platter is flawless and looks like it was carved from a billet of high grade aluminum, but who knows. Maybe theres info about that. Anyway, you gotta show that sucker off between LP sessions because it is something to see. Just use the included cotton gloves when handling it. The platter is damped on the underside with some sort of Sorbothane impregnated material and if you tap on the platter with a chop stick, there is only a staccato percussive sound, no ringing or metallic noise whatsoever. The inner plinth is some sort of metalized mdf, but it looks like brushed aluminum and is easy to keep clear of dust and fingerprints.
There are three adjustable feet, supposedly vibration damped, but I'm using those Sorbothane discs underneath each of them. The feet seem really cheap to me. It really lets down an otherwise thoughtful design. The deck weighs a ton, well maybe 20-25 pounds. Looked it up. 22.5 pounds. Not a bad guess! The wiring harness goes straight down the center of the gimbal, again a very thoughtful design feature. The counterweight is, again, beautiful polished aluminum, very substantial but difficult to fine tune.
The sound has got to be very, very good with all of these features. Everything about the design is devoted to a singular purpose--high quality reproduction of vinyl. Nothing appears to be for show and the fit and finish are exceptional with one very insignificant niggle: The 4 edges along the top metallic layer of the inner plinth could use a light filing. But you won't notice it from more than 6" away.
Notice, I am avoiding how it sounds. To my ears, it's wonderful. But I might have a slightly different paradigm about listening to vinyl than most normal people. I like the fact that Robert Fripp chose to reissue the original mixes and stereo masters of the early King Crimson albums. Just fresh lacquer. So, Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part one is barely above the noise floor of the vinyl. It's a visceral experience of vinyl noise mixed with weird percussion. Book of Saturday hits you like a freight train. I like how Fripp uses the inherent vinyl artifacts as part of the listening experience. So, perfect reproduction is not part of my thinking when it comes to vinyl playback. I am, as a result, a very unqualified judge of high end vinyl reproduction, but I'm guessing that the Pro-ject Classic is more than up to the task. It also has some sort of speed control device built in which aids in stability. Does it sound like a lot of TT for the money to you folks? Cheap plastic feet notwithstanding? And did I mention that it is dead quiet? Zero, zip, nada, niet, ach du lieber es ist sehr, sehr schön. Das ist ein schnitteges Plattenspieler or do you say Drehscheibe?
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