Pro-JectDebut Carbon EVO, Audiophile Turntable with Carbon Fiber tonearm, Electronic Speed Selection and pre-Mounted Sumiko Rainier Phono Cartridge (High Gloss Black)

This turntable is a real beauty. I have the walnut version and it looks classy. The carbon tonearm, walnut plinth, sumiko cartridge, and dust cover all look great with clean lines and great style.The turntable itself came with the cartridge perfectly aligned from the factory. The counter weight and tracking were easy to set up and it all came well packaged with zero damage (which is surprising as I live in Alaska and things are often beat up when they arrive here).As for sound, first put on a Craig’s Brother album, followed by the Frightnrs, Brain Eno, and then some Debussy. So with a little punk, reggae, ambient, and classical had a good listen. The player stock from the factory sounded warm with great full bass and clear vocals. It might be a little less precise sounding then some tables but overall was very pleased with the sound.I wish it came with a nicer platter mat and wish the power supply had a longer cord. Besides those two small complaints, I’m really happy with this and am stoked that it’s all made in Europe with a Japanese cartridge. It’s nice to not be buying more Chinese stuff.

Nice . Easy set up

This record player is classy. It looks great on a shelf and it makes music sound… like music to my ears. The included needle is high quality but unfortunately I dropped it and ended up buying an upgraded replacement from the same brand. I did have issues with volume when I first set it up, but realized I needed to add a pre amp. I am new to audiophile quality equipment so I had to ask a friend what was causing this issue. With the tube pre amp the volume is great. It has two speeds for playing different sizes of records. It was also a little tricky to get the arm balance set up but I googled that and figured out that you need to follow a very specific order with setting the counterweight against the arm, which is indicated in the included directions. I love this thing but it definitely may be intended for more experienced users than me. It does not have Bluetooth connectivity but you can plug in an adapter for that if you’d like to, but that may diminish the sound quality.

In my opinion, there's not much to dislike about this deck.It comes with a big foldout setup guide that's really clear on how to get everything right. The only thing missing is where they recommend placing the anti-skate line on the tonearm. You have to go to the Pro-Ject web page and get another setup guide you can download that explains where to place it for different cartridge weights. I'd done that shortly after I ordered so I could review it, so it wasn't much of an issue.Once you have deck leveled and the anti-skate set up, there really isn't much more you have to worry about (aside from removing all the packaging). It is a little weird to begin with trying to think about how to level with only three feet, but after playing around with the setup, it's actually a lot easier because you can set your back side up, and work with the adjustments with the two front feet that are a lot easier to manipulate. Make sure you have a good level!I've seen reviews where folks have commented about the tone arm, and the awkwardness of the lifting system and tab to lift it on the arm. I must have different hands or something, I haven't really had any issues like I've read in other reviews.The noise level is very low, I don't hear much in the way of additional that would be caused by the table itself. I'm on my second week with it, and the more I use it, the nicer it sounds. I have a combination of old vinyl I bought back in the 80s and 90s, and 180 gram LPs and re-releases that are more recent. It does every one of my old records justice, as it does with the newer pressings.The Sumiko cartridge sounds pretty good to my ears, but I'm thinking about swapping in an Ortofon Blue I have to see if it makes a difference. The Sumiko seems to be a fair "plays all types of music well" piece, though, and is pretty simple to upgrade the stylus on. I know I'll eventually want to change the cartridge, but the fragility of the tonearm leads relative to my big fat fingers and lack of tweezer practice make me nervous. I can handle the alignment, it's the soldering of tiny objects after I break them that gets difficult sometimes. They did add heat shrink around the lead/contact solder joint, and that's an improvement from the last Pro-Ject I owned. This is also shielded, where the other Pro-Ject I had pretty obviously wasn't.I'm really happy with this purchase, as I was using some vintage Marantz and Pioneer decks with more modern cartridges. I'd like to give those a rest, they've done admirably, but can go into my spares area for now.