Pro-Ject’s new Debut Evo 2 turntable is a no-nonsense, thoroughly modern-looking piece of kit, and the company says the view of the rear end was as important as that of the front and sides.
To that end, the Debut Evo 2 is the first turntable where the RCA output box and the power socket were built into the plinth. Very clean.
Pro-Ject says the Debut Evo 2 has an improved tonearm bearing block and counterweight.
“The tonearm pivot assembly might look familiar. It now uses the same bearing block as Debut PRO B. The additional mass draws unwanted resonance away from the armtube & cartridge. It also provides a more stable anchor for the tonearm’s pivot. These improvements along with the carbon fiber tube & ABEC 7 ball/race bearing provide effortless tracking with no friction, allowing all the micro-detail through.”
The 1.7kg platter is CNC-machined from aluminum. Pro-Ject says additional machining is applied in the precision-balancing process, “which ascertains the platter is completely steady & even as it rotates”.
To eliminate potential for unwanted resonance created by the metal material, Pro-Ject says it machined a ridge into the underside of the platter and filled it with a thermoplastic elastomer to mute any potential ringing effect.
Finish-wise, Red Wine has been added in the satin range of black, blue, green, white, yellow and real walnut wood veneer. Gloss finishes are black, white and red.
So is vinyl really making (another) comeback?
In 2023 in the US 43.2 million LPs and EPs were sold, accounting for 8% of revenues. That’s up exponentially since 2006, according to Statista, when there were less than one million LPs and EPs sold.
But it’s way down on the halcyon days of the 1970s, when more than 300 million LPs and EPs would be sold in a single year.
Vinyl singles are a separate matter, as they were huge for a number of decades before fading away.
In Australia sales of vinyl were up by 14% per cent to $42 million in 2023. But overall music sales were dominated by subscribers paying fees to streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music.
They spent $467 million which accounted for nearly 70% of the total $676 million revenue.
