Pro-Ject Essential

I am in a rush and not sure if anybody mentioned this before...

"Good speed" Veii? My Essential turntable played much too fast. No way to get the speed down except by wrapping about 10 metres of tape around the platter. Amazing how they can get it so wrong and not provide any way to put it right - no adjust possibility even by attacking the motor unit. GOt it sent to France too so no return possibility for the price.

I have always had a speed problem with tape decks but with a turntable , in the days when they are trying to get some business off Cd players etc, it seems a howler.

Jonathan

Just for the record.  After this review was published, we decided to bring in the Essential in Matt red and matt white - cost is an extra £15.

Mods, hope this post is in line with rules.

Quite easy to set up, even if you are a beginner like me.  The vertical tracking force is really fiddly and annoying to set up, though.

The sound is excellent for �150, good speed, timing and dynamics.  It is VERY bright sounding, so you'll need tone controls on your Amplifier to make it listenable, even if you have a 'warm' sounding Amp like mine.  No amount of 'running in' has made any difference.  Also the RCA interconnects are encaptured, so you can't change them for something warmer.

All in all a great purchase.  Has great build quality, and doesn't look that cheap.  For �150 it's worth just using your tone controls to get rid of the brightness, and to make it sound a bit richer and more analogue.