Turntable Pro-Ject The Classic Reference (Cartridge in option)
The new The Classic Reference combines technical finesse and luxury design like no other turntable. It is based on the The Classic EVO and the experience we gained designing our iconic turntable for the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Tonearm, Clamp & Dustcover included
Cartridge optional
Limited edition
A true reference turntable
Pro-Ject Audio Systems was getting famous for superlative sounding, simple, but still audiophile turntables. No thrill and no unnecessary cosmetics, only value materials and high-tech technology.
Over the years more and more Pro-Ject lovers demanded higher end turntables with more spectacular luxury finishes. As we have the skill and technology to do so, we started to create true luxury products like the Signature Line. One of our career highlights was to create a superlative sounding and looking turntable with the world-famous Vienna Philharmonics for their 175 birthday.
We used the original wood and metals of the original music instruments to manufacture 175 pieces. These today are well searched and demanded collectors items. Therefore, we decided to bring back this beautiful design, for sure not with the instrument parts, but with similar beauty and technology.
The new The Classic Reference combines technical finesse and luxury design like no other turntable. It is based on the The Classic EVO and the experience we won designing and building our icon turntable the 175 VPO.
Limited edition cartridge
The Classic Reference is available with a hand-selected VPO Anniversary cartridge. The sound of this special cartridge was finetuned together with members of the Vienna Philharmonics and built in Europe by Ortofon according to our specifications.
The housing of the cartridge is made from a very high damping alloy, carefully polished to match the surface of the turntable.
High End Tonearm
The Classic Reference is euqipped with our high end precision EVO 9 AS HG tonearm.
The tonearm uses an inverted cardanic Swiss ABEC 7 quality bearing with 4 stainless steel tips. The bearing sits in a heavyweight aluminium housing, which provides the needed stability.
The massive outside ring is open to avoid resonances. For the EVO AS tonearms, we use a special aluminium s-shape tube with the highest internal damping, paired with a SME headshell. The inner wiring is made of flexible high-purity copper which is an optimum conductor for the very small phono signal. Each lead is fitted with a goldplated connector clip.
Platter & sub-platter
The heavy aluminium main platter construction utilises advanced thermo plastic elastomers (TPE) for optimising resonance behaviour. A drawback for most of the old designs was the platter. Casted platters all have been heavy (which is good for speed constancy and low wow and flutter) but suffered very much from ringing effects which again caused colouration of the sound. The platter of the The Classic Referece is precisely machined out of a special aluminium alloy again damped with TPE, which offers special damping abilities. The main bearing construction we use is a similar system as the one on the Vienna Philharmonic Recordplayer.
True Balanced XLR output
The new The Classic Reference offers classic RCA and additional balanced XLR output sockets. Balanced audio connections are usually known from the professional sector like recording studios or live concerts. It is very important to have a stable & interference free connection, as these signals, especially microphone signals, will be highly amplified.
The same applies to the connection from your turntable to the phono preamplifier. The big advantage of a balanced connection is its ability to remove picked up noise and interferences.
High quality phono cable
A cable needs to ensure that every detail and information of the signal is transmitted to the dedicated receiving device. Using a poor cable can limit your whole HiFi setup.
The included Connect it Phono E RCA is a high quality phono optimized cable. We focused on quality core materials like a copper conductor for a signal transmission without losses.
Sophisticated DC/AC power generator
In all our turntables, we use a “cheap looking” switch mode power supply. We do this, as we use a precision DC-driven AC generator inside the turntable, which powers the motor. With this we create a completely clean new sine wave. This guarantees very clean power which results in enhanced speed stability.
Features
- NEW High end 9“ S-shape tonearm: EVO 9 AS HG
- NEW SME connector for quick cartridge swapes
- NEW Balanced XLR and single-ended outputs on the back
- Ultra low friction zircon pin-point cardan bearings
- Electronic speedcontrol (33, 48 + 78 RPM)
- Fully adjustable azimuth and VTA
- Aluminium MDF sandwich chassis
- Sandwich subchassis with TPE suspension
- Precision balanced TPE-damped aluminium-platter
- TPE damped counterweight
- Clamp it record clamp included
- Leather it turntable mat included
- Height adjustable decoupling feet
- Hand-made in Europe
- Speed: 33, 45 (78) RPM (electronic speed change);
- Drive principle: Belt drive
- Platter: 300 mm aluminium with TPE damping ring
- Mains bearing: Stainless steel
- Wow & flutter: 33: ±0.03 % 45: ±0.04 %
- Speed variance: 33: ±0.08 % 45: ±0.10 %
- Signal to noise: 73dB
- Tonearm: EVO 9 AS HG
- Effective arm length: 230 mm
- Effective arm mass: 24.2 g
- Overhang: 18 mm
- Included accessories: 15 Volts DC / 0.8 A power supply,
- dust cover, Leather it, Clamp it
- Power connection: 110/120 or 230/240 Volt - 50 or 60 Hz
- Power consumption: 5 Watt max / < 0.5 Watt standby
- Dimensions: 460 x 131 x 351 mm (WxHxD) lid closed