Project X1B
B is for balanced. The beginning of a balanced era
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 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. And best of all, cartridges by nature are already balanced signal transducers! With True Balanced your are simply using everything, literally everything, that your cartridge is picking up from the record groove.
Even more advanced than the PRO. We add an acrylic platter for superb resonance control and use a tonearm with precision bearings.
For those for whom sound quality is not an option.1) A new, heavy, non-resonant Acryl platter is standard. There are advantages to Acryl - biggest of which is the way it is a mechanical coupling with the record (records are made of Acryl) Many high-end turntables have adopted Acryl.We use a sub-platter drive system and a premium grade main bearing for liquid smooth rotation.
2) The X1 carbon tonearm uses even more precise bearings. You want freedom of movement, but tight tolerances to avoid bearing vibration. Our super stiff, perfectly tempered Carbon/Alu sandwich construction tonearm is incredibly light and stiff, with improved resistance to external interference. Finished as a one-piece with no resonance inducing headshell, the Project X1 can be set for VTA and azimuth adjustment. The tonearm is then suppled with a TPE-damped counterweight, further reducing cartridge-tonearm resonances.
3) We added height-adjustable feet in their Alu/TPE sandwich construction that are a very exclusive but necessary feature to level up the turntable and effectively isolate it from the surface it is placed on.The X-1's 8 layers of finish and hand polish guarantee its luxury appearance.4) We have a power generating board, producing the cleanest power for the motor, resulting in the most accurate and stable speeds - the rest just take power directly from the wal, and could result in extreme speed variations that need to be readjusted all the time. Our control system takes care of this for you.5) New motor-suspension:
Motors vibrate, that is true for any motor, and therefore they must be suspended and isolated from the turntable plinth.
Our old suspension worked perfectly almost all the time, but we have improved it to work even better. We used our technology and experience gained from past suspensions and high-end turntable suspension with more advanced TPE damping and high-mass sandwich constructions to come up with a new solution for the X-1.
Expensive but effective.6) Supplied with a brand new Pro-Ject Pick it S2 MM cartridge, manufactured by the cartridge experts at Ortofon but voiced by the design team at Pro-Ject, it can be ready to play within a few minutes of unboxing. Also supplied in the box is our Connect-IT E RCA cables, a semi-balanced, low-capacitance cable with superior shielding that’s optimized for turntable use.
Note: the Balanced cable is optional.
Again, we have set the bar for an affordable high-performance turntable that also looks and feels incredibly luxurious higher than ever before. We are excited to win more customers for our hobby and passion: analog music listening.Reviews
"The most striking thing about this deck is its expansive, open presentation. This is the first requirement of any decent turntable, but normally you would have to pay more to find it"read the review in review hifi news"The main strengths I’d heard at the start were always apparent: greater impact and solidity in the bass, superclear and extended highs, and lots of detail throughout the audioband and especially the midrange, where voices live. What most struck a chord with me was how immediate and exciting the X1 could make my LPs sound"read the reviewProject X1 wins prestigious European Award
Features
- Speed control with electronic speed switch for ultimate speed stability
- Carefully isolated motor for less vibration and noise
- Sub-platter with extremely low 0.001mm bearing tolerances
- Stainless steel platter-bearing with soft brass bushing and teflon mirrors for lowest rumble and noise, and a stable, accurate speed transmission
- Resonance free, 1.5 kg heavy acryl platter
- 8,6” carbon/alu sandwich tonearm with best internal damping and TPE damped counterweight
- Kardan ultra-low friction 4 pin point precision tonearm bearing
- Ortofon Pick it S2 MM cartridge newly developed with Ortofon
- Massive and heavy, precision CNC‘d MDF chassis
- Luxury 8 layers of painting and hand-polished finish or real-wood, satin-waxed veneer
- Super shielded, semi-symmetrical, low-capacitance Pro-Ject phono cables
- Height adjustable, aluminium feet for massively reduced risk of acoustical feedback
- Handmade in Europe
Technical Specifications
- Speed 33, 45, 78 (electronic speed change)
- Principle belt drive
- Speed variance 33: 0.30% 45: 0.25%
- Wow & flutter 33: 0.15% 45: 0.13%
- Platter 20mm thick, 1.5 kg heavy acryl
- Main bearing stainless steel/brass
- Tonearm 8,6” carbon/aluminium sandwich
- Effective arm length 218,5 mm
- Overhang 18 mm
- Effective tonearm mass 10,0g
- Tracking force range 0 - 30mN
- Included accessories 15volts DC /0,8A power supply, Dust cover, Connect it E Phono cable, feltmat
- Optional - mini XLR cable (available separately) for using a balanced phono stage, like our Phono Box S3 B
- Power consumption 5,0 watts max /< 0.3 watt standby
- Dimensions 415 x 125 x 335 mm (WxHxD)
- Weight 7 kg net / 9.5 kg gross weight
