Customer Reviews:
 Good out of the box, great if you tweak it April 21, 2010
L. Hjorth (Denmark)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Being from Denmark I have not bought my Debut III on amazon but in a danish hi-fi store. The prices on electronic is similar in DK and UK. But I buy quite a lot of vinyl and CD's on amazon UK and US and I got a decent hi-fi set up, so I think I can give You a good review on this turntable anyway. Besides the Project, my hi-fi set up is: Klipsch RB61 horn speakers on stands (RB61 bought on amazon.com), B&W asw 608 active subwoofer, NAD C542 CD player, Musical Fidelity X-DAC v8, Musical Fidelity X-LPS v8 phono stage, Audio Classic single ended tube pre amp- and amplifier that runs in pure class A (handbuild from a small danish firm), Creek OBH 21 headphone amplifier, Grado RS1 headphones. It's all connected with thick quality cabels from Audioquest, Van Der Hul and Vincent. As it shows, I'm in to good sound. I like to sit and really listen to the music where I go in to the musical details and lyrics. So when I after a few years back and forth, finally decided that I wanted to get back into the analog LP sound again, I had to look for a good match to my sound system. I was used to a neutral detailed sound with a good bass from both my speakers and headphones. To cut a long story short: I went for the Debut III with the M.F. phono stage and Vincent cabels. I immediately changed the stock Ortofon OM5 with a Grado Prestice Gold cartridge. The OM5 is probably not bad, but for the sound I wanted, there was no point even try to listen to it. When I had connected the Project Debut III to my hi-fi set up, I was immediately impressed with the sound. The music sounded just as detailed and clean in the treble as my CD's, but with two differences: One was the upside, the analog sound was more smooth and pleasant than the digital. Two was the downside, the metalplatter and feltmat tend to give a muddy bass at high volume, so some musical details and singing voices would be affected by it, but only at high volume. I allso think it depends on the hi-fi equipment. Others may not have a problem with the metalplatter and felt at all. I solved the problem with the Project acrylic platter. It really tightend up the bass, but made the treble a little flat op the top. So I supplied the acrylic platter with the Project cork mat. Then I got a tight deep bass, high musical detail and a clean crisp treble. For a few weeks I was happy with the sound, but then I started to get listening fatigue. So I ended up with a 0,5 m.m. thick DIY leather mat on the acryl platter. It gives the sound a slightly soft treble, but keeps the tight bass and high detals. The sound from the Debut III/phono stage now matches my CD/DAC that cost more than the double and the Debut sound is acturally a bit better, because it's more plesant to listen to. Especially singing voices and electric guitars sounds way better on the Debut. The motor/ driving belt on the Debut III is very stabile, the sound reprodution is rock solid even when a singer holds the tone for a long time. When the counterweight and antiskating is set right, the tonearm stays on track all the way. Even at the end of the record, the sound is clean with no distortion at all. The Debut has no suspension, so put it on it's own wall mounted self for optimal preformance. For some the Project Debut III will give a good sound as it is out of the box. Others may need to tweek the sound to match their needs. If You have a bass problem then start with a leather or corkmat and see were it takes you. That may be enough, that may not. Whether or not You are happy with this turntable as it is or You need to spend some extra money to upgrade the sound, this is a turntable that gives a music enthusiast good value for the money and a sound that I would say is great unless you are an hardcore audiophile. Highly recommendable.
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