The Debut Carbon The Original is a belt-drive turntable built for anyone who wants a proper hi-fi record player without the cost or complexity of a high-end deck. It arrives with the Pick it S2 MM cartridge already fitted and aligned, so set-up is limited to fitting the belt, platter, counterweight and anti-skating weight before connecting it to a phono stage or an amplifier with a phono input. It is a return to the formula that made the Debut family one of the best-selling products in hi-fi history, with more than one million units sold, and it is hand-made in Europe.
The Debut Legacy
The Debut story began in 1998, when Pro-Ject founder Heinz Lichtenegger and his UK distributor Laurence Armstrong set out to build a record player that would bring high-end sound within reach of a younger generation. The Debut Carbon followed in 2012, adding a one-piece carbon fibre tonearm to the series. The Original keeps that pared-back shape and carbon tonearm, and is offered in High Gloss Black, Satin Black and Real Wood Walnut; this listing is the Satin Black finish.
Plinth and Drive System
The plinth is CNC-machined from high-density MDF with a solid interior and no hollow cavities, giving the deck a rigid, low-resonance foundation. A 1.7 kg steel platter adds rotational mass to smooth out small speed fluctuations, and sits on a sub-platter of glass-fibre-reinforced ABS. An aluminium pulley, machined to a tolerance of one thousandth of a millimetre, drives the sub-platter through a precision belt, while a TPE motor suspension decouples the motor from the plinth so its vibration does not reach the platter or the stylus. The main bearing uses a stainless steel axle running in a brass bushing.
The AC motor is fed by a DC/AC generator rather than directly from the mains. The generator converts the DC input from the supplied power adapter into its own clean, precisely controlled AC signal, so motor speed is independent of the quality of the household supply. Speed change between 33 and 45 RPM is manual.
Tonearm and Cartridge
The 8.6 inch tonearm is a single piece of carbon fibre, with the arm tube and headshell formed together to avoid joints that can resonate. It is mounted in a CNC-milled aluminium bearing block with a low-friction pin-point bearing, and the TPE-damped counterweight reduces arm and cartridge resonances by up to 50 percent. An adaptive anti-skating mechanism adjusts the compensating force as the arm travels between the outer and inner grooves, and the arm lift is silicone damped.
The Pick it S2 MM cartridge is made by Ortofon and tuned by Pro-Ject's own design team. Its elliptical stylus reads the groove precisely for detailed sound and a wide, open stereo image, and a strong cantilever of the type used in DJ cartridges makes it robust in everyday use.
Connections and Accessories
Output is via a junction box with gold-plated RCA connectors, and a phono-optimised Connect it Phono E RCA cable is included. The deck can also be run in Pro-Ject's True Balanced configuration with a suitable balanced phono stage, which requires an MC cartridge or Pick it PRO Balanced cartridge and an Acryl it or PRO platter. An acrylic dust cover that holds in any open position, a felt mat, a 7 inch single adapter and a 15 V DC power supply are all in the box.
