Pro-Ject

Pro-Ject Audio Systems is an Austrian turntable and electronics maker founded in 1991 by Heinz Lichtenegger and based in Mistelbach, Lower Austria. It started by betting on vinyl when compact disc dominated the market and grew into a record player brand selling in more than 80 countries through upward of 5,000 retail outlets. Its Debut turntable, introduced in 1999, has sold close to one million units and did much to bring affordable record playback back into the mainstream.

Range & what it's known for

Turntables remain the core. The E1 and Primary sit at the bottom, the Debut family, now including the Debut EVO and Debut Reference, covers the volume segment, the X series with models such as the X2 and X4 forms the next step, and Signature decks crown the range. Beyond record players the company builds amplifiers, phono stages, DACs, streaming devices and loudspeakers, much of it in the compact Box Design format of small matching chassis. Special editions in the Artist Collection have been made with the Vienna Philharmonic, Metallica, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.

Who owns it and where it's made

Pro-Ject remains under its founder and belongs to Audio Tuning, the group whose other brands include Tone Factory, Rekkord Audio and Musical Fidelity. Design and management are in Austria, and production takes place in its own European factories, with plants in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany. The workforce across the four factories is several hundred people.

The lineup in this catalog

Turntables (40+), phono stages (12), DACs (6), amplifiers (8) and accessories (20+). Pro-Ject products cost between about EUR 150 and EUR 8,000.

Who it's for

Pro-Ject is a sensible first stop for someone buying a record player for the first time, with the Primary E or a Debut model as the usual entry. Owners who stay with vinyl can move to the X series and later to a Signature deck, adding a Box Design phono stage, amplifier or DAC along the way to build a full system from one maker.