Turntables — Pro-Ject The Dark Side Of The Moon

The Dark Side Of The Moon Turntable is a limited edition record player in the Artist Series of Pro-Ject Audio Systems, made to mark 50 years since Pink Floyd released the album in March 1973. Pro-Ject unveiled it at the 2023 High End show in Munich, and it went on sale in the UK in October 2023 at GBP 1,599 and carried a US price of USD 1,999 as a special order item, with US shipments starting in November 2023. Pro-Ject presented it as the newest addition to its Artist Collection at the time of launch. The maker currently shows the model as sold out.

Key specs that matter

Playback runs at 33 or 45 rpm, chosen with a discrete toggle switch styled to match the rest of the deck. Wow and flutter is rated at 0.16 percent at 33 rpm and 0.14 percent at 45 rpm, with drift of 0.40 and 0.30 percent. The signal-to-noise figure is 68 dB. The platter is 10 mm tempered glass with a felt mat supplied. The arm is an 8.6 inch straight acrylic design with an effective length of 218.5 mm, an effective mass of 6.0 g and an overhang of 18.5 mm, plus spring-based anti-skating. Overall size is 495 x 135 x 405 mm, and the net weight is 6 kg.

Engineering and use context

The plinth is built from 28 mm MDF and cut in a three-cornered prism shape taken from the album artwork. A dimmable LED rainbow is set into the design for listening in a dark room, and the extended on/off lever stands in for the white beam of light entering the prism. The arm pairs black aluminium with acrylic for low resonance and for the look. Drive comes from an AC motor and a flat silicone belt, and Pro-Ject states that it keeps speed stable. Under the glass sits a precision aluminium sub-platter turning on a stainless steel axle set in a brass bushing. Power arrives from an external 15 V DC, 0.8 A supply, and the turntable draws 4 W in use and 0 W in standby. The moving magnet cartridge is a Special Edition of the Pick it PRO that Pro-Ject says was tuned specifically for this deck, and it comes pre-adjusted. Also packed are a seven inch single adapter and the mains adapter.

Pairing

Lacking a built-in preamplifier, the deck requires an amplifier offering an MM phono input or a standalone phono preamplifier. Gold-plated RCA sockets carry the signal, and a semi-symmetrical phono cable is supplied for that link.

Alternatives

Another Pro-Ject belt-drive turntable is the XA B, built on a clear acrylic chassis with a 1.7 kg die-cast aluminium platter.