Проигрыватели виниловых дисков — Pro-Ject Hard Rock Café

The Hard Rock Café Turntable is a limited-run record deck that Pro-Ject Audio Systems produced in collaboration with the Hard Rock Café chain. Its basis is the Pro-Ject Primary, the maker's plug-and-play entry deck, and the plinth carries Hard Rock artwork. Pro-Ject built it for instant playback with a very simple setup, and the edition is now listed as sold out by the manufacturer.

Key specs that matter

Playback runs at 33 or 45 rpm, changed by hand, with a silicone belt turning the platter. Speed variance is 0.8 percent at 33 and 0.7 percent at 45, while wow and flutter measure 0.29 percent and 0.27 percent respectively. The 300 mm platter is MDF topped with a felt mat and rotates on a main bearing made of stainless steel. An Ortofon OM5e moving magnet cartridge comes pre-mounted, with tracking force preset to 18 mN. Maximum power consumption is 4.5 W. The deck measures 420 x 112 x 330 mm and weighs 4.0 kg net.

Engineering and use context

The aluminium tonearm turns on sapphire bearings. Its effective length is 218.5 mm, with, an overhang of 22.0 mm and an effective mass of 8.0 g. Its pre-mounted counterweight covers cartridges weighing 3 to 5.5 g, while downforce can be dialled between 0 and 25 mN. Both tracking force and anti-skating are adjusted at the factory, so the owner only fits the belt, places the platter and connects the cable. A low vibration synchronous motor is fed by a DC power supply, and special feet under the plinth isolate the plinth from its supporting furniture. A gold-plated RCA interconnect is pre-mounted to the arm, and an acrylic lid is included to keep dust off the record and stylus. As a limited run tied to a restaurant brand, the artwork is what separates it from the standard deck it is built on.

Pairing

Because the OM5e cartridge is of the MM type, this deck needs a phono input that accepts MM cartridges, either built into an integrated amplifier or provided by an external phono preamplifier. No phono preamplifier is integrated, and the fixed cable ends in RCA plugs, which suits most hi-fi amplifiers and compact phono boxes. The pre-adjusted arm settings favour keeping the supplied cartridge, while the counterweight range still allows other light MM models later.

Alternatives

Pro-Ject also sells the Primary E, the standard plug-and-play belt-driven deck in the Pro-Ject catalogue, sharing the Primary basis without the special artwork.