Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

This year will see the 30th anniversary of 'vinyl evangelist' Heinz Lichtenegger persuading the owners of the Tesla factory (SEV Litovel s.r.o) in the Czech Republic to continue manufacturing turntables. With his unshakable belief in vinyl eventually rising phoenix-like from the shadow of CD, he set about launching the Pro-Ject brand. Heinz's mantra 'to offer the best analogue experience for a very reasonable price' has now expanded beyond any reasonable expectation – UK importer Henley Audio's website revealing over 40 turntable solutions from the £175 Elemental to the £8000+ flagship Signature 12.

A tour of Pro-Ject's new Mistelbach headquarters in 2018 also revealed its ability to ship any turntable direct from stock [see inset picture]. Export sales manager Günter Rathammer has claimed that 'more than 40% of all turntables sold in the world over €200 are made by Pro-Ject.' If we include the OEM/rebranded models in this calculation then more than 50% of the world's 'real hi-fi' decks now seemingly originate from this one supplier. PM