Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

The Signature’s massive circular alloy sub-chassis and arm outrigger is decoupled from the polished MDF plinth with a layer of TPE. This, in turn, holds the inverted bearing spindle and magnet at its centre while the main platter – all 10.5kg of it – locates overhead, the load on the ceramic ball and thrust pad reduced by the upwards magnetic repulsion. As a result, through-bearing rumble is very low at –71.3dB (20Hz-20kHz, DIN-B wtd, re. 1kHz/5cm/sec) but is exceptionally so when measured through-the-groove (which is where it really matters) at –73.8dB. This is a state-of-the-art result. The dual-motor/flywheel drive system also delivers a fast ~5sec start-up time although the absolute speed was initially –0.29% slow in our sample. Speed variations are better managed, the Signature 12.2 holding peak-wtd wow to 0.03% and higher-rate flutter to 0.06%, the latter largely noise-related rather than correlated to discrete sidebands [see Graph 1, below].

The partnering 12in tonearm is not only a sight to behold but is also best suited to substantial, low compliance MCs thanks to its high 22g effective mass. To mitigate the mechanical loading inherent in such a massy design, Pro-Ject has opted for a three-point rather than unipivot bearing for the arm’s vertical and horizontal movement, reducing the load on the fulcrum without increasing friction/stiction beyond ~10mg. S-shaped arms typically have more complex sets of bending, torsional and harmonic resonances than straight tubes, although the main mode here is deferred to a high 120Hz with associated modes at 193Hz and 310Hz all at a low level and quickly damped [CSD waterfall, Graph 2]. The sharp, distinct ‘ringing’ here at 1.2kHz, presumably inside the tube, is not commonly observed. PM