Pro-Ject Debut Carbon or Rega - RP1 w/Performance Pack

"Only $204.00" (!!!!!!)
According to Needledoctor...
That is way too much considering the cart is a little more than that!

No problem! I dug your enthusiasm..,I have been there!!

 

I think he's saying the 2M Blue Stylus is (only) 114 more of your USD than a replacement 2M Red stylus when it falls due.

 

Ah...ok then it makes sense!
Cool.

 

As far as the hum goes, the second that I turned it on with the Pro-Ject Speed Box S, the hum was completely gone. I now have perfect, sweet black background ( as long as my record is clean and I use my ZeroStat gun). The cool thing is, my ZeroStat Gun is 36 years old and it still de-ionizes as good as it ever did. And, with the Ortofon Bronze Cartridge, it is so much more obvious than the cheap cartridges that I was using way back then, so I can really tell that the ZeroStat is removing ALL STATIC. It even works on my old MFSL CSN&Y Deja Vu, (although I always cleaned that album with dish soap in the sink, and it was always really clean, as this was in the days before the fabulous Spin-Clean system). I love that album, and the Ortofon Bronze proves that MFSL knew what they were doing as far back as the early 80's. I just wonder who picked Al Stewart's " The Year Of The Cat" for the first LP to invest large sums of money into. I can think of about 100 albums more worthy of becoming our new company's Flagship Album. They must have had their wives decide which album was going to be 001.
Anyway, long story (obviously,sorry) short, The Debut Carbon is not a table that should make You throw in the towel and sell all of the vinyl that You accumulated. With a few simple improvements You can set Yourself up with years of listening pleasure. Vinyl was never easy, but it can sound oh, so good with a little elbow grease. Don't Give Up!

 

Before coming upon this topic, I just purchased the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon with the Ortofon 2M Red Cart.

Based on reading all the posts, I am curious as to which, if any, of the upgrades mentioned I "need". Would seem like the felt platter mat would be a good place to start? What does the speed box do?

Sorry for such basic questions, but the Pro-Ject replaced a Sony turntable I got back in '76 while still in college, so I've have been out of the turntable market for quite awhile. (To my wife's chagrin, it was the Beatles mono vinyl box that triggered the purchase.)

 

It seems to me quite sad that I need to upgrade the turntable before being satisfied. What's the difference between spending $$$ to upgrade the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon and exchanging for the next one up? Or would I need to upgrade that one too? I'm quite disappointed so far. I have the motor hum when I close the lid and also have audio hum...

 

audio equipment is a sticky wicket for sure.i have a ten year old pro-ject debut lll TT.my stereo system is probably a higher end budget system.my upgrades to TT include....... a speed box-which allows you to switch between 33-45 without having to move the belt manually.i have heard it also might play a bit of a role in keeping the TT overall speed even.i also upgraded to an acrylic platter...no felt mat.i also use a record clamp.i upgraded my stylus to an OM 20.i think the current ortofon cart is better or just as good.last year the TT began making an audible hum.i brought it a local audio dealer and they were able to isolate the motor and don't hear the hum anymore(for the most part).total investment for TT $750 or so.when the TT starts making the hum again and i can just tell it will....will just go for the whatever is current debut lll pro-ject TT....unless i hit the lottery.

 

Thanks Ham. I read through the article and I'm going to try looking for the S/E upgrade kit.

 

That S/E kit is apparently for the older models. My model already has the rubber grommets. I removed the screws and the grommets - no more hum when the lid is closed. I still have hum when playing a record.

 

Yeah, it's a difficult thing to try to hack a fix for. The rumble is sort of inherent in the design. Some of the more expensive Pro-Ject turntables implement some additional isolation and handling of motor rumble (like isolating the tonearm).

My fix is to consider something along the lines of a VPI Traveler or similar. But budget puts that at least a year away. I still use my Debut III, but the rumble makes it not so enjoyable.

 

After dealing with the hum for over a month I got a refund for the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon. I just discovered today that a new model (Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Esprit SB (DC) is out mid to late November 2014, seemingly solving the problems of the Debut.

http://www.project-audio.com/main.php?prod=debutcarbonespritsbdc&cat=turntables&lang=en

• Built-in precision Speed Box with switch on upper side (33/45 & 78rpm out of the box)

• 8,6” carbon tonearm

• Heavy non resonant acrylic platter

• New DC power supply with synchronous AC motor

• New TPE (thermo plastic elastomers) motor suspension

• Magnetic cartridge 2M red from Ortofon

• For 78 playback: remove stylus & exchange to 2M78 (not included, retail price around € 80)

• High-gloss black, red or white piano lacquer finish

Turntable Lab has a good comparison between the models:

http://turntablelab.com/pages/the-d...t-debut-carbon-debut-and-carbon-dc-turntables

 

Nice! I wonder how well the new improvements will do at fixing the rumble hum? Looks promising.

 

Where are you based? That's the model that I got in the UK last January. It's a brilliant package (great in white)... though I do find it a bugger to pick 7" & 10" up of the smooth surface of the acrylic platter.

 

I am in Canada, the poor neighbour of the US. The Pro-Ject Debut Carbon is listed at $399 in the US, but $475 in Canada. The exchange rate does not justify the difference. I'm willing to pay the extra for these upgrades if the turntable gets to Canada.

 

There are these 7" slip mats: http://turntablelab.com/collections...s/stokyo-dr-suzuki-x-technics-7-slipmats-pair

 

I now see that there's also a DC model for the Debut Carbon http://turntablelab.com/collections/daily-arrivals/products/pro-ject-debut-carbon-dc-turntable-red

 

Stupid web design... "Released 2015"?

 

I have one, and she's a beauty!

 

I know the topic is about Project Debut Carbon vs Rega RP1. I almost bought RP1 after comparing it with Debut...but then if the RP1 sounded so good why not stretch it a little bit to RP3 (Performance Pack installed) which I did. I could not stretch more towards RP6 as my funds were limited. Today, after few tweaks here and there including after 3 carts with the latest Nagaoka MP110, I'm quite pleased with what I had achieved so far.

Now, looking at Groove Tracers Delrin plater and Ultimate Sub plater as the next tweak after reading few suggestions in this forum. Rega TT has been very flexible to do tweaking and upgrading.

 

This probably won't be helpful but I've traveled down the tweaked and tricked Rega road and, at the end of it, I decided that none of the various add-ons or alterations give any real benefit over the stock Rega components. Rega know what they are doing. They've been in the game for long enough.

With an RP3, I would say resist the urge to mess with it except to consider the 'white belt' and the TT-PSU (if you don't already have those). Everything else is just window dressing...

 

I've had the hum issue with my Pro-ject RM5, but I've bought two debuts also.
I got one for a friend and one for my daughter. Neither of these had the hum issue at all. They were dead silent.
Nice tables.....

 

I just got the Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Esprit SB (DC) last week and I'm loving it. It's a beautiful white thing. I know it's an entry level table, but it sounds really good and is everything I need (for now).

Note the "SB" means a Speed Box is built in, with a speed select button on the front. Push it once to turn the motor on to 33 1/3 rpm, push again for 45 rpm. Hold the button for a couple of seconds to turn the motor off.

The only problem I had was electrical noise from the 15V DC wall wart power supply. Granted, I had my headphones turned all the way up to hear it. The noise was evident even with the motor off, and even with the power not plugged in, if the power connecter was near the phono output cables.

My father tinkers with radios so I got him to build a 15V regulator which I power with a clean 24V DC power supply. This was a no cost option for me, although I'm sure a clean 15V DC power supply could be purchased. The turntable is dead quiet now, even with the motor running.

 

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I can now add in 2014 now that I have upgraded my Dual 502 with a new Rega 202/250 arm that I will not be buying anymore turntables. I can live with the 3 I have and now buy more music. I have since moved the Stanton 881S to my Yamaha P550, the shure M97 to my Sony and my Ortofon OM30 to the Rega...for now.

 

This is a good advice. Thanks. A lot of favaourable comments have been posted about the TT-PSU. I've yet to get one myself. In your personal opinions, what makes it so difference as compared to without it?

 

Well, apart from the obvious and immediate benefit of being able to change speed without removing the glass platter, the off-board PSU gives a more stable rotation speed with the effect that everything sounds 'tighter' - deeper but better controlled bass, more detail and a better soundstage. If you are careful and buy a good used unit (or ex-dem) you will be able to sell it on again if you ever move say from Rega or upgrade to something like an RP6 (which is supplied with the TT-PSU) and probably lose very little off the purchase price. I did exactly that, and sold the PSU (having upgraded to the RP6) at a loss of just £6.00. Not bad for a couple of years use..!