Pro-Ject Audio Systems has launched of three new made-in-Europe products that are all encompassed by an overriding philosophy: True Balanced Connection. The X8 turntable (£2,099.00 SRP) and matching Phono Box S3 B (£349.00 SRP) and Phono Box DS3 B (£529.00 SRP) phono stages are all balanced devices that support Pro-Ject’s concept and are available in the UK now.
All Pro-Ject turntables are balanced signal sources by their nature, but the ability to exploit this beneficial technology has traditionally only been available to more high-end or bespoke analogue systems. Pro-Ject’s True Balanced Connection concept intends to extend these benefits to a broader variety of vinyl enthusiasts than ever before.
The interconnect cable between a record player and a phono stage is prone to pick up noise on the way. That noise and interference can stem from a lot of unavoidable sources, such as household appliances, WiFi and Bluetooth devices, other power cables and audio amplifiers. Unshielded (i.e. RCA) interconnects can amplify the picked-up noise and make it audible through your speakers, interfering with the pure musical signal.
Balanced (typically XLR) cable connections double the wires carrying the musical signal – with one side inverted. In this case noise still gets picked up by both wires, but with one side reversed. When the signals are re-joined at the phono stage, the picked-up noise is cancelled out by the opposing signals. The benefit of this is a louder, cleaner musical signal that has doubled in size with almost no remaining noise.
The benefits of True Balanced Connections therefore include:
- interference-free signal transmission
- increased dynamics
- improved signal to noise ratios
All new models are available in the UK from April 2022.