Pro-Ject Signature 12.2 High-End Turntable

Overview

To really understand what high-end means, we‘ve always been working on different high-end turntable technologies to improve our reference-designs so we can create spin-offs for more affordable record players. That‘s why we created the Signature line! We‘re thrilled to offer these turntables at an extremely attractive price, as the development cost is not counted, as we anyway had to do the research to move forward with Pro-Ject technology in general. The new Signature 12.2 is now even more impressive than its predecessor!

The Signature 12.2 represents highest level of turntable technology with exclusive materials and luxury finish. The turntable is handmade only by our best trained people! All metal parts are hand polished and there are about 100 different CNC parts used – all made in house. Note, it takes about 2 days to hand-polish and precision-mount all the components, and all components are manufactured in-house. The heavy MDF main chassis is hand-painted in 10 layers and carefully hand-polished to achieve the classic, timeless and luxurious piano-black finish. The main chassis is bigger and more massive than before, plus the new rounded edges reduce standing waves. With precision CNC machining we avoid hollow spaces wherever possible, eliminating any unwanted resonances.

To ensure stable speeds a proper platter bearing is needed. The Signature 12.2 uses a special technology. The heavyweight platter spins on an inverted ceramic ball bearing with a magnetic support to reduce bearing noise and resonance to an absolute minimum. The main platter is precision CNC-machined from aluminium and weighs a substantial 10.5 kg. Taking this base, we’ve glued recycled vinyl records to the top (which act as a perfect mat) and bake this ‘sandwich’ before precision balancing it. With this solution the final product benefits from a wonderfully resonance-free, heavy platter and with the magnetic decoupling we are able to relieve the main bearing and ensure that the platter runs ultra-silently.

The new 12“ S-shape aluminium tonearm has received several new innovations. Two of the more subtle changes include improvements to the counterweight and the anti-skating. The counterweight now features a fine thread for smoother tracking force adjustment, allowing for smaller, more incremental changes.

The anti-skating philosophy has remained the same. Our correct adaptive anti-skating mechanism adjusts the anti-skating to accurately reflect the force required between the inner and outer grooves of the vinyl record. We have fine-tuned the position of the mechanism on the tonearm to make it more accessible and therefore easier to set up.

Sub-Chassis designs are more commonly found in lightweight turntables. They are incredibly effective in isolating the turntable, especially if it is placed in very close proximity to the speakers. However, there are certain elements of sub-chassis design that lend themselves exceptionally well to be used in high-mass turntables. In the Signature 12, the tonearm and platter are mounted on a TPE decoupled, resonance optimized aluminium alloy sub-chassis, another step towards separating tonearm and platter from the mass & spring-loaded main chassis and the motor block. The tonearm is equipped with an easily accessible 5P DIN connector on the back of the base and remains fully VTA adjustable on the fly, just by turning a set screw. Finding the right VTA could not be more intuitive.