Fully automatic turntables are turntables that do most of the pre-listening work for you. One press of a button is enough, the plate starts to rotate, and the tone arm lowers at the desired point. All this is offered by Pro – Ject Automat A 2 – and a few other useful additional functions. The Pro-Ject Automat A2 is not a successor to the cheaper Automat A1 model , but expands the Pro-Ject line of automatic players.
Pro-Ject Automat A2 supports three rotation speeds – 33 ⅓, 45 and 78 rpm. Unlike the Automat A1, the rotation speed is no longer tied to the size of the record. This allows you to define the playback start point, i.e. the point at which the stylus hits the record, by yourself. Therefore, you will no longer have problems playing maxi singles at 45 rpm.
The machine here is completely mechanical and is disconnected from the system as soon as it is no longer needed, which guarantees fewer failures. Pro-Ject has paid special attention to the separation of chassis and units, which are critical to sound. An auxiliary vibration-isolated chassis is used here, on which the disk, drive and tonearm are mounted. The aluminum tonearm tube has a larger diameter than the A1 model and is attached to a self-developed gimbal bearing that minimizes friction.
The Pro-Ject Automat A2 comes with a factory-installed Ortofon 2 M Red cartridge (the A1 was equipped with a cheaper Ortofon OM10 cartridge). The robust case made of thick MDF panels has excellent anti-resonance properties. As with the Pro-Ject X8, the Pro-Ject Automat A2 comes with a balanced phono cable, but unlike the Automat A1, it does not come with a phono stage.
The Pro – Ject Automat A 2 turntable is already on sale in Europe. The recommended retail price of the novelty is 1,199 euros . This is noticeably more expensive than the price of the Automat A1 model, which is sold for 400 euros. And among fully automatic players, such expensive models are rare.
