Pro-Ject Phono Boxes

[kensalriser]

Can anyone with knowledge of this range give me a brief heirarchical rundown?

I'm re-establishing my old primary system as a second system: NAC102/NAP180 into Royd Apex. The 102 has no phono cards. Turntable I'm most likely to use near-term is a Technics SL1210 MKII but at this point I'd rather have the flexibility of a phono stage with MM/MC capability than install cards.

Budget is under £100 for the (used) phono stage and Pro-Ject seems to fit bill, but there's a bewildering array of models; Phono Box, Phono Box II, S, S2, SE and so on. I get that Phono Box vanilla is probably the base model but what about the rest?

 

[JensenHealey]

I guess the price staircase is pretty reliable indicator of where Pro-Ject think the range is.

I agree though - the ranges they have seem bewildering - do they really sell them all. Not just Phono amps - all sorts of stuff is the same...PreAmps, DACs, mixtures of both, Amps. All represented in every one of the ranges. And the names are so confusing too.

Would be better with Phono 1, Phono 2, Phono 3 and so on.

I heard an advert on the radio for a Samsung mobile phone. The model name was reeled off at high speed and was a mile long. Clearly marketing not their speciality.

 

[Del monaco]

I have the S2. Got mint one for £90 or so. Nice sounding for the price.

 

[manicatel]

At under £100, there won’t be a wild variance between them.
Some may offer MC Capability, or more control options on the front panel.
They’re all pretty decent & for your budget I wouldn’t sweat it too much. There won’t be massive differences between them.
ProJect always seem to have a bewildering range, often quite closely priced to each other. Some, I think are designed/ sold for the European or markets other than the U.K.

 

[Del monaco]

At under £100, there won’t be a wild variance between them.
Some may offer MC Capability, or more control options on the front panel.
They’re all pretty decent & for your budget I wouldn’t sweat it too much. There won’t be massive differences between them.
ProJect always seem to have a bewildering range, often quite closely priced to each other. Some, I think are designed/ sold for the European or markets other than the U.K.

They’re more than decent.

 

[Rob998]

I have a Phonobox SE ii which is a MM/MC stage with variable loading. I was more than happy with it for a good few years until upgradeitis struck just as a friend offered me a bargain that I couldn’t resist. I tried it with some very nice carts (Dynavector Karats, Transfiguration various Ortofon MCs) and It definitely punches above its payscale. I’m not trying to say is a giant killer, but it performs well against stuff up to 2 or 3 times its price.

@kensalriser, It’s sat in the backup box at the moment, but you’re welcome to give it a try for the cost of postage, and £100 would probably buy it if you like it.

 

[manicatel]

They’re more than decent.

Yea, I agree. “Decent” is doing them a bit of a dis-service.
ProJect seem to be one of those brands that have a hard time being taken seriously amongst Hifi fans (snobs?).
Maybe it is that seeming saturation of so many market price points, which I think is unnecessary & somewhat confusing.
They seem to use cheap wall-wart type power supplies, which I’m not too keen on, but for the sub £400 region, I guess that’s to be expected.
Their DS Tube Box is a superb phono stage, probably my favourite sub£1k PS. Someone wanting great vfm, ProJect is a very good way to go.

 

[daytona600]

17 models price range from £50 to £1400 ranges are E / C / S2 / DS2 / RS / RS2
Project have shipped over 2million phono stages

Phono Box RS2 – Pro-Ject Audio Systems (project-audio.com)

Search Results for “phono stage” – Pro-Ject Audio Systems (project-audio.com)

 

[DuncanF]

I have a DS2 USB which I bought as I wanted cartridge loading options and DSP output for ripping vinyl. It seems to be well made and I like the tactile switches. It has more inputs (2 phono + line) and outputs (line, USB and S/PDIF) than I'll need but that flexibility will be useful for some I'm sure.

 

[Darren L]

I have one of the little inexpensive Phono S2 and find it is pretty good for the money, certainly as good as the onboard stage in the Brio R, okay there's a lot better available but for the price it's hard to find any fault.

 

[RustyB]

Running a PB 2. Nicely made, sounds fine in a modest system, on MM and MC. Mine came with a chunky linear PSU, not sure whether that's standard issue.

 

[stuwils]

I would fit phono boards to your naim preamp, the cheaper pro-ject phono stages will not come close IMHO

Rgds
Stuart

 

[SteveG]

I have one of the early Project Tube Boxes. I don't recall what I paid for it (but it's not likely to have been much) but it's a very decent performer and personally I prefer it over the MM phono boards that were in my Naim pre-amp. I switched it into my main system to temporarily replace the Simaudio phono stage I was using before (the Simaudio got moved to another system while I was trying out different cartridges) but I've never switched it back as it sounds good.