Reddit reviews Pro-Ject: Acryl-It Platter Upgrade

Pictured is my Ortofon 2M Bronze, which I added to my setup roughly 6 months ago now. After spending half a year with it, I can confidently say it’s both the most dramatic upgrade in sound, as well as the most “sound value” per dollar spent.

I bought my Pro-Ject Debut Carbon, with the stock 2M Red and metal platter, in early 2015 and have made a few modifications to it and my set up in general since then. I was getting quite frustrated with the IGD from the Red, and wasn’t very happy with the overall sound, so I decided to move to the 2M Blue – picking up a Blue stylus for $200 (the cart body for the Red and Blue is the same so I was able to save some cash there). Around this time I also ditched the stock platter in favor of the Acryl-It for $100 (and a Pro-Ject record puck for $80). The Blue helped clear up most of the IGD issues I had with the Red, but even after getting past the “break-in” period I still felt the sound was a bit to “sterile” for my taste and began searching for the next step for a cart/stylus. I was relatively happy with the acrylic platter; my biggest desire was to help with static issues I was having and the platter upgrade definitely helped there. Not sure how much improvement in sound it made, but the reduced static and lack of need for a mat were welcomed. The record weight seemed to have helped reduce some resonance and picked up a bit of bass, and of course helped to flatten some records with minor warps. Around this time I also picked up a pack of vibrapods for ~$25; which helped further isolate the table.

So, at this point I had invested ~$400 in upgrades and was moderately happy with my sound, but was ready for a bigger jump. Enter the 2M Bronze.

I had narrowed my next cart choice down between the 2M Bronze, the AT4440mla, and a Goldring 1006. It came down to price and availability at said price, as I found an open-box (yet unused) 2M Bronze cart for $300 on ebay. A few weeks later I received it, mounted it, and was wowed immediately. Any minor traces of IGD leftover from the Blue were gone completely. The soundstage seemed wider, fuller, and more “colorful”. The music, as cliché as this may sound, sounded “musical” again. It handles surface noise like a champ, reducing some irritating pops and clicks to background noise. And on a well mastered album, it truly shines as each instrument has enough room to full breathe and be heard clearly. As time wore on and the stylus really opened up my initial excitement only grew. Now, about 6 months in, I am still as happy as I was on day 1. I’ve since sold my Blue stylus, recouping some of the initial upgrade costs.

In retrospect, I do wish I had skipped the Blue all together and gone straight to the Bronze. While I was able to sell the Blue at only a $50 loss, I just felt like it may have been unnecessary. That isn’t to say the Blue isn’t a good cart – because it is a perfectly fine piece. But it just wasn’t what I was looking for and I probably jumped the gun too early on the change from the Red. Overall, the Bronze is by far the best investment I made, followed by the record weight/acrylic platter and finally the vibrapods. Overall, I’ve put in a net $550 into my table and I’m reasonably content and don’t have any major upgrades for the table planned (the next move is either getting a second 2M Bronze when this wears out, or upgrading the table as a whole to a VPI Scout or something similar). Next up is the phono stage…thinking about adding tubes to the chain!

I apologize for the wall of text for those just looking for pictures ;-). Part of what prompted this post is simply my continued joy of having the 2M Bronze, but another was that I’ve had a few questions come in about upgrade paths and people on the fence between the Blue and Bronze (or other carts in similar ranges). So, in that second regard, I hope that helps a bit! Feel free to ask any questions about the carts or upgrades!

Edit: Bonus shot of the 2M series from Red to Bronze

I have the Pro-Ject DC Carbon (https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Ject-Debut-Carbon-DC-Black/dp/B00IIMXATU), which is even better with the upgraded platter (https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Ject-ACRYLIT-Acryl-It-Platter-Upgrade/dp/B0097CY4NQ).

Absolutely love it, but for the lower price-range the LP120 is where it's at if you want new. My friend has one and it's pretty nice.

As he (Serariron) said, vintage stuff is great and can be found cheap, but then you might need to worry about fixing something up or making sure you have nice pre-amps and whatnot to go with it. So for ease and cost the LP120 is really the best choice.

The platter is clear acrylic but it sort of takes on the color of the vinyl a little .

I got it at https://www.amazon.com/Pro-Ject-ACRYLIT-Acryl-It-Platter-Upgrade/dp/B0097CY4NQ

For the Pro-Ject tables, I'd recommend the acrylic platter rather than just the mat. This one is specifically designed for these tables and looks pretty nice. I have one and haven't noticed any static issues.