Pro-Ject Audio Systems claims to be the world’s largest manufacturer of audio turntables by far, and I have no reason to doubt that claim. In addition to offering a comprehensive lineup of turntables under its own brand, Pro-Ject manufactures ’tables for other brands as well. Their products receive near-unanimous praise for their engineering, materials, and sonic performance.
Priced at $649 (all prices in USD), the T2 Super Phono is the latest addition to Pro-Ject’s affordable T-series lineup. Compared to the older T1 models, which are still in production, T2 models have improved tonearms, upgraded cartridges (Sumiko Rainier rather than Ortofon OM 5E), and heavier glass platters (3.75 rather than 1.75 pounds). The T2 Super Phono has all those upgrades, but its signature feature is a built-in “dual-stage split-passive phono preamp” that Pro-Ject claims “leaves other built-in MM phono stages in the dust!”
I wasn’t sure what “dual-stage split-passive” meant, so I asked Jeffery Coates, who at the time was brand director of Pro-Ject Audio USA. Essentially, it has to do with the way the T2 Super’s phono stage applies RIAA equalization. On all phonographic records, low frequencies are reduced in level and high frequencies are boosted. The process is reversed during playback by the phono preamp. Theoretically, this should result in flat frequency response.
With Pro-Ject’s dual-stage split-passive phono stage, “the high-pass and low-pass sections of the RIAA EQ are split into separate circuits,” Coates explained in an email exchange. “This is more expensive to implement, but ultimately delivers closer matching to the RIAA EQ curve and more accurate playback of the music on the record. We typically include this type of circuitry in our DS and RS series of phono preamps, so to have this in a built-in preamp is pretty remarkable!”
Description
Measuring 5.3″H × 18″W × 13.2″D, including its heavy plastic dust cover, the T2 Super Phono is available in three finishes: gloss black, gloss white, and matte walnut. My review sample had the gloss black finish. The matte-black arm with nickel-finished counterweight and the glass platter combine to give the T2 Super a very clean, modern look.
The T2 Super features electronic speed control, so there’s no need to shift the drive belt to change speeds. That switch is on the left side of the base. The top surface of the plinth has only the platter, arm, and cueing lever.
If you’ve read some of my past reviews of Pro-Ject turntables, you may recall me complaining about their gravity antiskate feature, which is implemented with a small weight attached to a pole on the back of the arm pivot by an extremely fine nylon thread. With my shaky hands and compromised eyesight, it sometimes takes me 20 minutes to loop that thread onto the tonearm. Mercy of mercies, the T2 Super has a spring-tension antiskate control. As Pro-Ject points out, gravity antiskating is more accurate, because the force remains consistent as the tonearm traverses the record, but the spring-tension method is more convenient. To make things even simpler, the T2 Super Phono came with the tracking and antiskate forces already set. Talk about plug-and-play!
The tonearm has an effective length of 8.8″ and has an integrated headshell, which makes it harder to switch cartridges. However, Pro-Ject maintains that a one-piece tonearm-headshell reduces resonances that can smear the sound of the music. As previously mentioned, the cartridge is the Sumiko Oyster Rainier, which I reviewed in July 2018 and liked very much. It is equipped with a 0.3 × 0.7-mil elliptical stylus mounted on an aluminum cantilever. It’s available separately for $149.
On the back panel is the switch that engages or disengages the built-in phono stage, with the ground terminal and RCA output jacks next to it. The inlet for the 15V wall-wart power supply is on the right side.
The turntable comes with the drive belt, a 45-rpm adaptor, a tiny Allen wrench to loosen the counterweight set screw and adjust the tracking force, the power supply, a pair of Pro-Ject’s nifty Connect it interconnects with integral ground wire, a simple tracking-force gauge, a cartridge-alignment tool, and an illustrated setup guide. A full manual is available on Pro-Ject’s website. The T2 Super Phono is covered by a one-year limited warranty.
Unpacking and setup
After opening the box, you first remove a piece of cardboard. Beneath the cardboard is an envelope that contains the interconnects, drive belt, and alignment tool. It sits on top of a plastic bag that contains the felt platter mat on top of another piece of cardboard. Remove those to reveal the dust cover, which is held in place by cardboard forms and wrapped in a heavy wrap.
The ’table itself is held in place by four polystyrene forms, with a strip of cardboard that is punched to go over the spindle keeping the sub-platter secure during shipment. Remove that, and the turntable, in its protective plastic bag, comes right out. On the bottom of the box, the thick glass platter is held in place by more forms. Take it out and you’re ready for the setup sequence.
Setting up the T2 Super Phono is stone-cold simple. Remove the drive belt from the paper envelope and wrap it around the sub-platter and drive pulley, then install the platter and felt mat.
The tonearm, with preinstalled cartridge, is held in place by two foam squares. After I removed them, I dug out my digital tracking-force gauge to see how well the arm was set. The answer was “pretty well”; tracking force measured 2.2gm, the upper end of the manufacturer’s recommended range. I took the opportunity to back it off to Sumiko’s recommended 2gm. I also adjusted the antiskate dial to 2gm from its factory setting (approximately 2.2). Not a major deal, and no going through the rigamarole of balancing the arm and futzing with the counterweight. Pro-Ject gets a gold star for the simple setup process. (It’s worth noting that Pro-Ject prefers to use the maximum tracking force recommended by the manufacturer, saying that this reduces record wear and maximizes performance.)
Then, connect the RCA cables and ground wire to the ’table and your amplifier, and set the phono stage engage/disengage switch. If your amplifier has its own phono stage you want to use, you leave the switch out. If your amp doesn’t have a phono stage, or if it does but you’d prefer to use Pro-Ject’s, press the switch in. Plug the power-supply connector into its spot on the rear of the turntable and apply mains power. That’s all there is to it.
Before I started to listen, I used the RPM Speed & Wow app on my smartphone to check speed accuracy and estimated wow. The T2 Super is the first turntable I can recall reviewing that was exactly on speed at 33.3 rpm; wow was a commendable ±0.08%. At 45, speed was slightly fast at 45.08 rpm (+0.18%) and wow was ±0.10%. Speed accuracy and wow were both better than Pro-Ject’s specifications.
One very nice feature of the T2 Super is its cueing. The arm and stylus descend to the record surface more slowly and gently than any other turntable I can remember reviewing.
Listening
Per my usual practice when I review turntables with built-in phono stages, for the first part of my listening, I connected the T2 Super to the phono input on my Apt Holman preamp and defeated the turntable’s phono stage.
I started with an orchestral piece to see how the T2 Super Phono and Rainier cartridge handled large-scale works. I chose the first movement, marked Vivace assai, of Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 82 in C performed by Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields (Philips 9500 519). Two things struck me right off, one bad, one good. The bad: the Rainier cartridge is fairly sensitive to pops and clicks—not to the point of being obnoxious, but it lets you know when the record surface isn’t perfect. The good: soundstage depth was excellent. The winds were behind the violas and cellos, with the brass farther back, just in front of the percussion. Lateral imaging was also exceptionally good. The midrange took the spotlight, but highs and lows were not hidden. The strings sounded especially smooth, and attacks were precise. In all, very impressive and enjoyable.
I’ve been reading a hefty biography of Dave Brubeck, so I thought I’d pull out his quartet’s most famous album, Time Out (Columbia PC 8192). On “Everybody’s Jumpin’,” drummer Joe Morello keeps up a steady rhythm, mostly brushes on snare and cymbal, until he gets his own short solo near the end, where he makes good use of the sticks. Through the T2 Super, the sound of that solo was impressive—quick and precise. Brubeck plays more melody, rather than his typical chords, and Paul Desmond’s sax is, as usual, smooth as butterscotch and twice as tasty. This is early stereo: drums are on the hard left, Eugene Wright’s bass is hard right, Brubeck is just right of center, and Desmond, just left. The whole recording is drenched in the natural echo of the famed Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York. The soundstage had nice width and some depth, with Brubeck’s piano a bit behind Desmond. The T2 Super’s performance was exceptionally fine on this track—a great treat!
It was one of the stranger singing duos: Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. But their album of Cole Porter songs, Love for Sale (Columbia 6024354080), is just fabulous. For all her over-the-top persona, the Lady shows a real feeling for Porter’s music. And despite being more than 90 years old at the time, Tony Bennett, “the last of the saloon singers,” as he was called, matches her. The backing group, a quintet of piano, trumpet, saxophone/flute, drums, and bass, was well dispersed across the soundstage; my only gripe was that the drums went wall-to-wall—not a natural sound, but that’s the way the album was recorded. The T2 Super did a stellar job with the material. The sound was crisp and clean, with nice depth and lateral spread. I particularly liked the way the Pro-Ject/Sumiko combo rendered the trumpet without any fuss or bother, but with a full, natural sound.
I’ve always loved “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” from Paul Simon’s eponymous album (Columbia KC 30750) for the sound of the acoustic guitars—on a good system, the listener can pick out individual strings through the strumming. The T2 Super brought all that out extremely well—the guitars sounded wonderfully crisp and clean. The bass line is very simple; Russell George mostly hits a note and lets it resonate slowly. That can be missed with some turntables, but it wasn’t with the T2 Super. Simon’s voice is dead center with the two-guitar accompaniment on the left and right. The rather spare percussion spreads across the back of the soundstage. As with any album produced by Simon and engineer Roy Halee, the overall sound is rich and clean, and the T2 Super did it complete justice.
Although I can’t dance a step, disco is one of my favorite genres. I think one of the best songs from the disco era is “The Hustle” by Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony, from their 1975 album Disco Baby (AVCO AV-69006-698). As I was playing this song on the T2 Super, I was struck by the fact that McCoy wrote it along the same lines as J.S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” in that the fast, prominent flute part is actually accompaniment; the melody comes from the strings and brass. The strings, in particular, insinuate themselves into the piece at the beginning, softly playing on the hard left. Throughout the piece they are silky smooth, and that came through in aces on the T2 Super. The trumpets, on the right, cut through and made their statement solidly. The bass line was tight and had some slam, though the bass drum sounded like someone had stuffed mashed potatoes inside of it; the sound was kind of floppy and imprecise, but that can be blamed on the album’s engineer. Otherwise, this is a great recording and the T2 brought out all the nuances of the piece, especially the strings.
Back in the 1970s, a lot of guys believed that women could never form a band that rocked out. Then along came Heart, fronted by the Wilson sisters—Ann on vocals and Nancy on guitar. One of their early hits was “Barracuda” from their 1977 album Little Queen (Portrait JR 34799). The lead guitars pulse with force. Ann’s exquisite voice is enhanced with fairly heavy echo. The drummer keeps up a pounding beat. All of these were reproduced in excellent fashion except for one thing the record itself lacks: soundstage depth. The soundstage is relatively wide, but the vocals and the instruments have the sonic depth of a leaf of rice paper. And that’s a shame, because the song could have been even more exciting. However, the T2 Super delivered the sound brilliantly, warts and all.
Comparison 1: Onboard phono stage vs. the Apt Holman
As noted in my introduction, Pro-Ject takes great pride in the T2 Super’s dual-stage split-passive phono stage. So I engaged the onboard stage and connected the T2 Super to the Aux 1 input of my Apt Holman preamp. I knew this would be a tough competition, because the Apt preamp is known for its excellent phono stage.
For this comparison, I played “Ai No Corrida” from The Best (A&M SP 3200), a collection of hit recordings by Quincy Jones from the late 1960s and early ’70s. “Ai No Corrida” has a strong Latin-disco beat, a prominent bass line, and lots of brass. Through the T2 Super’s phono stage, all was as it should be—crisp attacks of the trumpets, strong bass, and great rhythm from the percussion. The unit reproduced the lyrics adequately, although there were many I didn’t understand.
Next, I disengaged the T2 Super’s internal phono stage and reconnected the ’table to the Phono 2 input on my Apt Holman preamp. When I played the same song, it was as if a curtain had been lifted. The bass was even punchier, staccato attacks of the trumpets were more dramatic, and I could definitely understand the words. The soundstage had excellent width and height, and I could easily tell where the instruments were placed in the mix.
Pro-Ject’s circuit design may represent, to their way of thinking, the pinnacle of the type, but I was a bit disappointed by the way in which it handled the vocals on this track. All in all, I think I’d stick to the Apt Holman’s phono stage were the T2 Super Phono mine. But as I said above, this is a tough comparison.
Comparison 2: Pro-Ject T2 Super Phono–Sumiko Oyster Rainier vs. Music Hall Stealth–Ortofon 2M Blue
This is another tough comparison. My reference vinyl setup—a Music Hall Stealth ’table and Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge—costs $1000 more than the T2 Super Phono. For this comparison, I decided to stick with “Ai No Corrida,” as this track contains many of the details I look for when reviewing turntables. Both turntables were connected to the Apt Holman, the T2 Super to Phono 2 and the Stealth to Phono 1.
As noted above, the T2 Super through the Apt turned in a very, very fine performance. There was good width and depth to the sound, and the instruments and vocals were fairly intelligible.
The Stealth treated the instruments with even more elan; the bass nearly thundered, the brass instruments were more forward, and the percussion was even more rhythmic. However—and it’s a big “however”—I thought the T2 Super Phono did a somewhat better job at bringing out the lyrics. I was surprised, but there’s no getting around it—the Rainier cartridge pulled out more vocal detail than the 2M Blue. Both turntables did well, but the T2 Super Phono had an extra edge that made it my favorite with that cut.
Conclusion
Pro-Ject Audio can take justifiable pride in their T2 Super Phono. It’s a good-looking unit, it has very good speed accuracy, it’s gentle with records, and, most importantly, it sounds terrific. At $649, it represents fine value for the money. If someone asked me my opinion of the best turntables in its price range, I would certainly rank the T2 Super Phono as one of the top two or three. If the Pro-Ject T2 Super Phono fits your budget, it would be foolish not to give it very strong consideration.
. . . Thom Moon
thom@soundstagenetwork.com
Associated Equipment
- Speakers: Acoustic Energy Radiance 3; Vera-Fi Audio Vanguard Caldera 10 subwoofer.
- Power Amplifier: NAD C 275BEE.
- Preamplifier: Apt Corporation Holman.
- Analog Source: Music Hall Stealth turntable and Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge.
- Interconnects: Manufacturer-supplied for turntables; Morrow Audio MA1 analog from preamp to power amplifier.
- Speaker cables: Audtek 14-gauge OFC cable terminated in banana plugs.
Pro-Ject T2 Super Phono Turntable with Sumiko Oyster Rainier Cartridge
Price: $649.
Warranty: One year, parts and labor.
Pro-Ject Audio Systems
Wirtschaftspark A5
Analogweg 1
2130 Mistelbach
Austria
Website: project-audio.com
US contact:
Pro-Ject Audio USA
11763 95th Ave N
Maple Grove, MN 55369
Phone: (510) 843-4500
Website: pro-jectusa.com