Pro-Ject RPM 9 Carbon Turntable - Gloss Black, Low Output Songbird Cartridge

"A Terrific Package… for Years of Vinyl-spinning Thrills"

Pro-Ject's RPM 9 Carbon turntable combines beautiful and clever design with true high-end sound quality. And the price is exceptionally low, considering the level of performance that the RPM 9 delivers. This version of the RPM 9 Carbon comes with the flagship Sumiko Songbird MC phono cartridge in your choice of the high-output or low-output model.

"The Pro-Ject RPM 9 Carbon continues the brand’s outstanding run of sonic and technical improvements in affordable vinyl playback,' reports Neil Gader in his July 31, 2015 review for The Absolute Sound. "Without qualification, the RPM 9 Carbon is a terrific package, certain to give a great many lucky owners years of vinyl-spinning thrills."

Thanks to extensive research and development, Pro-Ject has raised its classic RPM turntable design to an even higher level. Although the RPM 9 resembles the very popular RM-9.2, it is a significant upgrade which features a new mass-loaded, sandwich design plinth, a TPE-damped polished aluminum platter with integral vinyl mat on top, and an exceptionally quiet DC-driven motor which incorporates the design of Pro-Ject's Speed Box II technology with electronic speed control.

Last but not least, the no compromise 9“ EVO tonearm with conical carbon-fiber armtube and inverted bearing design ensures perfect tracking, even with demanding cartridges.

Newly Designed Extra Heavy Chassis

The RPM 9 Carbon uses a new extra heavy chassis. It features a special CNC machined MDF plate that incorporates hard resin coated steel pellets to form an extra heavy precise sandwich construction. A special, complex heat treatment and a carbon surface coating ensure superior low resonance levels. The mass-loaded chassis is effectively decoupled from its surface using magnetic feet.

Special Polished Aluminum Platter

Rather than using a acrylic platter like the RM-9.2, the RPM 9 uses a new special polished aluminum platter with internal TPE damping and a vinyl layer on top which forms an integral turntable mat. The inverted ceramic main bearing delivers an absolute stable turntable speed with extra low rumble.

Ultra Quiet Motor with Electronic Speed Control

The RPM 9 features an extra heavy outboard motor unit using an extremely quiet DC-driven power supply. Drawing on Pro-Ject's Speed Box II, the RPM 9 has precision motor control and features a built-in switch that lets you very conveniently select 33-1/3 rpm or 45 rpm speed. No messing with pulleys or belts to change speed, and the delivered speed is precise and very stable.

Outstanding 9cc Evolution Tonearm

An outstanding 9" tonearm, the 9cc Evolution, incorporates a conical carbon fiber arm tube with integrated headshell made of a single piece of carbon fiber and new ultra-rigid bearing assembly to give you the ability to use more massive and lower compliant moving coil cartridges.

The headshell and conical armtube are formed from a single piece of carbon fiber for maximum rigidity and resonance control. The armtube stills allows azimuth adjustments, despite the fixed headshell. The vertical tracking angle is also adjustable. Nominal speeds are 33-1/3 rpm and 45 rpm.

Chassis-mounted female RCA connectors on the rear panel allow you to use any single ended interconnects. A brass record clamp is included.

Includes Sumiko Songbird Cartridge

The Sumiko Songbird moving coil phono cartridge builds upon the strengths of, and lessons learned from, the bestselling high-end cartridge in the world, the Blue Point Special. No aspect of the cartridge's design was left to chance. To avoid unwanted external resonance storage the conventional cartridge body was eliminated. This allowed for the construction of the most efficient path for evacuating internal resonance through the structure of the cartridge directly into the tonearm.

This low mechanical impedance mounting system, combined with the optimization of mass, provides the perfect environment for the carefully chosen working elements of the cartridge. The coated aluminum cantilever chosen for the Songbird provides excellent energy transfer from the stylus to the coils.

Virtually all conventional moving coils get by with a suspension element made from a butyl material. For the Songbird, Sumiko chose to use a synthetic rubber where the hardness (10 degrees) and repulsion factor (8%) of the material can be tightly controlled with molding temperature, cure time, and skin tension.

Additionally, with this synthetic material, the specified parameters of the suspension are held to design tolerance for a longer period of time. These steps help insure the cartridge will perform as designed for a longer period of time and will last considerably longer than other designs. The final result provides a combination of superior dynamics and excellent long term tracking ability.

Choose a high output or low output version of the Songbird.