Pro-Ject: Acryl-It Platter Upgrade

Beautiful platter, high quality

I have a Pro-Ject Dubut Carbon DC turntable and have read a lot of reviews on the Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter upgrade. They were all very positive so I ordered the Project Acryl-It platter. I didn't expect such an improvement, and it turned out to be quite an upgrade. The whole sound stage - bass, mid-range and treble were noticeably better. Everything was much more clearly defined, and the bass was tighter. I had a lot of static with the platter and mat that came with the turntable, and it was really hard to keep dust off my records. There were some rare pops even after making sure the records were really clean. After changing to the acrylic platter, the static charge was gone. If I get an occasional pop, I am sure it is just a lone piece of dust. The platter also looks totally awesome. This is an expensive upgrade but worth it. if you are seeking to get the most out of your system, then go for it. You won't be disappointed.

Overpriced piece of plastic? Pretty much.Do I regret it? Not at all.The difference in sound is very subtle, and I do plan to make an A/B video soon which I hope to link to this review which will put the stock platter/felt mat against the Acryl-It Platter.The real differences, in my experience, tend to occur in the tightness of bass and mid tones. That range feels like it's coming from a much more solid footing rather than bouncing off some loose carpeted flooring. If you've been in a band and played on stage and did the soundcheck with a good sound engineer in a big open hall..then perhaps the soundcheck sounded loose and hollow in a run through but the sound guy went, "don't worry, it'll sound better when the place is full," then you get on stage hours later when the house is packed and the kickdrum is felt through your whole body and soul with each hit and it's powerful...then you fall on the ground and cry because it sounds so nice through the monitors...and the stage shakes when the drummer starts pounding 4 on the floor... it's sort of like that...but wayyyy more subtle. Wayyyy more subtle. (I'm just trying to make myself feel better about spending this much money on a piece of plastic.)Ummm, but I wired together some LED lights and lit it up from the bottom, so that's cool too, I guess.

A simple, quick, cheap yet very effective upgrade. MUST be used with a turntable clamp.This is the 2nd Acryl-It I have owned. The previous was on a Pro-Ject, and now on a Music Hall MMF. I am always impressed with the sound. The backgrounds seem to vanish, the lows are tighter, mids more detailed. I think there is a slight loss of extreme highs. Overall the sound is much more focused and in control.As vinyl and acrylic are very similar, clamping the record to the Acryl-It makes the record and the platter appear to be one unit. I think this apparent single unit (rather than a steel platter, some mat, and a record) of increased mass greatly reduces noise, which in turn makes everything sound better. Besides....it does look really cool.Remember most audio tweaks are not about adding sound, but rather about removing things that interfere with the sound!I have read that some people cannot hear a difference. Those people either have very poor equipment that is not capable of resolving enough to hear a difference, or their speakers and listening environment are suffering from poor setup, or they have cotton stuffed in their ears.

B-e-a-utiful acrylic platter for the Project Debut Carbon Evo. Acrylic is supposed to be similar in composition to vinyl and it's a sonically inert material, which allegedly helps with damping vibrations to the record. Also, it's supposed to be less static prone than metal. Now, I'm not entirely convinced of the audio quality improvements of an acrylic platter but it sure does look nice on the turntable. Please note that this acrylic platter is 2mm taller than the stock steel one, which means you need to raise the tonearm by a similar amount to offset the taller platter. This is what's called the vertical tracking angle (VTA). Project makes a product called VTA-It which does just that, but it's $25. You can find an equivalent product for cheaper and you don't have to worry about compatibility since it's literally just a shim. Also, the acrylic platter is lighter than the stock steel one, which means it has less rotational inertia, or less flywheel effect. In theory, a platter with more rotational inertia is better because the flywheel effect minimizes deviations in rotation speed. Therefore, I recommend also replacing the stock plastic subpatter with the aluminum version that Project sells, which is much heavier and thus restores the rotational inertia of the stock platter. Yes, I know. It's expensive for what it is, but anyone who's been in the hobby of hi-fi knows that it's not a cheap hobby. It honestly won't make a noticeable difference in sound quality, but I don't mind it because audio quality is so subjective and we enthusiasts like to say and feel good about our purchases. If you have the financial means to acquire the acrylic platter, VTA shim, and aluminum subplatter, please try to do so after you're satisfied with everything else in your sound system, i.e. upgrade your speakers first.

I've been using an acrylic slipmat, and to my ears it made a slight improvement to the sound, tightening the overall instrument presentation and separation. This acrylic platter does the same, with greater impact. Eliminating the resonance that is inevitable with a metal platter, even when damped, is worth the price of admission. Its anti-static nature is also a major feature. Aesthetically, it looks great. I love the transparent sheen on its own, and the way it picks up the color of the vinyl is great!

Makes listening to records so much better. Recommended!

I added an aluminium encasement to my Denon DL-103 cartridge, to damp its motor vibrations, enhance the rigid connection to the tonearm, as well as adding mass to the ultra light carbon tube tonearm on my new Pro-Ject Carbon Debut DC III turntable.This necessitated a bigger counterweight (75g), bought from Music Direct. The ones an Amazon.com were reviewed as being mispackaged 65g ones, so I didn't chance them. The DL-103 VTA looks like a jacked up muscle car- higher at the back. With any sort of math on the stock platter, the VTA was off a little bit.I just finished the easy swap out of the OEM metal platter, for the new and very cool looking acrylic one. As hoped the VTA looks much better, and things sound both more solid, and see through layered.It's a similar improvement to upgrading the tubes in a preamp, or phono stage.It's only expensive if it's not worthwhile, or if the improvement is attainable some other less expensive way. This is worth it, in my living room.

So we own a Project Debut Carbon (with Ortofon Silver cartridge & stylus) and were going to upgrade to the Esprit with Acryl It platter ans built in speed control but supplier couldn't source the colour we wanted and patience ran out so we ordered the Acryl It platter and Clamp It (thought record may slip when brushing it prior to playing it) we can live without the auto speed change as with the acrylic platter it's easier to see the spindle when replacing the platter after the belt move, it's lighter and no mat on top either to line up.We've been happy with the sound of the Debut Carbon (the Cork It mat was our first "upgrade" and we thought it added a bit compared to the felt mat) but had read reports of the improvement from the Acryl It platter but we were sceptical we'd hear it. Initially we played a 12" single back to back with original platter, Cork It mat and the new Clamp It and then the Acryl It platter and Clamp It - there is a difference, a positive difference but I'm not sure how to describe it - it sounds as though the bass is tighter/cleaner and more defined whilst the mid and higher notes/voices seem more defined within the music. We listen to music rather than the system but like it to sound good and this seems to have opened up the music making it easier and better to listen to. we've now played a few different records with the Acryl It and Clamp It combination and with each one the sound just seems more open and strangely easier to listen to, I'm not sure if that's because there's more detail or the sound is less cluttered (didn't think it was before but it seems more organised now) but either way I'm more than happy with the purchase. My wife's description of the change in sound is the music seems deeper, not tonally but more to listen to. It seems expensive compared to the original turntable but it is a major component and it has made a difference, oh and it looks nice on the turntable (ours is the matt black MSL Superfi addition hence the Silver cart ), so run this set up for a few months and then look at a bronze stylus in the silver cart :-) the slippery slope of upgrades

It looks great on my Pro-Jext Debut Carbon and now I don’t require the terrible OEM felt mat.

Was a birthday present from my wife. It looks great, and I have a small LED light pointed at it so it illuminates and looks very cool. It has also overcome a problem with my previous slip mat picking up dust and transferring it from side to side and record to record. As for if it improves the sound, this is hard to say. I think there is a sound improvement, but who knows? The bottom line for me is that it makes my existing Project Debut III turntable look really cool.However, the elephant in the room is the price. If I had put another £200 to £300 toward the £110 this cost I could have upgraded to a new deck with an acrylic platter included, not to mention a new and better cart. But I like my current deck and throughout the 10 years I have had it it has never let me down and sounds great so, arguably, I have saved £200 on an upgrade that might not have brought anything extra to the party.

I really wasn’t sure if this upgrade would do anything for my setup. But after doing an a/b comparison between the original metal plater with a cork mat it’s really something how much the acrylic-it opens the music. It improves the bass , mids and highs. It makes the pro-ject carbon punch above its weight. Well worth the purchase.