Pro-Ject PRO Turntable Setup Guide

 Setting up your Pro-Ject PRO turntable will be fun and go smoothly if you prepare for everything you’ll need in advance.  We hope this guide enables you to be spinning some vinyl and enjoying music faster than you expected.

Prepare Where Your Turntable Will Be Positioned

If you have large speakers, it's a good idea to not put your new turntable next to your speakers.  Having your turntable too close to speakers can cause acoustic feedback which is a howling sound you’ll only need to hear once to know you’ve done something wrong!  Help your turntable get off to a good start by putting it on a solid, level surface.  

You will want your turntable to be pretty close to your amplifier or phono preamp.  It is important to remember the cables coming out of your turntable are carrying a very low-level signal. They are short on purpose for this reason.  You also do not want to have an AC power cord running parallel to them.

Unboxing Your Turntable

We suggest you unbox your turntable either on the floor or on a table near its final position.  Save all of the packing (it will come in very handy when you move) and lay everything out so it's easy to get to. 

Go ahead and put your turntable in the spot you picked out for it.

Level It Up

The PRO has height-adjustable feet.  Simply use a level to get your new PRO perfectly level.

close up shot of a hand model connecting an audio cable into the Klipsch The Fives Powered Speaker System.

Make The Audio Connections

We feel like it's best to connect everything up before you do the final assembly as it's easier to turn things around while the turntable is not fully assembled and everything should still be protected at this point.

close up shot of a hand model connecting an audio cable into the Klipsch The Fives Powered Speaker System.

  The PRO comes with an interconnect cable that has some yellow sleeves on one end of the left and right cables.  Those go into your phono preamp or the phono input on your amp/receiver.  The cartridge on the PRO is a moving magnet cartridge, if you have a choice make sure to select MM.

Making The Power Connections

Your turntable comes with a power supply that will plug into the wall.  You’ll see a small white box with a power supply and a bag inside with various wall connectors.  Choose the one for the US and snap it onto the connector.  You have to push it on, then push it down (or up depending on how you are holding it) and it will lock into place.  On the other end, there is a small, round connector that fits in a hole on the back of your turntable.  Go ahead and plug this into the back of your turntable and plug the other end into an outlet.  Try and keep the power cables away from your audio cables.

close up shot of a hand model connecting an audio cable into the Klipsch The Fives Powered Speaker System.

Start Assembly

Remove the platter from its protective bag and remove the felt mat from its bag.

The inner platter will have a small piece of cardboard under it.  Remove it and store it in your turntable box in case you ever need to pack it up for moving.

Make sure your hands are clean and put the belt on the inner platter, then loop it over the motor pulley.  Carefully place the platter on top of the inner platter, the put the felt mat on top of the platter.

Balancing the Tonearm

Find the silver round counterweight in the box. This counterweight can be used for heavy or midweight cartridges as it has more weight on one end than the other.  One side of the weight will have the number “58” on it.  You want to have the blank side pointing towards the front of the tonearm when you push it onto the round post on the back of the tonearm.   Rotate it almost all the way to the front, then back it off ¼ turn which will put it very close to the 2 grams we are going to achieve in the next steps.

a hand model showing how the Klipsch The Fives can be controlled with the remote control as a soundbar replacement using the HDMI ARC connection..
a hand model showing how the Klipsch The Fives can be controlled with the remote control as a soundbar replacement using the HDMI ARC connection..

The tonearm is tied down with a piece of wire tie, loosen this carefully.  Now we get to the part where you need to be careful.  The stylus has a guard on it that is milky plastic.  This will pull straight off.  Hang onto this guard.  You’ll want to put it back on when you dust or clean your turntable.  From here on out be very careful with the stylus.  Please use the cue lever to raise and lower the arm as you go through the balancing steps.  

Locate the while stylus gauge that came with the PRO.  You will see numbers on it with lines going away from the numbers to a little dot on the gauge.  Locate the 20 number and find the dot that connects to its line. That is where you are going to get the stylus to drop on to see if the tracking force is correct.

close up shot of a hand model connecting an audio cable into the Klipsch The Fives Powered Speaker System.

Line up the gauge on the platter so the tip of the stylus falls on the dot by gently lowering the arm, seeing if it’s close, then moving the gauge, then lowering the arm again.  The gauge does have a little hole in it, do not put that over the spindle, it can go anywhere you can get the stylus to drop on the right dot. Then move the rear counterweight in very small increments until it causes the gauge to float when you drop it on the dot.  If the gauge does not move when you drop the arm, rotate the weight to make it closer to the tonearm. If the dot side of the gauge moves all the way down, you have too much force and need to rotate it away from the arm.

Once you are satisfied you have it floating, put the arm back in its rest.

Installing the AntiSkate System

Find what looks like a small round silver cylinder with a tiny monofilament attached.  One end of the monofilament has a small loop.  On the rear of the tonearm, there is a small round post with 3 notches.  Slide the loop over the post and hook it into the middle notch.

Take the monofilament and loop it through the silver wire assembly so the silver weight hangs freely.

close up shot of a hand model connecting an audio cable into the Klipsch The Fives Powered Speaker System.

Every so often, we will see where the antiskate wire is too close to the tonearm.  It needs to be at about a 38-degree angle from the right side of the table.  If it is closer to parallel to the right side, the weight system will not work.  There is a small set screw you can loosen just a tiny bit with an allen key then, move it slightly, then tighten it back up.

Enjoy Some Music

Put on your favorite album, then turn on your PRO using the on-switch which is on the left side of the table  You flip it to the left for 33, right for 45/78.  Make sure the cueing arm is in the up position, move the tonearm over the beginning of your record, lower the cue, and enjoy the music!

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