Pro-Ject Phono Box E

Excellent value for money – This is my review for Pro-Ject Phono Box E Phono Preamplifier. I've purchased the Pro-Ject Phono Box E Phono Preamplifier from Melbourne Hi Fi online for $125.00. ( I wanted to replace my Behringer Micro Phono Preamp PP400 ). The Pro-Ject Phono Box E is packaged nicely and the barcode label is printed with "Made in Czech Republic". ( That's a relief because I did not want any more audio equipment that was Made in China ).

Prior to purchasing this Pro-ject Preamplifier I researched other brands eg. NAD preamplifier although they were more expensive. I've read some negative reviews of NAD Preamps.

Unpacking: The Pro-Ject Phono Box E is a small compact size encased in plastic. There is no On/Off switch. There is no light power indicator. Included is a printed Instructions manual A4 size. The font is a little hard to read because it's too small. They could've made the font larger because the other side of the A4 is nearly all blank.

The Box E also comes with a separate power supply which I had to connect. Personally I am not a fan of separate power supplies because these types of transformers in general, have been reported as a common source of electrical noise with audio setups, although my audio set up did not have a noise issue.

I got myself one large brand new quality power board where all of my audio equipment and components for this home audio setup is plugged into. It's also safer.

My sound system is a contemporary Pioneer Audio Visual Receiver surround sound system, model VSX-827k with 130 watts per channel. I used the 'Stereo' setting for this.

The Pro-Ject Phono Box E is only suitable with turntables which have Moving Magnet phono cartridge, MM. I've connected the Box E to my vintage Technics SL-D303 using well insulated RCA leads. This turntable's tonearm is mounted with a MM, Shure M97XE cartridge fitted with an elliptical stylus. It is a quality cartridge with excellent tracking and sound but didn't cost the earth. This is important because the quality and condition of the turntable and records will affect the output quality of sound or music.

I've compared the Behringer PP400 with the Pro-ject Phono Box E. I've had them both connected to RCA inputs on my contemporary Pioneer AV Receiver. I was able to listen to their sound through my large Audioline AL-1400 floor passive 4 way speakers. Each speaker box contains 2 x 12 inch woofers, 1 x mid range driver, 1 x tweeter. With Specifications of 230 watts max, Response 25-22Khz, sensitivity 95dB. So these speakers connected to my AVR sound system deliver ample bass and a good range of frequencies. They pack a punch so to speak.

I was disappointed with my Behringer PP400 (Made in China) because the output volume was always too low on every vinyl. I think even the Gain or volume dropped or fluctuated slightly while playing an LP. I had to turn the volume up high on my AV receiver so I could hear the vinyl music clearly. The Gain for the Box E is rated at 40dB. (Behringer PP400 Gain was rated slightly lower at 35dB).

Using the Box E, I played a vinyl LP of Linda Ronstadt, For Sentimental Reasons, 1986 which is in excellent condition. The sound produced was outstanding. Her voice, the vocals were clear, I couldn't hear any distortion. The musical instruments including the drums of the orchestra were also well reproduced with my home audio set up.

I've also used the Ortofon 2M cartridge with the Red stylus on my Technics SL-D303 turntable. This time I played pop music, Eurythmics, from their titled album 'Sweet Dreams are made of this' track 1- Love is a Stranger. A vinyl album by RCA Victor, 1982, Australia. This record is also in excellent condition. I turned the volume up loud but not all the way to the full max and I couldn't hear any distortion. And oh boy, oh boy, this delivered outstanding stereo clarity with Annie Lenoxs' voice and electronic musical instruments with an incredible amount of bass and drums with this studio recording. ( It's an excellent recording for its age to compare it to others ). If you want to hear great stereo bass and drums this is a great vinyl dance pop album to do that with.

So two different albums with different types of genres to compare on my home audio set up and it was great listening.

The technical specification for Pro-Ject Phono Box E : Total Harmonic Distortion is less than 0.05%. A Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) of less than 0.05% is generally considered very good in audio equipment. This level of THD is often considered inaudible by most listeners.

The Pro-Ject Phono Box E is able to produce good sound volume so The production of sound detail with the Pro-Ject Phono Box E was also better than the Behringer PP400.

I am satisfied with the Pro-Ject Phono Box E. It was able to produce good sound without the bigger price tag. I am happy with the sound processing of this Pro-Ject preamplifier including stereo clarity. It has been reported that there's lack of distortion which is very nice and the frequency response wasn't bad but not good either with some error in both digital and analog output modes. Others could not get rid of the power supply noise.

Pro-Ject Phono Box E works fine. For its price range it was acceptable to me without breaking the bank.

However if you have a bigger budget you could spend more money on the Pro-ject Phono Box DC for excellent sound reproduction and reported to have extremely accurate RIAA equalization implementation in the Moving Magnet setting.