Pro-Ject AS and CA Manufacturer's Comment
Pro-Ject CEO Heinz Lichtenegger and an engineer respond to the reviews
Mr. Lichtenegger's comment:
"You mentioned that you were able to hear some resonances on the armtube. The AS version's aluminum tube design has typical aluminium resonance behaviour. Actually, the more sophisticated arm is the CA version of the premium series— the one piece carbon version).
"This one is a carbon/aluminum design and so is way better damped than either a solely aluminum or solely carbon fiber. This construction and conical shape produces resonances that are very low and diffuse. It is the best in the series of arms.
"(It's also very costly to manufacture. First we CNC a conical piece of solid aluminum, then we drill it until it's a thin wand tube, then we weave the carbon around it. Sonical this arm is very different from the all aluminum AS version, which you correctly described as 'very mellow'.
"The CA version has more details and microdynamic and more open sound stage. The whole idea of the EVO range is to give the customer the choice of sound and comfort, as tonearms with an integrated head shell like the CA are in my view better, but detachable has the added convenience."
Regarding the detached counterweight stub encountered in the AS review, Pro-Ject's engineer Jan Jelínek confirmed that the review samples sent were pre-production and that the final version corrects the problem.
He wrote:
"Here better explanation of the problem and modification of counterweight support rod:
During first batch production (mainly for Munich presentation) we realized that the pressed-in joint of counterweight support rod is not stiff enough and getting loose when rotating the counterweight.
We checked and improved the knurling on the counterweight support rod.
We checked and improved tolerances in counterpart, so the pressed-in joint is much stiffer now.
We also checked TPE damping and started using a bit softer damping to allow a smoother move of the counterweight on the support rod.
Regarding the lift bottom cap that fell off, he wrote:
Tonearm lift bottom – we will not have this problem anymore when using new grease – here probably was old grease damaged the glued joint when some leaked out and made the cup fall off.
