Pro-Ject Dark Side of the Moon turntable honours one of the best rock albums of all time

Rik Henderson
·2 min read
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Pro-Ject The Dark Side of the Moon turntable.
Pro-Ject The Dark Side of the Moon turntable.

Pro-Ject has been inspired by one of Pink Floyd's most loved albums for its latest special edition vinyl deck.

The Pro-Ject The Dark Side of the Moon turntable has been crafted to honour the LP's 50th anniversary and has been designed around its iconic cover art, with a prism-shaped plinth and LED rainbow backlighting.

THE LED light can be dimmed, in case you want your listening experience mostly uninterrupted by the colourful display. There's also an extended on/off lever that represents the white light feeding the prism.

The triangular plinth is joined by a solid aluminium sub-platter that sits in bronze bushing and features a 10mm heavy glass structure to spin your records on.

The deck features an 8.6-inch acrylic and black aluminium, low resonance tonearm, which houses a Pick It Pro Special Edition cartridge. Its belt drive supports 33 and 45 rpm for LPs and singles. An electronic control can switch between the two speeds.

A 7-inch adapter is included if you have older records without the centre spindle hole.

Other specifications include gold-plated RCA connectors to hook the turntable up to an amp or music system. You get a semi-symmetrical phono cable in the box.

The deck weighs a reassuring 6kg and measures 495 x 135 x 405mm.

Power consumption is 4W and its signal to noise ratio is 68dB.

The Pro-Ject The Dark Side of the Moon turntable will be available later this month (October) from select dealers in the UK and Ireland. It's priced at £1,599.

Pro-Ject also collaborated with Metallica on a vinyl deck last year. Shaped like the band's trademark "lightning bolt" logo, the similarly special edition record player turned a fair few heads with its stunning design.

It is still available from a few specialist H-Fi stores if metal's more your thing.

We'd love to see other specially-designed decks as part of the brand's artists collection... a David Bowie bolt or Andy Warhol banana (a la The Velvet Underground & Nico) would be great. Or how about a Bob Marley deck in the shape of a particular leaf? We'd be all over that.