Product Specifications

www.hi-fiworld.co.uk JANUARY 2020 HI-FI WORLD
VINYL SECTION
Blue Aura add vinyl to their neat budget system. Noel Keywood comes away impressed.
W
e’ve reviewed Blue
Aura’s lovely little
system before, with
cute little V40 ampli
-
fier (£469) and small
ps40 loudspeakers
(£179). Now the company have come
up with a matching turntable, the PG-
1 (£259) that I’m reviewing here. I’ll
also quickly cover the system again,
to get the PG-1 into context, as well
as using it in an alternative reference
system – because at the price this is
as a neat way to bolt LP replay onto
any system.
The PG-1 is a two speed (33,
45rpm) belt drive design that, judging
by its arm, comes from Pro-Ject of
Austria. Pro-Ject are adept at fitting
extra bits into turntables, such as
phono stages and digital outputs, to
make them more adaptable – and
that’s what you get here. The PG-1
has a simple internal phono stage
(MM only) so will feed any amplifier
direct, but it can be switched out if
an external stage or amplifier with its
own phono input is used.
Unusually, there’s a digital output
in the form of Bluetooth wireless
transmission, but only Bluetooth
and nothing else – there’s no S/PDIF
digital output in optical or electrical
form. The Bluetooth stream is 16bit
/ 44.1kHz – CD quality.
The PG-1 is fairly basic: there are
no auto mechanisms. I had to hand
cue the arm onto a disc, using either
the damped cue platform and lever,
or the headshell finger lift. I prefer to
use my fingers and here the simple,
flat headshell grip was difficult to
grasp – as they always are. Headshell
finger lifts need to be curved upward
but – hey-ho – this is a minor point
since most people will likely use
the damped platform and it worked
smoothly. Also, the finger lift can be
replaced for a better one.
Bouncing cartridge onto LP
always was a big problem with vinyl,
resulting in bent cantilever and the
cost of a replacement stylus. Audio
Technica have a good remedy in
their AT-3600 MM cartridge; it has a
carbon composite cantilever able to
withstand such heavy use – and that
is what Blue Aura fit to the PG-1.
Yep – it’s a workhorse that tracks at
3.5gm but the use of carbon fibre in
the cantilever gives it a wonderfully
smooth and deep sound that is
entirely in-character with LP – and
preferable I feel to the brighter
sound of metal cantilevers, which
most are. Ironic that a workhorse
construction gives best sound – but
that’s a neat touch with this low
cost cartridge, making it my budget
favourite.
The arm has a fixed headshell
and comes with cartridge attached –
and changing the cartridge isn’t easy I
found. It can be done if you have the
tools, steady hands and good eyesight
but realistically it’s a dealer job for
anyone wanting to upgrade. Tracking
force is set by rotating the counter
-
weight on the rear stub, a common
method – but in our review sample
the weight was loose due to a small
internal friction pad disintegrating.
Quoted cartridge weight range
is a limited 3gm-6gm, suggesting
Blue Vinyl
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