At a look
Professional’s Ranking
Professionals
- Nice stereo separation from a single unit
- Loads of inputs
- Excellent construct high quality
Cons
- Intimidating setup for turntable newbies
- Heavy for its measurement
- Costly
Our Verdict
The+Document Participant could have a small footprint, however this all-in-one unit delivers spectacular audio that may compete with the sounds from far pricier part techniques.
Value When Reviewed
£1,400
Greatest Costs At this time: Plus Audio The+Document Participant
Plus Audio (a.okay.a. +Audio) violated the prime directive of audiophile listening when it determined to design an all-in-one unit that locations the turntable on prime of the speaker. The principles insist that the vibrations from the speaker are going to float as much as the tonearm and mess up the playback. How can an organization presumably ship nice sound in this sort of package deal?
Nicely, the designers at Plus Audio seem to have circumvented the legal guidelines of physics, as The+Document Participant delivers a spectacular listening expertise regardless of its unconventional design. There’s loads of low finish and, when you steadiness the tonearm, the monitoring is clean and regular.
What comes with The+Document Participant?
We reviewed the usual $1,799 (ouch) mannequin, which options an aluminum tonearm, a Ortofon OM10 cartridge, and a Professional-Ject Debut III turntable. For $200 extra, you possibly can improve to the Particular Version, which gives a carbon fiber tonearm, Ortofon 2m Purple cartridge, and the Challenge Carbon CD turntable.
The+Document Participant comes with an Ortofon OM10 cartridge.
James Barner/Foundry
The case is out there with both walnut or maple wooden accents and measures 17.6 x 13.9 x 8.5 inches (WxDxH, with mud cowl). The entire contraption weighs roughly 33 kilos, which is pretty hefty given the unit’s measurement. There are audio system within the entrance and audio system on the edges to create a 270-degree sound discipline.
Lively 4-channel Class-D amplification powers two 35W woofers and two 15W tweeters for 100W of whole output. Quantity maxes out at simply over 110 dB. The turntable plinth is remoted from the bottom, and the Professional-Ject unit contains a 24-pole synchronous AC motor and versatile elastomer low-rumble suspension. There’s additionally a built-in phono preamp.
How do you arrange The+Document Participant turntable?
The+Document Participant comes with a notably properly written proprietor’s guide that features loads of photos. Earlier than the guide particulars the setup, it gives illustrations of the entrance management panel, the distant, and the again panel that clearly clarify how the buttons and connections work. It’s the uncommon guide value studying earlier than you are taking gear out of the field.
You also needs to learn the guide in the event you’re not skilled in organising turntables. The +Document Participant requires that you simply take away a number of screws holding every thing in place for delivery. In case you’re a U.S. or Canadian buyer, it’s a easy course of. In case you dwell elsewhere, you’re additionally going to have to attach the turntable to the speaker base in a further step.
What are the challenges? You’ll have to put in the drive belt, which is a straightforward job in the event you’ve executed it earlier than however presumably intimidating the primary time you strive. The actual trick comes with organising the tonearm. When you slide the counterweight onto the tonearm, you’ll should find the place the place the tonearm is balanced and floats freely.
The following step is to calibrate the counterweight to zero and rotate it to the right monitoring pressure, which is 1.8g for the OM10 cartridge included with the evaluation unit. The counterweight has ticks that go from zero to 29 in a circle across the counterweight. In case you’ve by no means arrange a turntable earlier than, you may not notice that the place 18 is the one which equals 1.8g. The one flaw in an in any other case flawless guide is the dearth of path on this level, however the firm’s setup video on YouTube demonstrates the method in the event you’re feeling just a little not sure.
The+Document Participant requires the person to arrange each a tonearm counterweight and an anti-skate weight.
James Barner/Foundry
The final step is to loop the road hooked up to the anti-skate weight into the right slot on the tonearm and dangle it from the wire loop. After you’ve accomplished this job, you’ll perceive why the trade was so enthusiastic about compact discs again within the ‘80s.
Severely, the Professional-Ject turntable utilized in The+Document Participant is a sophisticated piece of substances. Listening to vinyl requires a dedication to repeated recalibration if you wish to hold your assortment in listenable situation. Any turntable that doesn’t require some stage of setup most likely isn’t one it’s best to use to play $40 reissues or classic rarities.
What are the controls for The+Document Participant?
The principle energy swap is on the again of the unit, however the entrance panel has an influence button that wakes the system from sleep with a brief press. Holding it down for lower than three seconds mutes the participant, whereas holding it down for greater than three seconds places the unit into standby mode.
There’s a supply selector button that switches between phono, AUX, PC, optical, and line. When phono is the supply, an extended press switches the turntable between 33 1/3 RPM (purple) and 45 RPM (inexperienced). Press the separate Bluetooth button to change to that supply.
The entrance panel of The+Document Participant has buttons that management energy, supply, quantity, vinyl playback mode, and Bluetooth.
James Barner/Foundry
There are “+” and “–” buttons to regulate quantity and a button that cycles via the three listening modes: Stereo, Extensive, and Mono. There’s additionally a 3.5mm headphone jack that mutes the audio system if you plug in your cans and a helpful 3.5mm AUX enter that duplicates the operate of the rear AUX enter jacks and overrides them.
Can The+Document Participant rip my vinyl?
One of many nice options of the Professional-Ject line is the USB port that permits customers to attach the turntable to a pc and convert their vinyl to digital audio recordsdata. The+Document Participant doesn’t embrace the required USB Mini-B to USB-A cable to attach from its USB jack to your laptop, however you may get one on-line for $5 or much less.
When you line up the right sound settings in your Mac or Home windows PC, you should utilize free software program like Audacity, professional audio software program like ProTools, or an included Mac program like GarageBand to seize your tracks and export them within the music file format of your selection.
The buttons on the The+Document Participant’s distant matches the controls on the entrance of the unit.
James Barner/Foundry
The +Document Participant performs precisely as properly at recording vinyl because the Professional-Ject Debut Carbon I’ve been utilizing for years. This isn’t an important function for many customers, however it’s a pleasant bonus for anybody occupied with archiving music that’s not out there to stream.
How good is Bluetooth playback with The+Document Participant?
The+Document Participant can also be a wonderful Bluetooth speaker. Press the Bluetooth button on the entrance of the unit to enter pairing mode and find THE+PLUS RECORD PLAYER in your supply gadget’s Bluetooth settings.
The unit can solely pair with one Bluetooth supply at a time, however it did an important job of reconnecting to the iPhone I utilized in testing.
Lights on the entrance of The+Document Participant point out energy, supply and playback mode.
James Barner/Foundry
What are the opposite connections out there with The+Document Participant?
There’s an optical (Toslink) digital enter that you could connect with a tv or streaming set-top field, comparable to an Apple TV or Roku Extremely. The+Document Participant’s audio will probably be an improve over the audio system constructed into most TVs, however don’t anticipate it to create the sort of immersive expertise {that a} encompass sound system or superior soundbar can ship.
A 5V USB-A port can be utilized to cost a cellphone or energy an Amazon Echo or Google Chromecast gadget. The three.5mm line-in port can be utilized to attach the aforementioned Echo or Chromecast, or you would additionally join a Wi-Fi adapter to be used in lieu of Bluetooth. The three.5mm enter has auto sign sensing, so the enter will wake itself when there’s audio playback.
The rear inputs for The+Document Participant embrace USB, optical cable, 3.5mm line in, paired RCA, and a pre-out RCA pair. There’s additionally a swap that turns off the interior audio system.
James Barner/Foundry
Additionally on board is an auxiliary RCA enter, so that you join a CD participant, cassette deck, or radio tuner, whereas an RCA pre-out will ship an unamplified sign to an exterior amplifier, subwoofer, or a pair of powered audio system. In case you’re utilizing exterior audio system, there’s a swap to show off The+Document Participant’s inside audio system.
How does The+Document Participant sound when listening to vinyl?
I took the chance to christen The+Document Participant with a beforehand sealed copy of Kelly Gordon’s 1969 Capitol LP Defunked. Gordon co-wrote Frank Sinatra’s hit “That’s Life” and produced all of Bobbie Gentry’s hit information for Capitol. His personal music has echoes of Gentry’s albums and a little bit of Tony Joe White’s swamp funk. Defunked has by no means been reissued on CD neither is it out there to stream, so vinyl’s the one method to go along with this one.
My sealed copy had a slight warp (thanks, eBay) however the turntable tracked it flawlessly. The LP was organized and carried out by Shorty Rogers and virtually definitely recorded with the standard crew of Los Angeles studio all-stars.
Playback was flawless with The+Document Participant. A slight warp in a brand new LP offered zero monitoring points.
James Barner/Foundry
Much more attention-grabbing was listening to a duplicate of Pow!the 1966 instrumental LP by Ted Heath and His Music from London Information’ Section 4 sequence. Designed to showcase a listener’s hi-fi system, the Section 4 recordings emphasize stereo separation, which makes them nice for testing out new tools.
The stereo impact was greater than passable within the system’s fundamental Stereo mode, however the digital processing in Extensive mode is perhaps efficient sufficient to idiot a customer into pondering you’ve acquired a pair of audio system hidden a number of ft away from the turntable unit. It’s a powerful possibility as a result of it creates a wider soundstage with out distorting the music. I additionally favored Mono mode, which does an important job of making viable mono variations of stereo recordings (“Electronically Reprocessed to Simulate Mono,” if you’ll).
Returning to the twenty first century, the dance remixes on Paul McCartney’s 2021 McCartney III Imagined LP have loads of bass. Although the pre outputs on The+Document Participant assist including a subwoofer, most listeners needs to be proud of the bass offered right here. In case you’re on the lookout for one thing extra, you would possibly wish to take into account a part system.
Is The+Document Participant worth?
The Plus Audio The+Document Participant is a fantastically designed gadget with audio high quality that matches its nice appears to be like. In case you can afford the premium value, the outcomes are spectacular. You’ll be able to even improve to the The+RP System that comes with an identical stand that options two LP cabinets for $2100.
