Product Specifications

VINYL SECTION
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cartridges over 6gm cannot be used,
such as Audio Technica’s VM95 budget
series that come in at 6.1gm. The
common upper limit is 10gm so the
PG-1 has restriction here; it isn’t a
turntable for upgraders. I suspect
Blue Aura’s quoted weight range is
inaccurate and a heavier cartridge
would be compatible – but getting
the tight fitting connectors off one
channel to make internal amplifier
measurements was difficult, so to
avoid damage – that manufacturers
don’t like in review samples – I
decided against swapping cartridges
to check this.
Bias force is applied by a small
counterweight and thread assembly.
The arm has good bearings that
allowed it to float freely when
balanced out, so in all it performs
well.
The plinth measures 420mm
wide, 130mm high (lid closed) and
345mm deep (lid closed). Opening
the lid makes overall depth 420mm
due to rear overhang, and demands
400mm top clearance – important
dimensions for anyone using a wall
rack system. The three feet do not
height-adjust so a level surface is
needed.
Weight is quoted as 5.8kg (light-
ish) and power is delivered by a small
wall-wart 12V / 500mA power unit,
having a 2m long lead. Low voltage
external supplies like this with no
earth connection eliminate hum.
The PG-1 has a well made and
finished plinth with a single pair of
phono socket outputs at rear that
deliver either output direct from the
cartridge or from the internal phono
stage, a small slide switch making the
choice. There’s also a small blue LED
at rear that winks to show Bluetooth
connection.
I connected up to the Line
input of our Creek amplifier, then
Aux input of the VA40. However,
the turntable’s Bluetooth output can
also be used to pair to the VA40,
which has a Bluetooth receiver
– more in a minute on this. As Blue
Aura note the PG-1 can transmit
to Bluetooth equipped headphones
or loudspeakers, avoiding wires
altogether. Bluetooth also means
it can be sited away from the hi-fi,
perhaps in a firm location.
Blue Aura’s lovely little VA40
hybrid amplifier has a silicon power
chip inside, fronted by valves,
including an EM84 magic eye that
glows green for added visual appeal
– these things acting as radio tuning
indicators in the past.
To initiate Bluetooth pairing
I had to switch off power at rear
then back on, at which point the
unit paired both with the VA40 and
a Cambridge Audio streamer (used
for measurement) that confirmed
44.1kHz sample rate digital. There’s
quite a lot of latency in the system,
so drop arm onto LP and there’s a
short silence until the music starts
– eerie! Cue arm up and the music
keeps playing – disconcerting! Happily
it does stop when the buffers run
out, after 0.5 secs or so I would
guess.
The PG-1’s electrical Line output
is weak and the VA40’s gain low via
its ‘RCA’ phono-socket inputs so I
had volume turned right up here.
Swapping to the more sensitive
AUX input (3.5mm input jack) gave
apparently more volume (more gain
in fact).
Blue Aura claim 30 Watts
from their VA40 amplifier but our
measurements show it delivers 10
Watts (15 Watts into 4 Ohms) as
we found in our original review (July
2016 issue).
And finally, the little ps40
loudspeakers (£179) complete the
system. Reviewed in our November
2016 issue we thought these were
Blue Aura's PG-1 turntable flanked by the system it was designed to match, comprising ps40 loud-
speakers at left and V40 amplifier at right, with remote control. The turntable can be connected
directly to the V40 or via Bluetooth digital radio link.
Audio Technica's AT-3600 moving magnet
cartridge is fitted as standard. The finger
lift is removable and can be changed.
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