Clear Audio
"Take the best and make it better, only then is it just good enough." Peter Suchy A man with a visionary character and an overwhelming desire to bring these visions into reality; a man who does not follow trends, but creates them and sets new standards; a man who realises his philosophy in the products that carry the Clearaudio name. Peter Suchy is this character and more than just the man behind the products, his committed dedication and emotion means his soul is inherently in his products. 1978, the year of real breakthrough, the year Clearaudio's moving-coil cartridges were introduced to the world with their innovative and unique symmetrical generator design. Handcrafted in Erlangen, Germany - Clearaudio products are regarded as innovative, of true quality, and of setting the highest standards by hi-fi specialists and top class engineers alike.
Based on this philosophy Clearaudio has been setting new standards in the analogue reproduction of music for more than 30 years. You will find Clearaudio in more than 70 countries worldwide with a fully comprehensive range of high-end phono cartridges, tonearms and turntables, phono preamplifiers, class-A amplifiers, plugs, cables, racks and even the audiophile production of vinyl records. Look opposite and you will see the clearaudio family of today. Loving Music: perfection in design and raising the standards.
Peter Suchy has imbued within his childrens Robert, Patrick and Veronika his love of music, his desire for perfection and his commitment to doing things right. Optimisation and refinement are key features within Clearaudio's headquarters, as is a harmony resulting from the common dreams of a family being realised for another generation. These three men share the same philosophical and technical ideals. They all have opened their hearts to music; and provide you with the keys to unlock another dimension: an emotional odyssey, the discovery of, and existence within the energy of music.
see video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD8giZBYvHs
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I had prior knowledge of a new cartridge that Clearaudio has up its sleeves. Robert Suchy revealed during his 2006 visit in the Philippines, that they're working on something "different."
When I asked him how different it is, he just smiled and said "you've got to wait for it." He admitted, that they have been through different iterations already and it does not sound the way they want it to in its current form, so the waiting game.
This year, I was able to talk to Robert again, and while our discussion was mostly on the new Clearaudio magnetically-levitated tonearm whose pictures appear here, I found an opportunity to break from the tonearm discussion and I asked about the new cartridge. "Ah yes, the Talismann," he said. I asked him again how it sounds, and got the same reply- "It's different. You've got to give it a listen."
The Talismans are three special weapons from the Sailor Moon anime series from Toei Animation Company, Ltd.
The first Talisman is the Deep Aqua Mirror, that turns out to be a submarine. The Deep Aqua Mirror has the ability to see through lies and to find enemies' weaknesses.
The Space Sword is the second Talisman to appear in the series, and has the apparent power to cut through almost anything.
The Garnet Orb is the last Talisman to be revealed, and allows Sailor Pluto to use her Chronos Typhoon attack.
Incidentally, if you didn't know, the Sailor Moon series, and many others are made in the Philippines and by Filipinos.
So what has this got to do with a cartridge review? You see, the Talismans are sought after because these three together will cause the Holy Grail to appear.
Introduction
The Talismann is the 2nd entry-level MC cartridge (above new Concept) from Clearaudio. During our chat, Robert told me that it's a different flavor, and would not be typical Clearaudio "house sound", which by the way has evolved and continues to evolve.
The Packaging
The Talismann comes in a decent packaging, typical of the MM cartridges of Clearaudio, in a pyramid-like plastic enclosure.
It came with additional plastic and aluminum screws, one set each, for a total of 3 sets of screws. An aluminum, non-magnetic screwdriver is also included, as well as a spacer or shim.
The manual is written in German, so I had to download the English manual from Clearaudio's web site, under the Downloads section.
Specifications
The shape of the Talismann is like no other Clearaudio cartridge. The other entry-level MC cartridges- Melody and Symphony, share their shape with the MM line, while the high-end MC has their own unique flower-like shape. The body of the Talismann is made from Ebony wood, that is highly polished.
The stylus is elliptical, with aluminum cantilever.
The recommended tracking force is 2.4 grams, the cartridge weighs 11 grams and puts out 0.5mV with 45 ohms internal impedance.
The manual said best loading was achieved at 400 ohms.
Setting up
Like all Clearaudio cartridges, setting up the Talismann is easy due to the threaded body. No small nut to get lost and worry about. The Talismann connectors are color coded so matching the colored cartridge connectors is a breeze.
A couple of adjustments has to be made to my Tangent tonearm to accommodate the Talismann and a heavier counterweight is necessary. Initial VTF was set to 2.45 grams. This is the heaviest Clearaudio MC cartridge I have used so far. The Talismann sports a new sliding type cartridge cover. So far, the best cartridge cover implementation Clearaudio came up with.
After the initial mounting comes, the fine tuning. So I pulled out my HiFi News Test Record to adjust the anti-skate, verifying the bubble level method.
The lateral resonance turned out to be 11Hz, and the vertical resonance at 14Hz as the results on playing tracks 2 and 3 on side 2 of the test disc, respectively. The azimuth setting was further validated by playing track 5, on the same side.
Tracking ability of the Talismann was validated by playing tracks 1, 5, and 8 on side 2 of the test disc.
While this is not an ultimate test of the cartridge, it provides some comfort that the Talismann did not fail any of the tests.
Initial impressions
What immediately caught my attention is the bass weight offered by the Talismann. It reminded me of my Empire MM cartridge, which is bass heavy at 5mV output voltage. While it has the bass weight that is pretty much impressive, it is in no way bloated or monotonous.
I found it to sound as dynamic as my previous Clearaudio Concerto cartridge, and has a touch of the top-end extension of the same. It's no secret that the Concerto is my all-time favorite and
The most striking character of the Talismann was the full-bodied, but not bloated, midrange. The Talismann also offers a touch of sweetness without being too colored and syrupy. Now this is different!
From the Sigma to the Concerto, there was a marked change in the way the midrange is presented, but they still share some common characteristic. The Talismann is a departure from the typical Clearaudio midrange presentation.
Due to a different stylus shape, it does not offer the Concerto's capability of being immune from most surface noise. But it does allow excellent resolution of the recorded material.
Audiophile Mode
I've had a long listening session of about 3 hours in one instance using the headphone amplifier that I built, the AK-100. I ran the Symmetry output directly to this puny 0.5W WE417A headphone
On some materials, such as the Getz/Gilberto featuring Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto album, I find it a bit thick, but not in an annoying way.
My favorite female albums such as Suzanne Vega, Charlene, and Nancy Wilson were reproduced with excellent nuance and ambiance on the midrange reproduction.
The Talismann's excellent resolution and dynamics were easily conveyed when I played Opus 3 Test Record 4 - Depth of image,
Timbre, Dynamics.
I like Dave Brubeck's Time In very much, and I always play it every time I get an opportunity, and this is one great opportunity to enjoy the music even more. And enjoy, I did.
After further listening, I'm no longer being critical of the sound, and the experience was more of enjoying the music more, and having fun. Yes, having fun. With my Debbie Gibson, Martika, Tiffany, and Bangles albums. The Talismann is very good with pop music too.
I guess the section heading of Audiophile Mode is now becoming inappropriate as I'm enjoying Ten Years After, .38 Special and Foghat, as I was writing this.
Holy Grail?
With my Champion Magnum and Tangent tonearm the first two of the three Talismans, is this cartridge the last of the Talisman needed to achieve the Holy Grail? I will have to go back and ask the question again... "Is there such a thing?"
For the moment I say there is. The Clearaudio Talismann brought the best synergy I have achieved thus far on my Analog setup. While previous combinations do proved to be potent, I now enjoy a better balance in performance, at much less cost.
Product Weakness: Not as immune to surface noise compared to Concerto.
Product Strengths: Gives warm and full-bodied mids while still imparting details and nuance with being overly rich. Dynamics and resolution similar to Concerto.
Score: 5 STARS
Clearaudio's impressive range of turntables is, to the best of our knowledge, just about the broadest on the planet, stretching downwards from the delightfully over-the-top 'Statement'.
The company doesn't compete with the Regas and Pro-Jects of this world in the budget arena, but the new Concept model puts Clearaudio within reach of more analogue-lovers than ever, bringing the price of entry down significantly.
Predictably, with a name like that, there's plenty of piffle in the literature about how this model is a whole new design, sorry, concept – but fair's fair, it is in fact genuinely novel in some ways.
The basic outline has a particle-board chassis, plastic platter, DC motor and pivoted arm. Differences from the norm are most obvious in the arm, which has a magnetic bearing, an ingenious arrangement that functions pretty much as a unipivot but with better stability and handling qualities than those notoriously fussy devices usually provide. It's also effectively friction-free.
It's actually very simple, relying on a pair of very strong magnets: one is fixed to the top of the arm tube, the other to the top of the bearing yoke and they hold the arm up. It is prevented from jamming itself against the top magnet by a tie wire fixed below, which also transmits the anti-skating force.
The chassis is also distinctive, though less obviously so. Particleboard (MDF etc.) components on LP players are notorious for adding their own resonance unless carefully treated.
Clearaudio has addressed that with damping measures including the aluminium trim, which apparently plays a significant part – whatever the details, it's certainly very much better damped than most of its kind, as is evident from the simplest test of tapping it in a few places.
Level-headed
Another feature that is unusual, possibly even unprecedented in a high-quality turntable, is that the Concept is ready to play discs straight out of the box. Well, all right, you have to put the platter in place and plug in the power supply, but the cartridge is fitted and aligned and even the tracking force is preset.
The arm and cartridge are Clearaudio's own, of course, the latter a moving magnet design, but if you prefer not to use them you can replace either.
You can also adjust all the usual parameters – offset and overhang, VTA, tracking force, anti-skating – but the clever part is that you don't need to. A spirit level is provided so that the user can adjust the three spiked feet to set the deck level.
Drive is from a small DC motor, the sort of thing one used to find in cassette decks (remember them?), which operates via a flat belt.
The motor is resiliently mounted: Clearaudio claims it's 'completely decoupled' which is clearly an overstatement, but the small amount of noise it produces is adequately suppressed by the decoupling.
In addition to the usual 33 and 45rpm speeds, 78 is available for those who collect shellac as well as vinyl – you'll ideally need to change the cartridge as no LP stylus ever sounds great playing the relatively cavernous grooves of shellac discs, but it's a useful option to have.
The power supply is a tiny plug-top switch-mode affair and while ultra-purists may wince at that thought, it's effectively free of hum fields and both it and its associated wiring are a good long distance from the sensitive signal wiring in and around the arm. There's also no electrical path (not even an earth link) between it and the audio.
Only one feature seems to us to be missing – a lid. It may seem a small detail, but a lid both reduces acoustic feedback from the loudspeakers to the deck, and keeps dust off, and no LP collector will need reminding what a pernicious enemy dust can be.
That apart, this is a very nicely turned-out deck, attractively finished and presented. We've never had cause to query the general standard of fit and finish from Clearaudio; just about the worst that could be said is that the surfaces show dust and fingerprints, but then so do wine glasses, fine furniture and so many other things.
Anyway, this deck has more matt and less shiny surfaces than many and is quite forgiving in that regard. We can't comment on the accuracy of settings as supplied, but attention to detail certainly reflects the manufacturer's usual high standards. We were particularly impressed with the bearing, which has an admirable combination of low friction and low play.
Lacking anything in the way of a proper suspension, this deck is never going to sound its best on a structure closely coupled to the floor, so we used our usual isolation table for most of the listening.
Thus configured, the Concept produces some very good sounds, clearly much better than the budget turntables which it (very superficially) resembles and thus vindicating Clearaudio's damping measures and arm.
What's most noticeable about it is the way it largely avoids the midrange blurring that affects so many unsuspended decks. Avoiding that is one of the biggest challenges facing designers and manufacturers, and we'd say Clearaudio's team has done very well in that regard.
Scale, openness and detail
The results are most obvious in large-scale music – symphony orchestra, big rock and so on – where there's a lovely sense of openness and scale, combined with very good detail and also excellent imaging.
By the same token, simple recordings such as solo guitar are very clear and full of the little details that make the character of an instrument or player unique. Where this player does yield a little ground to dearer models is in the bass, which is decent but not astounding.
There's some quite good extension, but control and solidity aren't really up there with the best. All the same, because the upper bass is tight and dynamic, one isn't much aware of anything being amiss in recordings where most of the low-frequency action is in the bass.
High treble is probably just as much a function of the cartridge as of the deck itself, a suspicion strengthened by a brief spell with another cartridge in place, but it's somewhere between basically likeable and very good, with a slight question mark over its sweetness when it gets very busy: the sound can thicken up a little.
But as with the midrange, getting this really spot-on is invariably a costly business and for the asking price this deck does a very good job.
Devotion to the cause
As always, what's more important than the specifics is the overall musical impression and this is really where the Concept scores. It isn't perfect, but the minor technical blemishes are very much in the background and out of one's general awareness.
If the disc is rock, the Concept rocks. If jazz, it swings. If romantic, it smooches. Watching the analogue renaissance over the last few years has been a heartening experience.
Clearaudio's combination of audio and aesthetic design has produced a winning combination here which we feel sure will both win converts and keep them devoted to the analogue cause.
For
Ease of setup/use
Lively, involving music-making
Plenty of detail
What HiFi Turntable Product of the Year 2010
For
Easy to set up; great build; excellent all-round sonic performance
Against
Against: Nothing
With a copy of The Pharcyde's Bizarre Ride II in place, the Clearaudio is little short of thrilling. It thunders through the plentiful low-frequency action with poise and pace to spare, combining punch, extension and tonal variance in equal measure.
Whenever we've had cause to bring out our 2009 Product of the Year since its coronation, the Clearaudio Clearaudio has been very quick to reveal that all the talent that made it such a persuasive proposition back then hasn't diminished.
Nice and simple
Its simplicity is a big part of its charm. Unlike some rival designs, which require patience, a steady hand and a passable grasp of mathematics to get working, the Concept is a ‘plug and play' product straight from the box.
The company's own Aurum Classics cartridge is fitted to the Verify tonearm, and Clearaudio sets everything, up to and including cartridge weight and bias, before the turntable leaves the factory. You can fit a platter and a drive belt, can't you? Of course you can – and then the Clearaudio's ready to play.
Before dropping a record into place, though, it's worth taking a moment to admire the Concept's clean design and chunkily substantial finish. Speed (33.3, 45 and 78rpm) is controlled by a hefty rotary dial, and the whole thing operates with the sort of solidity more readily associated with outside water closets.
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The livid, hectoring rapping is detailed and insistent, front-and-centre of the coherent, roomy soundstage but neatly integrated into the whole. At the top of the frequency range there's nicely judged attack, and the Concept maintains a stance part-way between red-toothed aggression and unflappable poise throughout.
Crisp timing, neat composure
Dynamic potency is never in doubt, and the Concept's timing is crisp enough to grant momentum and drive to the trickiest of recordings without losing composure or focus.
In fact, this Clearaudio has the speed and manoeuvrability to give the lie to those who believe vinyl reproduction can only be warm and wallowing – it's got the sort of alacrity digital formats offer without sacrificing their mastery of tempo.
If you feel the need for an outstanding turntable, don't think twice.
The build and finish which Clearaudio consistently achieves is a good enough reason on its own to buy a turntable like this: if you like the look of matt acrylic, it’s a real winner.
Attention to detail is excellent wherever you look.
The Emotion SE is a very enjoyable and engaging listen which does a fine job of pulling out fine detail across the band. Phantom Limb’s percussion work is fully evident on Don’t Say A Word, and the acoustic guitar is extremely convincing: I found it easy to let myself be carried away to another time and place by this song.
The Clearaudio is also very good at revealing the sense of ‘being there’ that live recordings can deliver, the extra air that it adds to the mix sounding highly realistic especially if you don’t push the level too hard.
Judged on its own terms, the Emotion SE is a very capable turntable that’s as much at home playing Beethoven piano sonatas as it is Led Zeppelin. Indeed, I was quite surprised at how much foot-thumping it dug out on the LZ track Hangman, there’s clearly little restriction on bass depth.
In addition, its presentation also lower level listening, where the air and sparkle it finds on the disc serves to provide contrast and timbral richness.
The Emotion was Clearaudio’s first budget turntable when it appeared two years ago. This new SE version is the German acrylic meister’s grown up incarnation of that simple, but beautifully executed record player.
It comes complete with Clearaudio’s Satisfy carbon Directwire tonearm and a Beta-S MM cartridge as a fit and forget package with a good pedigree.
Clearaudio, after all, makes some of the most ambitious designs in the high end market. The original Emotion continues at the lower price of £1,140, so the question is does this SE version represent the same great value?
Ceramic magnetic
For the SE, Clearaudio has upgraded a number of key aspects of the standard Emotion. For a start, the platter is 28 millimetres thick, an increase of 10 millimetres, a change which will add mass and thus increase inertia.
The company is using CNC-machined GS-PMMA (Perspex) for the platter and a ceramic alloy for the bearing; the shaft that sticks up from the bottom half of the bearing is white and only needs lubricating once every few years. It avoids the need for a thrust pad by using opposing magnets to take the load of the platter.
The main plinth is precisely hewn from 20-millimetre acrylic and supported on rubber-tipped aluminium feet. The standard Emotion has acrylic cones which, while they look cute, do little to keep out resonance. The new feet also offer precision adjustment, a useful feature for a turntable with a dynamically balanced arm like that supplied.
The freestanding motor comes in a very solid metal case, which has a separate stainless steel base to provide some mass damping and gives the motor greater stability. The drive pulley is acrylic again and is held on to the ceramic drive shaft by three nylon grub screws that have slot heads in and are rather vulnerable to excess force.
The same is true of the grub screws in the new arm base the standard incarnation has a hole in the acrylic plinth, but here CA has added the type of base found in its dearer models.
The arm itself is a well-executed, simple design with gimbal bearings and a magnetic anti-skate system, which consists of a lockable bolt with a magnet in its tip. The arm’s appearance is deceptive in some ways, because it has sapphire and ceramic bearings and a woven carbon fibre arm tube for low mass and high rigidity.
The Directwire in the name points to the fact that the arm wiring runs unbroken all the way from the cartridge tags through to the phono plug. It’s something which is not uncommon in many arms, but represents a variation on the output sockets approach found in other CA designs.
Also included in the well-designed packaging is a Souther clever clamp, a plastic record clamp which uses friction to pin the vinyl down. Although the clamp looks a bit like a cheap plastic coaster, it does work effectively.
Clearaudio supplies a spare belt too, as well as bearing oil and a dedicated alignment gauge for ease of set up, not to mention a selection of Allen keys and jeweller’s screwdrivers to do the job with.
The supplied Aurum Beta-S cartridge. The cartridge mount is attached to the Satisfy arm tube with CA’s distinctive single bolt fixing.
Vorsprung Durch Acrylic
The build and finish which Clearaudio consistently achieves is a good enough reason on its own to buy a turntable like this: if you like the look of matt acrylic, it’s a real winner.
Attention to detail is excellent wherever you look. The adjustable feet, for instance, have three holes around their periphery where you can slip in a suitable lever (a screwdriver or allen key) and then turn to achieve the desired height. It’s a stiff turn hence the need for leverage but that’s because the thread is damped to kill resonance.
The motor casing is also superbly cast and finished with bead blasted chrome that looks bullet proof by audio engineering standards. The ceramic magnetic bearing is also quite a luxury and not something I’ve seen on turntables in this price range before.
Sound quality
The Emotion SE is not particularly difficult to set up thanks to the supplied alignment gauge, but it does reveal any shortcomings in that department, as I found out when I set downforce at what appeared to be the recommended two grammes. This resulted in occasional groove-skipping, which I managed finally to eliminate only once I’d screwed the counterweight further onto its threaded stub in order to take the tracking weight up to a not inconsiderable 2.4 kilograms.
Properly fettled, this turntable produces a full scale and open sound which is strong on timing and imaging, but not quite so hot on absolute precision, there’s a slight halo around voices and instruments that adds a bit of life and presence to proceedings, but it’s not there in the grooves themselves.
That said, the Emotion SE is a very enjoyable and engaging listen which does a fine job of pulling out fine detail across the band. Phantom Limb’s percussion work is fully evident on Don’t Say A Word, and the acoustic guitar is extremely convincing: I found it easy to let myself be carried away to another time and place by this song.
The Clearaudio is also very good at revealing the sense of ‘being there’ that live recordings can deliver, the extra air that it adds to the mix sounding highly realistic especially if you don’t push the level too hard.
Judged on its own terms, the Emotion SE is a very capable turntable that’s as much at home playing Beethoven piano sonatas as it is Led Zeppelin. Indeed, I was quite surprised at how much foot-thumping it dug out on the LZ track Hangman, there’s clearly little restriction on bass depth.
In addition, its presentation also lower level listening, where the air and sparkle it finds on the disc serves to provide contrast and timbral richness.
Resolution revolution
While not as good as the very best , the Clearaudio Emotion SE is no slouch either, and it’s beautifully put together rather more so than the Townshend, it has to be said.
Its sound is clearly a marked upgrade on that provided by the regular Emotion, and elements like the adjustable feet and arm base make it a lot easier to install and set up. I enjoyed the life it brings to the party without adding too much of its own character as acrylic platters sometimes can.
At the end of the day, I found myself playing the Prodigy far too loud which is always a good sign.
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