Clearaudio Innovation Wood Turntable Review - Equipment Reviews

Specifications:

Construction details: Resonance optimized chassis shape, belt driven with self adjusting speed control, precision CNC machined surface solid stainless steel sub-platter, dynamically balanced. 70 mm / 2,75 inch POM main platter.

Speed change: Convenient electronic control (33 1/3 rpm, 45 rpm, 78 rpm)

Motor drive: High torque DC-motor, exclusively made for Clearaudio

Electronic optical speed control (“OSC”) in real time via infrared sensor

Main bearing: Clearaudio patented CMB – bearing technology

Platter material: Precision CNC machined, solid stainless steel sub-platter, dynamically balanced.

POM platter material with high density and excellent dimension stability, dynamically balanced

Platter height: 70 mm / 2,75 inch main platter,

More special features:

All turntable feet are fine adjustable

Optical speed control (OSC)

Playback with two tonearms possible

Speed accuracy (measured): less than ±0,05 %

Weight: 23 kg / 51 lbs.(without tonearm and power supply)

Dimensions (W/D/H in inches): 18,86 x 19,09 x 8,86

Dimensions (W/D/H in mm): 479 x 485 x 225

Manufacturers guarantee*: 5 Years

MSRP: $10,000

U. S. Distributor:

Musical Surroundings
5662 Shattuck Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609

Tel. 510-547-5006

URL: http://www.musicalsurroundings.com
Email: info@musicalsurroundings.com

Clearaudio Innovation Wood turntable

This is the third Clearaudio turntable I have reviewed. Clearaudio is a German company that has been dedicated to advancing the art of analog playback for the last 32 years. Their cartridges were well received from the start and many considered them to be the absolute state of the art. One of their early turntables, the Master Reference, was The Absolute Sound’s first five-star component in the late 1990s. Almost everyone found them beautiful to look at, too. Most of all their turntables have from the very start set new levels for transparency and speed for playing vinyl. Still, there were others who felt they had sacrificed the natural warmth and tonality of vinyl for speed and transparency. I, for one, commend them for their 32 years’ devotion to vinyl playback and not abandoning it for something more profitable.

If you haven’t noticed, about three years ago Clearaudio started making some major changes with their turntables. It started with making the plinth of some of their turntables out of layers of “Panzerholz”, a solid bulletproof wood that is used in Germany for limousines and some special armored trucks. They flank the top and bottom of this very special wood with solid aluminum sheets. The result was to produce the first turntables I had heard from Clearaudio with real warmth and transparency at the same time. Their newest turntables from the Ambient model on up have “Panzerholz” for their plinths, and all of their tables above the Emotion model have the new “Ceramic Magnetic Bearing” that literally allows the platter to float on a layer of air. In my opinion, these two things have transformed the sound of Clearaudio turntables.

The addition of “Panzerholz” to the plinths seems to breathe life, warmth, and an overall more musical sound into their tables. The magnetic bearing brings a level of transparency and quietness to vinyl that I did not know was possible. Now they have come out with their new turntables that use a high torque DC-motor, a newly developed optical speed control that consists of an infrared sensor, a high precision reflection scale, and a corresponding speed circuit. They also added a stainless steel sub-platter and change the platter from acrylic to a much deader, durlin type of material. I mention all this because in my opinion, the house sound has significantly changed at Clearaudio.

I feel compelled to say that today's Clearaudio is a turntable maker whose products deserve to be revisited if you were one who found the early ones too analytical. If you had written off Clearaudio turntables, then I'm here to tell you they will hold their own with some of the most musical tables being made, and at the same time bring a level of transparency and quietness these other tables I've heard can't match.

Description, Design Goals and Setup

First, let me tell you nothing prepared me for how powerful the magnetic bearing is on this table, or how heavy the stainless steel sub-platter is. This heavy sub-platter mounts to the magnet bearing thus creating a big and powerful magnet. The bottom of the 70mm durlin platter has a metal shield to provide protection from the magnet affecting the cartridge. All of this goes over the tall thin ceramic vertical bearing while the heavy platter and sub-platter float on air above the magnet bearing. Even though the platter and sub-platter of the Innovation is nearly 10 pounds heavier than the platter of my Clearaudio Anniversary, it still floats noticeably higher and has more of a suspension feel.

Clearaudio Innovation Wood turntable