Clearaudio Signature

The Clearaudio allowed each mix, each sonic artifact, to reveal its unique character.

TURNTABLE

In midsummer 2022, I reviewed the Germanmade Clearaudio Reference Jubilee turntable,' a $30,000 vinyl virtuoso that played music with clear-headed realism, brain-opening transparency, and lifelike speed and dynamics. Its performance was nothing short of exhilarating. It was one of the top three turntables I had ever laid my ears upon.

Of the Reference Jubilee I opined, "The Reference Jubilee's sound combined vivid detail retrieval, forceful dynamics, a delicate, refined top end, and a translucent midrange. [It] combined staggering detail, energy, and forward-flow allied to a 3D stage that was large, deep, and transparent. The music it made was profound and life-affirming."

I had earlier assessed Clearaudio's Concept Active Wood turntable, which was priced at $3700 or $4600, depending on the tonearm and cartridge configuration. Despite its humbler origins, it possessed a charm all its own, moving me to write: "The Clearaudio Active Wood with the Satisfy CF tonearm and the Concept MC cartridge was clear, dynamic, rhythmic, and transparent; the combo excelled at playing black discs with detail and quiet backgrounds, with a large soundstage populated with wellsized images.... The sound was refined, lucid, and precise.... The Active Wood's fine transparency and surgical (but not clinical) resolution cast each 10" in its own unique mien."

The consistent sonic thread here is that Clearaudio's house sound, whether from the affordable to the mortgage-busting, is one of refinement, lucidity, clarity, precision, and quietness. Which brings us to the Clearaudio Signature turntable, a joint offering from Clearaudio GmbH and its US distributor, Musical Surroundings.