This is the third article in The Affordable Vinyl Project series and the last one featuring the Clearaudio Concept turntable. In this article, I’m reviewing the most basic and most affordable level of this turntable. The Concept incorporates all of the advanced parts such as an aluminum subplatter and rear-mounted speed calibration. In this review, I used the Clearaudio Concept tonearm and their Concept V2 MM phono cartridge. The Concept sells for $1,600 retail with the Clearaudio Concept tonearm, and for an additional $200, you can include a pre-mounted Concept V2MM cartridge for a total of $1,800. To finish out the setup, I used the Clearaudio Nano V2 Phono Preamp. This brings the complete setup to $2,250.
Since this is the exact same turntable that I used in “The Affordable Vinyl Project, Part Two,” I will skip the technical description of the turntable. The Concept tonearm features Clearaudio’s friction-free magnetic bearing technology, which should eliminate bearing chatter and offers very good stability. The aluminum arm tube is both light and rigid; the two-piece aluminum headshell allows for adjustable azimuth and the accurate alignment of any phono cartridge type. Clearaudio uses a continuous cable that is hardwired from the tonearm to the connector for the preamp. The Concept tonearm uses the Clearaudio/Linn standard mount, which makes it compatible with all Clearaudio turntables and an ideal replacement tonearm for other turntable brands.
To complement the Clearaudio Concept turntable, Clearaudio introduced two affordable phono cartridges; the Concept v2 MM (Moving Magnet) and the Concept MC (Moving Coil). To keep costs down for this review, I chose the moving magnet version. It uses an aluminum body and an elliptical stylus. The tip is optimally polished, which the company says keeps the moving mass to a minimum. The recommended tracking force is 2.2g.
The Nano V2 phono preamp uses a printed circuit board encased in a solid CNC-machined, resonance-free aluminum chassis. The latest sophisticated surface-mount technology is used in conjunction with precision electronic components, such as Burr-Brown (Texas Instruments) integrated circuits. The Nano V2s use an extremely short signal path. It is a fully dual-mono design that features separate left and right channel sockets for input loading with the supplied resistors as well as selection between moving coil or moving magnet gain settings and subsonic filter.
If you buy the Concept with one of their cartridge options, it will arrive with the cartridge installed and optimized at the factory. One advantage of the magnetic bearing tonearm is that the counterweight is installed and tracking force set. Clearaudio provides their Smart Stylus “teeter-totter” stylus gauge so you can check the tracking force at 2.2 grams. The threaded counterweight fits tightly, so hold the tonearm firmly with one hand while installing and adjusting the counterweight, if needed, to avoid any mishap.
Listening
This combination has a very neutral overall sound with good weight, openness, punch and a level of detail that was better than I expected at this price point. I don’t know of a digital playback system at this price that comes close to the sound of this little vinyl setup. The Concept has more weight and scale than I have heard from budget tables from VPI or Rega. I was surprised by the depth, the quality and the definition of bass that I was hearing from this analog combo.
From first listen, I was impressed by the sense of presence and immediacy in this vinyl playback system. Part of this is the result of the speed stability of the turntable, but the rest of the system, though it cost more than $1,000 less than the turntable, did nothing to take away from this sound. It delivers much of the sought-after image depth and width of more expensive sources. Image definition, detail, smoothness, and ease are all part of the overall sound of this system.
I love Joni Mitchell’s album Blue, and when listening to it on this setup, the harmonics led to a real emotional expression of her singing along with plenty of breath producing an overall lovely sound. There was nice decay, and the sound had plenty of boogie.
For a male vocal, I first listened to some Cat Stevens, and his voice sounded very natural as did the instruments. Then I put on Americana by Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Neil’s voice sounded just fine, but the music didn’t really rock out like it does on my $30,000 plus vinyl setup. This is no big surprise, but it was one of the first real disappointments I had experienced from the Clearaudio Concept and that says a lot.
It’s rare that any source at this price point has enough low-level detail to give even a hint of the venue’s characteristics on a recording, but again this combo was able to consistently do so. While the soundstage isn’t as large as it is with megabuck vinyl playback systems, it was also better than I expected at this price. Overall the soundstage and imaging was better than other sources I am familiar with in this price range.
Comparison
I’ll take a moment to compare this setup with the Concept turntable with the Satisfy tonearm, the Hana SL Shibata and the Musical Surroundings Phonomena II+, a combo that is $1,250 more money. As I expected this system was not as quiet; the sound did not come out of quite as black a background. However, the surface noise was just as low and lower than some more expensive turntables. There is enough detail to provide a musical experience, but it is not as fast or precise enough to produce the same transient performance of the more expensive combo. The overall sound was warm and slightly mellow. Still, it was very musical, and at this price point, that is something few sources pull off.
Conclusion
Overall musicality is what this little Concept vinyl set up is all about. Yes, I prefer the sound of the $3,500 Clearaudio Concept vinyl setup, but you can hear enough of the magic of vinyl with this more basic setup to understand why many people prefer vinyl. You can always start out with this setup and upgrade, but I bet many will be satisfied for years with this little musical vinyl playback source. To be completely honest, I never expected a vinyl setup in this price range to sound this good, especially not with a moving magnet cartridge. Highly Recommended!
