Magic, O!

We gathered that our local Magico dealer, Audio Image, had delivered a few pairs of Magico Q3 and Q5 so far. We were very interested to listen to a Magico Q3 or Q5 based system, and as luck would have it, we received an invitation from a new Q5 owner, whom we shall refer to as ST, to have a listen to his system. What a pleasant surprise! It is not common that a highend audiophile opens his door to strangers like us, so we are very grateful for ST's generosity.

And so it was, a few of us descended on ST's bungalow on a Saturday afternoon. After the introduction, we were promptly led up a few flights of stairs into his listening room. ST appreciates the finer things in life, he told us that in addition to excellent sound quality, he also wanted his hifi system and his hifi room to look good, as after a long hard day, when he comes into the room to wind down and relax, he wants to enjoy not just glorious music but also beautiful sight, as such the equipment and the room deco must be pleasant too. Well, after my time in ST's listening room, I am certain he has achieved what he wanted on both counts - hifi and eye-fi.

I'll let this series of photos do the talking:

The system view.
Due to the number of equipment in the system, ST has positioned them in two layers. The front layer, which you can see in this shot, consists of the frontends and pre-amp. The second layer behind, hidden from view, consists of the monoblocks and power conditioner.
The room was designed and constructed by Centre Circle Audio. It has a nice and warm ambiance. It is acoustically treated with wood panels and Auralex's acoustic treatment material, both nicely incorporated into the design itself. In the photo above, the wood panel behind the loudspeakers with its uneven surface acts as a nice acoustic diffuser. Auralex bass traps are installed at the corners, together with Auralex sound absorbing foams at the sides of the loudspeakers (the burgundy coloured material).

A wood panel acting as diffuser is installed on the ceiling. If you look closer, you'd notice that each square in the panel has different depth, following the quadratic residue sequence approach used in many sound diffuser products.

The digital frontend is a Simaudio MOON Andromeda top loading CD player with separate power supply (not shown)

The analog frontend is a Clearaudio Innovation turntable...

...with a Clearaudio Universal tonearm and a Transfiguration Orpheus MC cartridge...
...and Simaudio MOON 310LP Phono Amp & 320S Power Supply
The pre-amp is the 2-piece Simaudio MOON 850P, the top dog in Simaudio's line-up

The monoblocks are the best that Simaudio offers - the MOON 880M, which give out 800w per channel into 8ohm, double into 4ohm.
Doing powerline conditioning and protection duty is a Shunyata Triton, seen above at the centre of the shot, flanked by the 2 monoblocks.
At the end of the chain is the majestic Magico Q5, 176kg/387lbs of aluminium chassis and more

To match his top notch equipment, ST does not skimp on cables. He uses mainly JPS Aluminata. Seen here are the Aluminata powercord, interconnect and speaker cable which go in and out of the Simaudio MOON 880M monoblock.
Other than JPS Aluminata, there are a couple of Shunyata powercords, the Python Helix and Anaconda Helix, which you can spot in the monoblock-powerline conditioner photo before (the ones with green and red plugs)
The JPS Aluminata speaker cable that goes into the Magico Q5

ST also uses hifi accessories to fine tune the sound. Here we see the Harmonix Tuning Spike Base under the Magico Q5. In fact, ST is so big with Harmonix Tuning Spike Base that he has 12 sets in his system, installed under almost every piece of his equipment

ASI's resonators are used to tweak the acoustic property of the room. This one is placed at the top corners of the room

More resonators from ASI. These are installed at the centre of the front wall

The more eagle-eyed among you would notice that ST prefers to stick to the same brands for his equipment - almost all his electronics are from Simaudio, and almost all his cables are from JPS. He told us that he preferred such an approach because he could be confident that there would be no mismatch issue with equipment coming from the same brand. I cannot fault such a philosophy, it will indeed take away much guesswork when putting together a system.

After just a short listening, I loved the tonal beauty of this system already, which I recognized as a beguiling quality common to the Magico line. I heard the same beautiful tonal colour from other Magico models, such as the V2 and V3, in the local dealer's showroom too. Just that the Magico Q5 in this system conveyed this quality more clearly and more prominently than the dealer's system. The system also sounded dynamic, fast and detailed. Both ends of the frequency spectrum were very extended. Bass featured prominently in the mix, it brought much exceitement to the listening experience though it could be just a bit overwhelming at times. The overall sound was not the thin and analytical kind, instead it had excellent body, a nice bloom and sounding simply musical. The sound was also non-fatiguing for long hours of listening.

Listening to this system is a joy. ST, thank you for your hospitality, we had a truly memorable weekend.

The Vinyl Shop, By CMY Audio & Visual.

John Yew invited me to CMY Audio & Visual in Sungei Wang Plaza, Kuala Lumpur. He said there's a surprise for me. When I arrived to his showroom at the Lower Ground Floor, he took me up to his new venture at Lot F014 & F015, First Floor in Sungei Wang Plaza, and there we were, standing in front of what he called "The Vinyl Shop". He asked "What do you think?". I was speechless.

John is that kind of person who puts his plans in to action and make things a reality. The reality is what you see here, John's vision for a vinyl hang out especially designed for connoisseurs of the "black arts". Eevry thing a turn table man needs, is available here. Let's see what's on offer:


The entrance to The Vinyl Shop.

 

More window displays of Clearaudio turn tables.

 

The vinyl section is immense in choice! You have a choice of NOS, new or used LPs. Through John's contacts in Europe, he has managed to raid some of best original pressings from RCA, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Philips and Teldec amongst others from the 50's and 60's, all sealed NOS copies. CMY prices them very reasonably too. Go check them out before they're gone. John tells me he has another shipment of 10,000 LPs on way from Europe!



Some high -end demos too. The usual suspects includes brands like Usher, Proac, Wadia, Clearaudio and JRDG as seen here. 

 

Naim is also featured prominently too. Check out the new Ovator series speakers, they quite outstanding compare to Naim's previous speaker models.

 

Clearaudio Performance on demo.

 

Clearaudio Master Solution on demo.

Clearaudio Ambient on display.



Clearaudio Champion on demo

 

Clearaudio Solution on display



Goldring Elektra cartridge, I used to have this on my Rega P3 when I was much younger. Excellent budget cartridge.



There's also an AV demo room with lazy chairs.



The AV demo room is equipped with 2.35 screen and anamorphic lens based projector system. John tells me this is a budget anamorphic lens set up.   

 

The main foyer and reception area.



CMY Audio & Visual means business!

I browsed for a few hours in the shop for LPs. Like a kid in a candy store, I had a problem, which LP not to buy? That's due to the enormous choice of LPs available and not enough budget to accommodate. I had further narrow down my picks over and over again just to stay within budget. This is certainly a change from the days that I'd browse for LP's and not finding anything that tickles my fancy!

Just in case you can't find The Vinyl Shop, call Dicky, Astley or John at 03-21439206 for directions.

CMY at KLIAV 2011

CMY is pulling out all the stops for this coming KLIAV show. Their equipment list is impressive:

Room 7012: This room is dedicated to AV, it consists of:
* Mitsubishi HC-9000 full-HD 3D SXRD projector + Anamorphic Research AR-2 2.35:1 anamorphic lens
*Audio Pro Image Series 5.1 speaker system consists of
-Black Diamond v3 front
-Black Vector v3 center
-Black Pearl v3 surround
-B1.40 250w 10" active subwoofer *Primare SPA-22 HD AV processor

Room 7016 :
This room is dedicated to digital and streaming audio from Naim:

* Naim Audio Ovator S-400 floorstanding speaker as the main highlight. They will be driven by Naim audio pre-power system.
* Naim audio Uniti-series for digital audio streaming demo
* Audio Pro Living series wireless speaker demo

Room 7018 :
This room is dedicated to vinyl (with something at the digital front too):
* Jeff Rowland Corus pre amp
* Jeff Rowland 625 power amp
* Clearaudio Master Reference turntable with TT-2 & Universal 2 separate tonearms on demo.
* Dynaudio Sapphire loudspeakers
* Metronome CD Player
* Shunyata & Siltech cables
* Big suprise for vinyl / record enthusiasts (more than 1000 records available at unbelieveable prices)

Starhill 3A :
I think this room is best called 'cost no object': :-)
* Dynaudio Evidence Temptation loudspeaker
* Jeff Rowland Criterion pre amp
* Jeff Rowland 301 monoblock power amp
* Wadia CD transport with Wadia 9 series digital computer & mono DAC
* Full range ASI Liveline power cord, inteconnects & speaker cables
* Full range ASI resonators on demo

Is Your Vinyl Playback Optimised? Clearaudio Azimuth Optimizer.

The Clearaudio Azimuth Optimizer unit, which can also function as a phono stage and head amp.

A few days after writing about my Clearaudio Stradivari MC cartridge recently, the left chanel decided to give me the silent treatment! I checked all my connections and by swapping the left and right chanels of signal to and from my Pass X-Ono phono stage confirms my worst fears. The generator coil, made of 24k gold had shorted on the left chanel of the Stradivari. Time to spend more $$$, I guess. Dang!

I searched around and had considered the following cartridges as a suitable replacement candidate for the Stradivari. They include the new Clearaudio Concerto or Stradivari V2, Shelter 901 and lastly, a Benz Micro Ebony L. I eventually out did my self with style as usual and got a Benz Micro LP instead!(that story to come pretty soon)

As anyone can tell you, mounting a cartridge and setting it up correctly is probably the most nerve wrecking thing to do in this hobby of ours! Especially for me because I've got what you'd call clumsy, big, fat fingers. One false move and you've just lost your mega buck super high end cartridge, reduced to scrap trade me in value for you next cartridge purchase! Most of us can count on our dealers to mount and set up the cartridge that we purchase with satisfaction. However, one will never know how to do it if there's no practical experience. I choose DIY.

With the help of a Linn protractor borrowed from JT(my buddy/sifu who helped me to rebuild my Linn LP12), I started to mount and set up my new Benz LP cartridge. The Linn protractor made mounting the cartridge with correct overhang and parallel alignment easy at 3 points. VTA is adjusted by sight to run straight and parallel, using 180 grams audiophile grade LP as reference. Next with an Ortofon DS-1 stylus force scale, I set up the VTF to 2.2 grams(the maximum of 1.8-2.2 grams recommended by Benz Micro).

I started to play the new cartridge and the sound was phenomenal! It's probably the best cartridge I've ever had till date. Over time, as the cartridge run in, the sound would deteriorate a little and the vocal images tend to drift between center and right off center. Even at way past 100 hours the center imaging was still drifting off right. I played some large symphony works and it was than I realised that perhaps, just perhaps, my left chanel was playing a little softer compared to the right.

CMY Audio & Visual, the new dealers for Clearaudio in Malaysia was a life saver when John asked me to write about my experience with the Clearaudio Azimuth Optimizer. I've seen Robert Suchy demo this equipment at the KLIAV show recently and can still remember what it's about and how to use it. A short demo in the CMY showroom again just to make sure I get it right and off I go.
With the tone arm lead connected to the azimuth optimizer unit, play the supplied test LP and one is ready to work, repeatedly for best results.

What does the Clearaudio Azimuth Optimizer do? It's an equipment designed to ensure that you've align the cartridge's azimuth angle, so that the L and R chanels track equally and produce an equal L-R signal output. It also checks the L-R chanel cross talk values, for those who wish to confirm what's probably written on the cartridge's manual/spec sheet. This particular Clearaudio Azimuth Optimizer also doubles up as a phono stage and can drive a head phone, or power amp direct, should one wish to displace the pre amp in chain of a vinyl sourced only system.
The R chanel output reading at one extreme point of adjustment!

Using the Azimuth Optimizer is easy enough, as the Clearaudio package also provides a 1kHz mono L-R chanel signal test record to do the job. One would need to disconnect the tonearm outputs from the phono stage and plug in to the clearly marked L-R chanel input of the Clearaudio unit. Then proceed to play both the L chanel first, record the cartridge output in -db as shown on the display, the track plays for a minute only, then switches to the right chanel, again record the output of the said chanel.

Now you've got the figures, look carefully, ideally as an example, the L-R chanel reading should look like this: L -30 - 0db and R -0 -30db. In other words, both chanels should read equal on the output display. Should your R is reading higher than the L chanel, then one can adjust the cartridge by gently rotating it clockwise as viewed from the front. The reverse should apply if your L chanel output is reading higher. Play the same 2 tracks on the LP again , and look at the L-R chanels readings now, repeat the cartridge adjustments again. Repeat the entire procedure as many times as required, but one must remember to make very small rotations either way. Very small adjustments seems to effect the readings big time!

My first output readings confirms my suspicions that my right chanel was playing louder, by as much -5 dbs, compared to the left. I proceeded to gently push the cartridge slightly clockwise. I repeated the whole adjustment process back and fourth, probably more than 50 times at least! At one point, I got pretty close with the L chanel reading -42.78 and the R chanel reading -43.25, but I was too greedy, I wanted both chanels to read exactly the same. I repeated the azimuth optimizing process many more times than I could remembered. After nearly 2 hours of fiddling around, I settled for the following results, L chanel reading -43.28 and R chanel reading -42.81, as I was getting tired.
The test LP has 1kHz signal in L or R mono per track, one can play the track right across to the end to check consistency of the optimized azimuth adjustment.

I then proceeded to un-hook the Azimuth Optimizer unit off my system, re-connect my phono stage and start playing some music. Lo and behold! The stereo imaging focus just snapped tightly together, like a well focused picture. The imaging wandering off right is now a thing of the past, and replaced with a more 3D presented image with solidness, much lacking before. With such accurate set up, I now felt that I could play my LP12 with the anti skate setting disable for even better results! The L and R chanels seemed very balanced now, despite the slightly higher reading on the left. When I play large scale orchestral works on LP, I now get great stage width and depth of field perception. It's like I was previously viewing an orchestra performing thru an averagely focused camera lens, and now that lens seems tightly focused by comparison. Each musician has it's own elbow space around the sound stage portrayed. I also thought the bass performance firmed up a fair bit too, as the woofers on both sides of the speakers seem to work with each other more, rather than slightly muddled and "off" phase sounding. There was also much lower surface noise, as the stylus now tracks at an optimal angle on both stereo chanels of the LP's groove. The Clearaudio Azimuth Optimizer certainly helped me to set up my new cartridge more accurately than if I had done it just by ear. No doubt, many turn table sifus or high hands think they don't actually need this to get it right either, but just to confirm one's ability is a blessing rather than "guesstimating" in the dark.
The package, including a wall wart power supply, the main unit, test LP and instruction manual, written in German like English

In theory, most of us can easily hear a 3db volume difference clearly, and many old hand audiophiles can identify with just 1db of volume difference. I'd hazard a guess that most, if not, none of us would not be able to tell a 0.5db volume difference clearly. Add the inconsistent music mix between the stereo L-R balance and the difference would be even harder to tell. With this Clearaudio unit, at least one guess work is taken out of the equation to accurately setting up a turn table. I must caution though that it's best to mount and set up all the other usual parameters of the cartridge and turn table first, let the cartridge to complete break in(if new) and leaving the azimuth optimizer as the final perfecting set up act. Otherwise the results will change once you've move your cartridge in any other way, no matter how small the adjustment.

CMY Audio & Visual is fully committed to the Clearaudio brand. They have invested in all the proper tools as specified by Clearaudio requirements to correctly set up the beautiful turn tables that they sell. CMY will at no charge, provide as a value added service to all their Clearaudio turn table/cartridge customers the full cartridge mounting and set up process using all the proper and necessary tools, including this azimuth optimizer by the manufacturer. Should owners of other turn tables including Clearaudio's NOT purchased from CMY Audio & Visual, requires this service, there's an RM$500.00 fee charge able.

Should one be interested, please call CMY Audio & Visual, ask for John to enquire at 03-21439406.

Clearaudio Stradivari MC Cartridge.

The Clearaudio Stradivari MC cartridge. Made from sustain able grade ebony wood, according to Robert Suchy.

The Clearaudio Stradivari MC cartridge was launched in year 2005 with much fanfare, winning numerous industry awards and garnering glowing reviews. My experience with this Clearaudio cartridge started sometime in year 2007. Many of my high end vinyl kakis have this cartridge mounted on their turn tables.

The impression that I always get when listening to a turn table set up mounted with this cartridge is of powerful dynamics and transient response, neutral tonal balance plus a totally quiet back ground.

So when a buddy of mine decided to upgrade to the Clearaudio Goldfinger V2 earlier this year, I took over this cartridge from him. This is an early model Stradivari, we are talking about, not the current V2 designated version. It's a very light cartridge, weighting just 4.4 grams. Clearaudio provides an additional weight attachment if one requires a heavier cartridge. I mounted the cartridge on to my Linn Ittok tone arm with the weight attachment. I had the tracking force set to 2.8 grams as recommended in the manual(this was before I had a chat with Robert Suchy!). It's a medium output MC cartridge rated at 0.6 mv(Millivolt) and recommended loading setting is 300 ohms. I used the 62db gain setting on my Pass X-Ono phono stage, but felt it sounded best balanced when I loaded the cartridge at 249 ohms.

The Clearaudio Stradivari is an excellent tracker. During it's time with me, no LP has managed to upset it, even the most warped, but still play able in my collection. As with my experience earlier, the sound of the Stradivari is strictly neutral in tonal balance. The high frequencies are extended, with good attack on high hats, and very realistic sounding, if only shows up some what dry in my set up(this was not the case with others I've heard). The mids are open and vocals rendered with absolute clarity, but my preference is to have a bit more density here. The bass is highly extended and articulated, but possibly needs to have more tracking force to show more weight. Dynamics and transient response is hugely bold and fast. It is also capable of generating a 3D like sound stage, if the recording captures it in it's vinyl groove. I must also mention the Stradivari's extra ordinary ability to dig up all, even the tiniest musical information from the LP's groove, which results in it's excellent transparency that is most true to source. In the context of my system, I've found this cartridge to have exciting and explosive thrill ride qualities, yet ultimately, I also found my mind wondering away from the music after playing a few tracks.
My Stradivari, mounted on the Linn Ittok with the extra weight attachment. The latest V2 versions have the extra weight plates built in to the resonance star crown, on top of the cartridge body.

Another buddy had offered me a set of Oyaide HSR-AG cartridge leads for a small, tidy sum. It seemed that this 5N pure silver cable is just the antidote I needed for the Clearaudio Stradivari. The Oyaide leads offered a certain sweet warmness and organics in the sound which offset the naturally analytical, if accurate behavior of the Clearaudio cartridge. The main sonic difference is in the high frequency reproduction. The highs reproduced with the Oyaide in the line of signal, is slightly sweet, attractively airy, yet trading nothing away from the realistic attack of high hats. The high mids are also smoothed out some what and some recordings with sibilance which the Stradivari will certainly let you know is now less piercing to these ears.

Is the any down side to the Oyaide cartridge leads? Yes! I found them rather stiff and hard to dress from head shell to cartridge. The leads are also quite brittle in feel, that they may snap if one twist too hard, or agresive an angle.They are also much heavier than the normal grade cartridge leads, so cartridge tracking force will have to be re-calibrated to suit.
Oyaide HSR-AG, mate this to the Clearaudio Stradivari for even more excellent sound.

In comparison with today's V2 designated Stradivari, the latest version offers a slightly warmer tonal balance, but one can never call it rich or lush just yet. The sibilance on the high mids are naturally lessened with the latest model too. As a very experience Clearaudio cartridge user tells me, the V2 version is easier to set up, but the earlier version loses little in terms of performance, if one's experience and set up skills is good enough. With many previous Stradivari users trading up to the newer V2 versions of the Clearaudio super class cartridge, there are quite a few to choose from now days. I see prices varying from RM$4000.00-$4800.00, depending on age and condition of use, the Clearaudio Stradivari is clearly very good value when bought used, compared to the latest price of RM$9800.00 for the brand new latest V2 version.

I must dispense with this caveat when shopping for used cartridges, and this applies to all used ones. Buying a used cartridge can be an excellent value up grade proposition or the most horribly wrong hifi purchase experience known. Cartridges are very delicate instruments, which demand a certain level of care and respect when in use. They are easily damaged and abused, or in the case of an old, highly used cartridge, just simply worn out. When buying used cartridges, do make sure you know the owner habits or history. If possible, request for a test play if it's still mounted. Otherwise, if buying from a trusty retailer, make sure to negotiate for a limited warranty of some sort, just in case if the worst should happen. You'll never know, after all.

A Solution For My Vinyl Blues? It's a Clearaudio Solution.

The impressive looking Clearaudio Solution turn table package placed on my FE Spider clone rack.

Now that you've read about my adventures of putting together an LP play back system, a.k.a. a turn table, tone arm and cartridge, let's see what this Clearaudio package has to offer?

And before we go further, I must stress that I am totally awed and marvelled at the level of mechanical engineering, and meticulous finishing. The review sample of the Solution turn table is the AMG wood variety. According to Clearaudio specs, the Panzerholtz wood is laminated from 72 layers of wood of varying density. The said result is that the wood becomes so though it can with stand a speeding bullet! a.k.a. "bullet proof wood". By the way, there's a small premium in price for the wood version over the standard acrylic version.

It took me a few hours to assemble the package and it now ready for it's final set up procedure, the cartridge alignment and set up. I used the Clearaudio provided protractor as seen below to align the cartridge then followed by the tracking force, VTA and anti skate settings. I used an Ortofon DS-1 digital cartridge scale to set the tracking force at 3.0gsm as per recommended by Clearaudio, VTA is set up by sight, straight balanced on both ends and anti skate is set to minimal.
I used the Clearaudio provided protractor to align the Concerto V2 cartridge. The protractor is very well marked and made the alignment job easier than usual.

Now, I turn my attention to the Pass Labs X-ono phono stage set up. I used the usual 56db gain setting and loaded the Concerto V2 MC cartridge at 249 ohm. That was easy.

This setting proved to be a little bass light, and then I remembered during my chat with Robert Suchy that 3.2gsm was his preferred tracking force setting for the super class range of Clearaudio MC cartridges, which the Concerto V2 is clearly a member. I used this setting for the rest of my sound description.

I thought the Clearaudio Solution, Unify and Concerto V2 package to have a flat neutral balance, never put emphasis in to any particular frequency range. The high frequencies are exact, realistic with great attack qualities. The mids are a bit lean but otherwise have good clarity and detail retrieval. Bass is a bit lite, but have enough articulation to form the musical foundation. In other words, this package is free from colouration that many have mistakenly interpreted as "warm" sounding.

I found this Clearaudio package to be amongst the most transparent, true to source turn table I've played in my system to date. It is also the most quiet, mainly free from back ground noise like hiss or hum, especially LP surface noise. The low noise floor allows the low level resolution to be exposed in all it's full glory. Take for example, Illinios Jacquet's recently reissued, Birthday Party album(a blues/jazz musical genre), I could hear every breath, moisted mouth piece, finger work, that burnish and golden brass tone of the horn and the hamonic and timbre differentiation of the all the various horn instruments used, like the flugel, baritone sax and trumpet, plus flute and tenor, each floating solidly in their own acoustic space of the sound stage. At this point stage width and depth perception is no longer an issue, because it's almost like you're there! This kind of sonic experience is priceless.

Equipped with an over sized out board motor, speed stability is first rate. Solo piano tracks that upset the Concept and all other budget turn tables sailed through beatifully this time. There were no rude awakening that one was listening to a less then perfect musical presentation.

I must however, add that all that transparency is a double edge sword too, only because the Clearaudio package is so very true to source. Put on a poorly recorded pop or rock LP, and the Clearaudio turn table will surely reveal it's inadequacies. It does not suffer for fools. Only the very best recordings guarantees a truly satisfying experience. It's no fault of the Clearaudio package as it's only the messenger, not the source. One of my analog sifus who owns a very high end Clearaudio turn table always tell me, "Don't shoot the messenger if you don't like what you hear".
Illnois Jacquet plays Birthday Party Blues, along with another out standing track called The Shadow Of Your Smile, makes up this excellent 5 track blues/jazz album on LP, recently remastered by Bernie Grundman and re-issued by Groove Note label. The recording still has high levels of tapes hiss but when played at an appropriate level, the feeling of being intoxicated with blues will certainly overwhelm.

With a little familiarisation, this turn table package is fairly easy to set up, tune and will reward with it's honesty. In the scheme of things, it is at this point of the Clearaudio turn table range where things start to get serious. The Solution turn table can be up graded later to the higher range Master Solution spec, if required. One can even go all the way and add a Synchro power supply to that out board motor. It has the family DNA of the all conquering Clearaudio Master Reference, only built to a lower price level. Some compromises are therefore, un avoidable. When compared to it's bigger brothers higher up in the range, I thought the Solution gives up some what in the area of bass weight extension and out right extreme dynamics. It is however, a clearly superior audiophile pleasing turn table, when compared to the entry level Concept I reviewed earlier.
The Unify uni-pivot tone arm is very well made, and comes with carbon arm tube. This arm is very easy to set up but the signal wires are very fragile, and one has to be very careful not to break/or bend them during installation. Shaky hands and fingers need not apply here!

As I mentioned earlier, the level of engineering and manufacturing quality borders on level of fanaticism. I can assure that if taken cared for, this turn table can serve it's owner for a long, long, time to come. There's even a pre planned up grade route in the form of the Master Solution with a price top up, when one aspires more. One can even add the Clearaudio Synchro power supply for better bass response and dynamics, according to a buddy of mine who has gone thru the Clearaudio Master Solution up grading path. I find this Solution path makes a lot of practical sense.
Another look at the Solution AMG Wood turn table. Note the little black wire below is used to ground the turn table to the phono stage.

Here's the break down of the package price for each item:

1) Clearaudio Solution AMG Wood turn table - RM$19,500.00(standard acrylic finish unit available for RM$16,500.00)

2) Clearaudio Unify tone arm - RM$10,875.00

3) Clearaudio Concerto V2 cartridge - RM$11,985.00

Do you want a Solution for your vinyl blues?

If your answer is "YES" then head on to your nearest CMY Audio & Visual showroom right away.

Clearaudio is sold by CMY Audio & Visual, contact John, tel: 03-21439406.

A Solution For My Vinyl Blues? It's a Clearaudio Solution.

A close up shot of the spindle and the acrylic platter.

Guess what I have spinning in my audio cave? I am going thru a period of vinyl revival of sorts, ever since I decided to get back on the the band wagon of the black arts. Since my Linn LP12 is still being restored, CMY Audio & Visual very thought fully supplied me with turn tables to keep my vinyl fever boiling.
The outboard motor unit and fly wheel for the drive belt.

I've always envied Micheal Fremer of Stereophile a lot, because he gets to play with all the best analog toys. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Clearaudio Concept turn table, so I was choke full of anticipation when John, boss of CMY allowed me to take home the Clearaudio Solution, Unify tone arm and Concerto V2 cartridge package for a spin. When I got home and opened the box, there's so many bits and pieces, just like a mechanical jigsaw puzzle, I did not know where to start. I slept over it and next day, fresh out of bed, made a second attempt to put together the turn table. All I needed was provided by Clearaudio, from the manuals, tools and a pair of white cotton gloves included.


The eagle has landed! The Unify Carbon tone arm and Concerto V2 cartridge.

It took me the better part of the day, more like 6 hours of constant work(stopping in between for lunch), before I heard the first tune. Assembling a complex turn table requires some mechanical familiarity, a bit of an inquisitive mind and in the case of the final assembly of the tone arm and cartridge alignment, nimble fingers too. Lastly, one needs to be very careful not to break anything too, especially the dangerously fragile looking tone arm cable and the proudly protruding cartridge cantilever and stylus tip!
The name says it all!

However, when the first tunes were played, there's a sign of relieve, and a feeling achievement, that it was all worth while. I now envy Mr Fremer no more, as from this experience, I've come to see the constant vinyl doodling as a labour of love. While I love the sound of the vinyl format, I just found it a bit too much of a hard work, just like reviewing speakers!

Did I find a Solution for my vinyl blues?

Stay tuned for the full report.