Clearaudio Concept Signature Turntable

Clearaudio upgrades ‘Concept’ turntable package with new Concept Signature

How do you top a best-selling, multi-award winning turntable package that combines smart design, high-end performance, plug-and-play simplicity and affordability? Meet the Concept Signature, the newly upgraded edition of Clearaudio’s unbeatable Concept series.

As an entry-level high-end turntable package, Clearaudio’s Concept has, for more than 10 years, delivered an undisputed price-design-performance ratio in a variety of ever-evolving formats and finishes. Now, Clearaudio has ramped the whole ‘concept’ up a notch with the new Concept Signature, which replaces all previous editions of the package. The fundamental idea behind the Concept Signature remains true to the series’ original purpose: to offer an entry point into high-end hi-fi, in which accessibility and ease-of-use are as paramount as sonic performance. To that end, the ‘package’ comes with tonearm and cartridge, and all key technical parameters are optimally pre-set, allowing the buyer to simply plug in, press play and enjoy the music.

Behind this apparent simplicity, however, lies a raft of powerfully smart engineering. The Concept Signature features a whole new approach to speed control technology, crafted to achieve enhanced consistency and impulse stability. Clearaudio’s new ‘Tacho-Speed-Control’ (TSC) constantly monitors the platter’s rotational speed and provides real-time feedback to the control electronics, enabling the system to immediately respond to changing influences such as decreasing belt tension, friction from the platter bearing or temperature fluctuations. Additionally, TSC performs an automatic calibration at every restart. Manual recalibration is also possible at the push of a button at the rear of the turntable.

The core of the Concept Signature’s resonance-optimised body is constructed from MDF or, as an upgrade option, from solid wood layers bonded under high pressure. The turntable’s top layer is formed from a high-tech satin-finished plastic, a composition designed to further minimise resonances as well as ensuring a sleek visual appearance. An illuminated touch controller allows for intuitive operation of the turntable and adds to the elegant design.

The 30mm main platter sits atop a high-density, precision-machined aluminium sub-platter. The bearing comprises a polished and tempered steel spindle in a sintered bronze bushing, running on a Teflon thrust-pad A resonance-damped DC motor with polished flat belt drives the platter. In a design borrowed and modified from the brand’s £17k Reference Jubilee turntable, the motor is completely decoupled from the main chassis by way of a scaled-down version of Clearaudio’s ‘IMS / Innovative Motor Suspension’. A generously dimensioned and highly stable external power supply unit delivers power.

Finally, the Concept Signature is designed to be highly modular, offering customers a wide array of choices and combinations from Clearaudio’s range of high-performance tonearms and phono cartridges to complete this superb new package.