Phono Cartridges

Clearaudio moving coil and moving magnet — the first component in the chain, and the only one that wears out.

Everything downstream is amplification of whatever the stylus recovers from the groove. Nothing later in the chain adds back what is missed here.

A cartridge is a generator. The stylus traces a groove wall modulated up to twenty thousand times a second, the cantilever carries that movement to a coil or a magnet, and a few hundred microvolts come out the other end. Tracking force is set in fractions of a gram and alignment errors are measured in micrometres, which is why cartridge design sits closer to instrument making than to electronics.

Moving coil designs move the coil inside a fixed magnetic field and output very little — Clearaudio's Diamond Jubilee MC produces 0.8 mV — so they need a phono stage with real gain and correct loading behind them. Moving magnet designs put out roughly ten times more and are easier to partner. That is not a ranking, it is a decision about the rest of the system and about how often you want to replace a stylus.

The only component in the system that physically wears out. Specify it accordingly.

How to choose a cartridge

Compliance has to suit the tonearm — the arm-and-cartridge resonance wants to land between roughly eight and twelve hertz, and that constraint rules options out fast. Remember it is a consumable: a stylus has a few hundred hours in it, and a worn one damages records. Budget for the retip, not just the purchase.

Clearaudio Charisma V2

Clearaudio’s MM flagship — same diamond-coated boron cantilever as the Goldfinger Statement MC, ebony body with German Silver inlay, 3.6 mV output.

Clearaudio Maestro V2

The MM that thinks it’s an MC — solid boron cantilever, Micro HD stylus, ebony body. The Absolute Sound’s 2013 Phono Cartridge of the Year.

Clearaudio Jubilee MM

One of only two Clearaudio cartridges with a Panzerholz body, the densified wood used in reference plinths. Aluminium cantilever, 3.6 mV MM output.

Clearaudio Virtuoso V2

The classic ebony-body MM — aluminum cantilever, elliptical stylus. The most accessible cartridge in Clearaudio’s ebony-body MM range.

Clearaudio concept mc

Clearaudio’s entry into serious moving-coil listening — aluminum-magnesium alloy body, 11 Ω internal impedance, 0.4 mV output. Low-output MC.

Clearaudio concept mc Signature

The refined concept mc — aluminum-magnesium alloy with anodised coating, hand-selected magnets, 0.3 dB channel matching. Low-output MC.

Clearaudio Talisman V2 Gold

The first Clearaudio MC to use Peter Suchy’s 1970s symmetrical patent — 10.8g hand-polished ebony body, V2 generator, 24K gold air-core coils.

Clearaudio Concerto V2

Satiné wood body, twelve-finger platform — the first Clearaudio MC to combine the twelve-finger design with the fully symmetrical V2 generator.

Clearaudio Stradivari V2

Long-aged ebony body, twelve-finger “flower power” platform — Stereophile Class A. Direct sibling of the Panzerholz-bodied Jubilee MC.

Clearaudio Jubilee MC

The “baby Goldfinger” — Clearaudio’s only MC cartridge in Panzerholz, the densified German wood used in its top-tier turntable plinths.

Clearaudio da Vinci V2

V2-generation MC with a ceramic-coated aluminum body — 90 dB dynamic range at 7g. The lighter-body sibling to the Titanium V2.

Clearaudio Titanium V2

Titanium-body upper-tier V2 MC — twelve-finger platform, 24K gold coils, 8-magnet Ring, 95 dB dynamic range. Direct sibling of the da Vinci V2.

Clearaudio Goldfinger Statement V2.1

Clearaudio’s standing-production cartridge flagship — 14K gold body, twelve-magnet Ring configuration, integrated EMF shielding.

Clearaudio Diamond Jubilee MC

Clearaudio’s 45th-anniversary flagship cartridge, limited to 45 units — zirconium oxide body, boron cantilever, Micro-HD diamond, 0.6–0.65 mV output.

Choosing a cartridge, in detail

The cartridge is the only part of the system in physical contact with the recording, and it is a consumable. A stylus has a service life measured in hundreds of hours, after which it stops tracking accurately and starts doing damage. Budgeting for a cartridge means budgeting for its eventual replacement or retip, not just the purchase.

Compliance has to suit the tonearm. A high-compliance cartridge in a heavy arm, or a stiff one in a light arm, puts the resonant frequency of the arm-and-cartridge system in the wrong place — ideally it sits between about eight and twelve hertz, above record warp frequencies and below the audible band. This is a genuine compatibility constraint, not a preference, and it eliminates options quickly.

Stylus profile is where a lot of the performance sits. More sophisticated profiles trace more of the groove and last longer, but demand more precise alignment to deliver on it. If the deck is not going to be set up properly, a simpler profile is the more honest choice.

Hear these in Scottsdale and Tempe

We fit and align cartridges properly, by measurement, and we will check an existing setup for you whether or not the cartridge came from us. If you are unsure how much life is left in a stylus, bring the deck in — that is a five-minute answer under magnification and worth knowing before it costs you records.