Turntables

High-End Turntables

Clearaudio, Linn Sondek LP12 and McIntosh — set up, aligned, and demonstrated properly.

A turntable is the one component whose performance depends as much on setup as on what you paid for it.

Clearaudio builds in Erlangen with a magnetic bearing and ceramic platter; Linn has been refining the Sondek LP12 in Glasgow since 1972 and will still upgrade one you bought decades ago. Two very different philosophies about what a record player should be, and both are in the rooms here.

Tonearm geometry, cartridge alignment, vertical tracking angle, azimuth, loading — get these wrong and a reference turntable sounds worse than a modest one set up correctly. Everything sold here is set up by us, and we will come back and check it.

The setup is not an afterthought. It is most of the performance.

How to choose a turntable

Deck, arm and cartridge have to agree with each other — spending heavily on one while economising on another is the classic analog mistake. And setup is most of the performance: a well-aligned mid-tier deck will out-play a reference deck nobody dialled in. Choose the cartridge before the phono stage, not after.

Clearaudio Statement V2

Clearaudio’s 350kg flagship, in continuous production since 2005 — magnetic drive, diamond-coated CMB, gyroscopic pendulum.

Clearaudio Master Innovation

The entry to Clearaudio’s Master line — dual-chassis deck with its motor in a separate sub-chassis, 70mm POM platter, Ceramic Magnetic Bearing.

Clearaudio Innovation

The single-chassis Innovation — 70mm POM platter, patented Ceramic Magnetic Bearing and Panzerholz plinth. On demonstration in Scottsdale.

Clearaudio Innovation Compact

The Innovation architecture sized for one tonearm — the same 70mm POM platter, Ceramic Magnetic Bearing and Panzerholz plinth. On demo in Scottsdale.

Clearaudio Innovation Basic

The entry to the Innovation family — the same Ceramic Magnetic Bearing and decoupled high-torque DC motor in a streamlined Panzerholz plinth.

Clearaudio Master Jubilee

Clearaudio’s anniversary flagship — dual-chassis Panzerholz and aluminium around a 100 mm POM platter on the patented Ceramic Magnetic Bearing.

Clearaudio Reference Jubilee

The single-chassis sibling of the Master Jubilee — 90mm POM platter, patented Ceramic Magnetic Bearing, Panzerholz plinth, two tonearm mounts.

Clearaudio Ovation

The bridge between Performance and Innovation — a 50 mm POM platter on a Ceramic Magnetic Bearing, two tonearm mounts. On demo in Scottsdale.

Clearaudio Performance DC Wood

The Performance DC with Ovation-tier isolation — a mass-loaded Baltic birch plinth between two anodized aluminum plates on Innovation-series feet.

Clearaudio Performance DC

Clearaudio’s mid-tier reference — a CNC-machined aluminum plinth, 40 mm POM platter and Optical Speed Control. On demo in Scottsdale.

Clearaudio Celebrity “Al Di Meola” Edition

A limited signature edition co-designed with Al Di Meola — a solid wood frame chassis, signed and numbered, over the Ceramic Magnetic Bearing.

Burmester 257 Turntable

Reference Line turntable delivered complete — belt drive, factory-aligned tonearm and cartridge, integrated phono stage, balanced XLR output.

Burmester 175 Turntable

Reference Line belt-drive turntable supplied with its tonearm, cartridge and phono stage left to configuration. On demo in Scottsdale.

Clearaudio concept Signature

The concept deck in gold or silver trim — a magnetic-bearing tonearm on a wood-core chassis with aluminum skins. On demo in Scottsdale.

Clearaudio Signature

US-market special edition — a re-engineered Concept with the AiR coreless motor and Reference-Jubilee-derived speed control.

Clearaudio compass

Clearaudio’s 2026 gateway deck — a compact plug-and-play chassis with the T1 tonearm and a preinstalled MM cartridge, ready out of the crate.

McIntosh MT10 Turntable

McIntosh’s flagship turntable — belt drive with magnetically suspended platter, custom pre-installed tonearm, factory-configured .5mV moving-coil cartridge.

McIntosh MT5 Precision Turntable

The mid-tier McIntosh turntable — a belt-drive precision deck with tonearm factory-configured, in the same industrial vocabulary as the reference MT10.

McIntosh MT2 Precision Turntable

The entry to the McIntosh turntable program — a belt-drive precision deck with tonearm factory-fitted, in the same industrial vocabulary as the MT10.

McIntosh MTI100 Integrated Turntable

A belt-drive turntable that is a complete system — pre-fitted cartridge, vacuum-tube preamp, shielded phono stage and Class D amplifier in one chassis.

Linn Klimax LP12 Turntable

Reference Sondek LP12 — Ekstatik cartridge, Ekos SE tonearm, Keel subchassis, Radikal II motor control, Urika phono stage.

Linn Selekt LP12 Turntable

The mid-tier Sondek LP12 — Kendo cartridge, Arko tonearm, Lingo supply and Kore subchassis, upgradeable to Klimax. On demo in Scottsdale.

Linn Akurate LP12 Turntable

The upper-mid tier of the Sondek LP12 program — higher-performance components at each mechanical stage, between the Selekt and Klimax builds.

Linn Majik LP12 Turntable

The first step into the Sondek LP12 — Karousel bearing, aluminum sandwich sub-chassis and Krane tonearm, upgradeable to Klimax over time.

Tonearms

The arm is the second of the three analog decisions, and the one most often left to whatever came fitted. Clearaudio builds a full range — pivoted arms with a friction-free magnetic bearing, and linear-tracking tangential arms that follow the same straight path the cutting lathe traced. Which one suits a given deck and cartridge is a setup conversation, not a spec-sheet one.

Clearaudio Statement TT1

The tangential-tracking reference — mechanical, passive, ball-bearings in a calibrated glass tube. Patent PA1020060529138.

Clearaudio TT2

Clearaudio’s mid-tier tangential tonearm — 40 hours of hand assembly, purely mechanical ball bearings running in a polished glass tube, roughly 2 kg.

Clearaudio Unity

Clearaudio’s 2025 flagship pivoted tonearm — a 10-inch monocoque carbon armtube on a magnetically stabilised single-point sapphire bearing.

Clearaudio TT3

The compact tangential arm — the same mechanical ball-bearing-in-glass-tube design as TT2 and Statement TT1, sized for Ovation and Performance decks.

Clearaudio TT5 Tangential Tonearm

Clearaudio’s most affordable tangential arm — fully rigid, purely mechanical, precision rollers on polished glass rail. Optional Swing Base available.

Clearaudio Universal

Clearaudio’s reference pivoted tonearm — three-piece telescoping carbon fibre armtube on a precision ball-bearing gimbal, in 9-inch or 12-inch lengths.

Clearaudio Tracer

Clearaudio’s mid-tier pivoted arm — a jewelled tungsten-and-sapphire bearing set at 90° to cartridge offset, carbon fibre armtube, dialled anti-skate.

Clearaudio Satisfy Carbon Fiber

The carbon-fibre-armtube Satisfy — Swiss tungsten-and-sapphire bearings, non-contact magnetic anti-skate. Also supplied as the Signature Black tonearm.

Clearaudio Satisfy Black

Clearaudio’s entry pivoted tonearm — handmade tungsten-and-sapphire bearings, aluminium armtube, magnetic anti-skate. Standard fit on the Concept.

Clearaudio Verify Magnetic Bearing Tonearm

The magnetic-bearing tonearm — friction-free, carbon-fibre armtube, hardwired Direct Wire. Preinstalled on the concept and Performance DC turntables.

Choosing a turntable, in detail

A record player is three decisions that have to agree with each other: the deck, the arm and the cartridge. The deck controls speed and isolates the record from everything around it. The arm holds the cartridge on a consistent path with a consistent downforce. The cartridge does the reading. Spending heavily on one while economising on another is the most common and most expensive mistake in analog.

Setup is not a finishing touch, it is most of the performance. Alignment geometry, vertical tracking angle, azimuth, downforce and anti-skate all interact, and a well-set-up mid-tier deck will comfortably out-play a reference deck that nobody dialled in. This is also why an upgradeable platform matters — Linn's Sondek LP12 has stayed in production for five decades precisely because the same chassis accepts better bearings, motor control and subchassis over time.

Then match the cartridge to the phono stage rather than the other way round. A low-output moving coil needs gain and loading a moving-magnet input cannot give it. Decide the cartridge type first and the phono stage follows from it.

Hear these in Scottsdale and Tempe

Every turntable we sell leaves set up properly, and we will set it up again in your room if that is where it is going. LMC has been a Linn dealer since 2005, which mostly means a great many LP12s have passed across the bench. Bring records you know well — pressing quality varies enough that unfamiliar vinyl tells you very little.