Головки звукоснимателя — Clearaudio Artist V2

The Artist V2 belongs to the MM V2 range of moving magnet cartridges made by Clearaudio in Erlangen, Germany. The range starts with the aluminium-bodied concept V2 and continues through the Performer V2, Artist V2 and Maestro V2, with the Charisma V2 placed at the top. Within that order the Artist V2 is the first model to combine the higher 3.6 mV output with a hand-polished ebony body, while it keeps the aluminium cantilever and elliptical diamond of the cheaper versions.

Key specs that matter

Nominal output at 1 kHz and 5 cm/s is about 3.6 mV. The frequency range is given as 20 Hz to 20 kHz, channel separation as 24 dB and channel balance as 0.8 dB, both measured at 1 kHz. Tracking ability reaches 80 µm at a recommended downforce of 2.2 g, plus or minus 0.3 g. Electrically, each coil shows 0.66 kOhm at 1 kHz with an inductance of 400 mH, and Clearaudio specifies a load of 47 kOhm with 100 pF of capacitance. Stylus compliance is 15 µ/mN. The complete cartridge weighs 8.4 g with a tolerance of 0.4 g. Warranty runs for 2 years, provided the warranty card reaches Clearaudio within 14 days of purchase.

Engineering and use context

Clearaudio built the V2 generation of its MM designs around three measures - a low-resonance ebony housing, the lowest practical moving mass and optimised HD grinding of the diamond, combined with damping inside the cartridge. Each unit is measured several times in four planes and then hand-selected, which the maker uses to keep the two stereo channels closely matched and to limit phase and transient errors. Its balance figure is tighter than the 1.5 dB listed for the Performer V2, which uses the same aluminium and elliptical stylus assembly in an ebony body with lower output. Ebony is hand-polished for every body in the range except the concept V2.

Pairing

Any standard MM phono input at 47 kOhm suits the cartridge, and the high output means no step-up transformer or MC gain setting is needed. Because the maker specifies 100 pF, the arm lead and preamp input together should stay close to that capacitance figure. Clearaudio states that the MM V2 models work on all common tonearms, without naming a preferred effective mass.

Alternatives

The Clearaudio Maestro V2 uses the same ebony housing and output level with a boron cantilever and Shibata diamond instead.