Головки звукоснимателя — Clearaudio Jubilee MM

The Jubilee MM is a high-output moving-magnet phono cartridge from Clearaudio, and it is one of only two cartridges in the maker's range built with a Panzerholz body. The same material was previously used in the Jubilee MC, a moving-coil model priced at about USD 6,000, and its use here carries that housing to a moving-magnet design that any standard phono input can drive.

Key specs that matter

An elliptical stylus is mounted on an aluminium cantilever. Output is about 3.6 mV at 5 cm/s, frequency response covers 20 Hz to 20 kHz, and channel separation at 1 kHz is 26 dB, with channel balance held to 0.4 dB. Compliance is 15 µ/mN, tracking ability is 90 µm, and the recommended tracking force is 2.2 g (tolerance 0.3 g either way). The cartridge weighs 8.8 g, plus or minus 0.4 g. Coil impedance at 1 kHz is 0.66 kOhm and coil inductance is 400 mH. The recommended load is 47 kOhm in parallel with 100 pF.

Engineering and use context

Panzerholz, also called bullet proof wood, is a high-tech laminate made from many layers of Baltic birch pressed together under 60 tons of pressure. Clearaudio chose it for the housing to lower the noise floor and widen dynamic range, since the dense composite resists resonance better than a light plastic shell. Inside, the generator is designed for a low moving mass, and the stylus is finished with an optimised polishing technique, while effective damping inside the cartridge controls the moving system. Clearaudio also grades and matches parts during production, a process it credits with the trackability and channel separation of the finished unit. Its compliance, taken with the body mass, points to tonearms in the medium effective mass class. Clearaudio pairs the high output with the standard load so that the cartridge fits common phono preamplifiers without any adaptation.

Pairing

Because of its high output and standard loading, the Jubilee MM plugs into any moving-magnet phono input, needing neither a transformer nor unusual settings. The capacitance recommendation is low, so short, low-capacitance tonearm cable and a phono stage with adjustable input capacitance help hold the total near that figure. An integrated amplifier with its own MM board is a simple match, as are dedicated outboard phono stages with MM gain.

Alternatives

The Clearaudio Jubilee MC is the moving-coil model of the same family and shares the Panzerholz body construction.