Головки звукоснимателя — Clearaudio TALISMAN V2 GOLD

The Talisman V2 Gold is a moving-coil cartridge from Clearaudio of Erlangen, Germany, now sold in revised form as the Talisman V2.1 Gold. The company sums up its idea as simple, unobtrusive and good, and the most visible feature is a gold-coloured faceplate mounted on a hand-polished ebony body. Clearaudio states that the patented coil layout of this model extends what earlier versions of the series could achieve.

Key specs that matter

Weight is given as 10.6 to 11.2 g for the complete system, with 10.8 g named as a typical figure. The generator delivers 0.5 mV at 5 cm/s across 20 Hz to 20 kHz, and its coils present 50 ohm. Separation between left and right lies in the 25 to 30 dB band, with channel balance better than 0.5 dB. Tracking ability reaches 80 µm at a recommended force of 2.8 g, allowing 0.2 g of deviation, and compliance is 15 µ/mN. A boron cantilever holds a diamond ground to the Clearaudio Prime Line shape, and the maker grants two years of warranty after registration within 14 days of purchase.

Engineering and use context

Inside, Clearaudio uses a fully pivot-symmetrical coil arrangement with eight magnets, and the coil wire is 24-carat gold. Placing the coils symmetrically around the pivot point of the cantilever is intended to give both channels equal working conditions. The V2.1 suffix refers to the Micro-HD grinding of the stylus diamond, which Clearaudio names as the reason for the particularly precise tracing of this version. Clearaudio points to the boron cantilever and the low overall weight as the engineering result behind a design it calls both simple and new. The ebony housing is polished by hand and valued by the maker for its high freedom from resonance as well as its discreet appearance. Compared with the 7 g Stradivari V2 and Concerto V2, the Talisman carries almost 4 g more mass, which matters when the counterweight range of a tonearm is limited.

Pairing

Because the cartridge weighs close to 11 g, the tonearm needs a counterweight that balances heavier systems, and Clearaudio arms such as the Universal, rated for 2.9 to 24.8 g, cover it with room to spare. The Clarify magnetic tonearm is also shown by Clearaudio with the Talisman mounted. On the electronics side the low signal requires a high-gain MC stage or step-up device, and the low-impedance coil suits stages with adjustable MC loading.

Alternatives

The Clearaudio Stradivari V2.1 has the same electrical figures and gold coils in a lighter 7.0 g ebony body with a metal inlay.