Головки звукоснимателя — Clearaudio Virtuoso V2

The Virtuoso V2 is the second-generation version of Clearaudio's Virtuoso moving-magnet cartridge, which earlier came as the Virtuoso Wood. The German maker replaced the previous housing with a body of hand-polished ebony and applied the V2 changes of its MM line, among them a higher output voltage and a reworked elliptical diamond. Clearaudio says the earlier design was revised in frequency response, output level, crosstalk and channel balance.

Key specs that matter

Output is roughly 3.6 mV at 1 kHz and 5 cm/s, and frequency response is specified from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Channel separation exceeds 30 dB at 1 kHz, while channel balance is held to 0.2 dB or less. Trackability is better than 90 µm. The recommended vertical force is 2.2 g, with a permitted window of 1.8 to 2.6 g. Electrically the generator shows 0.66 kOhm coil impedance and 0.40 H inductance, and it is meant to see 47 kOhm and 100 pF. The stylus is elliptical on an aluminium cantilever, compliance is quoted as 15 µ/mN, and the cartridge weighs 8.4 g. Warranty is two years.

Engineering and use context

Clearaudio's V2 work on its MM series focused on the balance between inductance, capacitance, load and sensitivity, and the company reports lower distortion and crosstalk from that tuning along with more output. Every cartridge is measured and selected by hand, and the firm lists closest stereo channel matching, lowest phase error and flattest frequency response as the goals of that sorting. The ebony case replaces the older wooden shell and is used to damp mechanical resonance in the body, in place of the standard aluminium and resin housings. The elliptical tip has been ground and polished to a precise profile, and moving mass at the front end was reduced as part of the V2 update. Its channel balance puts this model well ahead of the Performer V2 and Artist V2 in the same ebony family, whose balance figures are 1.5 dB and 0.8 dB. Its weight, force and compliance are described as compatible with most good tonearms, including those from Clearaudio.

Pairing

The high output feeds any MM phono stage, including simple circuits built into integrated amplifiers, and no step-up device is needed. For correct loading the phono input and tonearm lead together should present close to 100 pF. On the mechanical side, medium-mass arms like the Clearaudio Satisfy Kardan or Tracer suit the body.

Alternatives

The Clearaudio Charisma V2 is a moving-magnet model using an ebony body with a nickel silver inlay and a diamond-doped boron cantilever taken from the Goldfinger Statement.