Тонармы — Clearaudio TT2

The TT2 is a tangential, or linear-tracking, tonearm from Clearaudio, the German analogue specialist based in Erlangen, and the company ranks it among the most complex tonearm designs in its portfolio. Each arm takes around 40 hours to assemble by hand in Germany. In the current range it sits among the tangential arms alongside the Statement TT1, the TT3 and the TT5. Prices include GBP 9,410 in the UK and EUR 9,900 in Europe, and in the US it was last priced at USD 11,999.99 and is listed as discontinued.

Key specs that matter

Clearaudio quotes an accepted cartridge mass of 5.5 to 15.0 g, and cartridges under 7 g net need an extra headshell plate as added weight. The arm weighs about 2 kg without its base, and the base adds roughly 245 g. Without the folding base or height adjustment screw it measures about 300 mm wide, 110 mm deep and 65 mm high. Materials are aluminium in black or silver, stainless steel and glass. The signal lead is 2 m of Clearaudio Super Sixstream wire with RCA plugs. The warranty runs 5 years if the card is returned within 14 days.

Engineering and use context

Any pivoted tonearm traces an arc, so the stylus meets the groove at a changing angle across the record. A tangential arm moves the cartridge along a straight line from the edge to the label, matching the path of the cutting lathe that made the master, which removes that angular tracking error. Clearaudio's patented two-point tangential tracking carries the arm on two dry-running high-precision ball bearings that run inside a calibrated, polished glass tube. The drive is purely mechanical and passive, with no motor, sensor or air pump, so the groove itself pulls the carriage across the disc. The chassis is tuned against resonance, and the base allows fine and stable height adjustment so the arm can be set level over the record. A dedicated height adaptor is supplied with the folding base.

Pairing

The TT2 needs a turntable plinth or armboard with room for the whole straight-line carriage as well as the folding base. Light cartridges can still be used once the headshell plate is fitted, and since the fixed lead ends in RCA plugs, it goes straight into the input of an external phono stage without an extra junction box.

Alternatives

The Clearaudio TT3 is the brand's lighter tangential tonearm at about 690 g, also with purely mechanical glass-tube guidance.