Тонармы — Clearaudio UNIFY 10"

The UNIFY 10 is the 10 inch version of Clearaudio's UNIFY unipivot radial tonearm, a design the German company offers in 9, 10, 12 and 14 inch lengths. All versions share one construction - a single-point sapphire bearing, a carbon fibre arm tube, a stainless steel pillar topped by an aluminium bell - and differ in geometry. The 10 inch model sits one step above the 9 inch arm and gives a longer radius for turntables with room for a bigger armboard.

Key specs that matter

Effective length measures 265.14 mm and the arm is 340 mm long overall. Its pivot must be placed 250 mm from the spindle, overhang is 15.14 mm and the offset angle is 21.50 degrees. Cartridges weighing 2.5 g to 17 g can be balanced, and the complete arm with counterweight weighs about 770 g. The tube comes in a black or silver finish. A 1.1 m Clearaudio Super Sixstream lead with RCA plugs is fitted, and a registered arm carries a three-year warranty.

Engineering and use context

The bearing is a sapphire cup resting on a hardened steel tip that has been precision polished, so the whole moving assembly turns on a single point. Clearaudio adjusts vertical and horizontal tracking angles separately on this arm. Height, and with it VTA, is altered by loosening a pair of side-mounted lock screws, found roughly at the 10 and 2 o'clock positions, and sliding the pillar up or down. For azimuth, a small Allen screw under the tube, where the headshell enters the carbon fibre, releases the headshell so it can rotate slightly. Tracking force comes from a Clearaudio Turbo Weight that slides along the rear shaft and locks with a screw, with an extra weight supplied for lighter pickups. Anti-skating works with a hanging weight led via a support wand to a threaded stub above the bell. Nearest the pivot it gives about 0.5 g, each further step of about 3 mm adds 0.5 g, and the ceiling is 3.0 g. A cueing lift is included. The box also holds a cartridge alignment gauge, 2.5 mm and 3 mm hex keys, and cap screws with washers.

Pairing

Because the pivot to spindle distance is longer than on the 9 inch UNIFY, the host turntable needs an armboard drilled for that spacing. On decks from other makers the base is secured with an aluminium clamping ring, for which M4 threaded holes have to be drilled. The wide balance range covers a broad selection of cartridges.

Alternatives

The Clearaudio UNIFY 12 uses the same unipivot construction with a 316.50 mm effective length and a 304 mm mounting distance.