Clearaudio Master Innovation

rockitman · Sep 27, 2011

I hope I'm not being to bold for a newbie member to start a thread on this turntable. The prototype was debuted near Seattle, WA this past weekend. This very table will be at RMAF this October. Here is the first decent pic.

I cropped it from the one I received from the US distributor. In short, I bought the table tonight sight unseen, paid in full (First order)

I will have to wait until it's dropped shipped from Germany at my door in mid December hopefully. The dealer who has the proto unit will be disassembling it (photographing all the parts along the way) to get it ready for RMAF. I plan to share the photo's here and think this would be a good "master" (no pun intended) thread for this exciting magnetic drive/magnetic bearing turntable. My table will have black, instead of the silver metal parts. I am psyched as the dealer indicated a rather large improvement over the standard innovation.

MylesBAstor · Sep 27, 2011

rockitman said:
I hope I'm not being to bold for a newbie member to start a thread on this turntable. The prototype was debuted near Seattle, WA this past weekend. This very table will be at RMAF this October. Here is the first decent pic.

I cropped it from the one I received from the US distributor. In short, I bought the table tonight sight unseen, paid in full (First order) I will have to wait until it's dropped shipped from Germany at my door in mid December hopefully. The dealer who has the proto unit will be disassembling it (photographing all the parts along the way) to get it ready for RMAF. I plan to share the photo's here and think this would be a good "master" (no pun intended) thread for this exciting magnetic drive/magnetic bearing turntable. My table will have black, instead of the silver metal parts. I am psyched as the dealer indicated a rather large improvement over the standard innovation.

Are you getting it with or w/o the stand?

docvale · Sep 27, 2011

How does the magnetic drive work?

rockitman · Sep 27, 2011

MylesBAstor said:
Are you getting it with or w/o the stand?

You mean the Lovely Everest stand for $10K ? I felt that I would give my Adona Zero GXT stand a try first. Hopefully it's up to the task. I really don't have the room or interconnect wire length to put two stands side by side...I love my Siltech 1m MC 4-80 Inevitable links (AES/EBU) from 1995...

rockitman · Sep 27, 2011

docvale said:
How does the magnetic drive work?

Basically the bottom acrylic platter spins and is magnetically coupled with the top record platter by a magnetic field. In between that and the Ceramic magnetic bearing, the motor drive and bearing is effectively decoupled from the record platter. I will have more details on that later on.

Emre Üçöz · Sep 28, 2011

What's the price point? I currently own Clearaudio maximum solution and waiting for this one. I saw the preliminary proto unit in Munich and discussed with Robert Suchy on the developments.

rockitman · Sep 28, 2011

^^^ $24k USD

MylesBAstor · Sep 30, 2011

Some more pics from the debut of the Innovation at Nuts about Hi-Fi.

MylesBAstor · Sep 30, 2011

Two additional pics.

Gregadd · Sep 30, 2011

Let's see what are those Powerball numbers 6,12,18...

rockitman · Sep 30, 2011

Here's a coiuple more pics courtesy of Patrick Higaki at Nuts About Hi-Fi (my dealer) in Silverdale, WA where the prototype was debuted. Disassembly...

Mike Lavigne · Oct 1, 2011

Christian,

congrats. beautiful tt you're getting there. i did not know about the debut going on in my neighborhood or maybe i would have taken the ferry over to Silverdale to see it. i will see and hear it at RMAF.

i'm also using the Adona Zero GXT stand (with the big 27" x 21" top shelf) for my NVS and it's worked well. i like a basic solid grounded rack for turntables; and then you can 'season' to taste. at first the NVS sat 'nude' on the big top shelf. then i used the purpose built isolation platform. the Adona's very solid shelf helps the isolation platform work properly. i've already paid for the Wave Kinetics rack they are making to go with the NVS; but i may cancel it as it's just a solid rack like the Adona GTX.

i saw your comment on the other thread on choosing between the 12" Reed and the Talea 2. you can't go wrong there with either of those 2.

rockitman · Oct 1, 2011

Mike Lavigne said:
Christian,

congrats. beautiful tt you're getting there. i did not know about the debut going on in my neighborhood or maybe i would have taken the ferry over to Silverdale to see it. i will see and hear it at RMAF.

i'm also using the Adona Zero GXT stand (with the big 27" x 21" top shelf) for my NVS and it's worked well. i like a basic solid grounded rack for turntables; and then you can 'season' to taste. at first the NVS sat 'nude' on the big top shelf. then i used the purpose built isolation platform. the Adona's very solid shelf helps the isolation platform work properly. i've already paid for the Wave Kinetics rack they are making to go with the NVS; but i may cancel it as it's just a solid rack like the Adona GTX.

i saw your comment on the other thread on choosing between the 12" Reed and the Talea 2. you can't go wrong there with either of those 2.

Thanks Mike...I would be most interested in hearing your impressions of the table once you hear it at RMAF.

What do you think about active isolation platforms like the ELpF Lightweight Benchtop Vibration Isolation Systems.

http://www.kineticsystems.com/page532.html

Mike Lavigne · Oct 1, 2011

rockitman said:
Thanks Mike...I would be most interested in hearing your impressions of the table once you hear it at RMAF.

What do you think about active isolation platforms like the ELpF Lightweight Benchtop Vibration Isolation Systems.

http://www.kineticsystems.com/page532.html

i would expect that isolation shelf to work well with your turntable. however; with turntables it is hard to predict with certainty how any isolation system will sound. this is because most turnatables have some level of isolation or grounding built in; therefore what you are doing is listening to how the combination of your tt suspension and this product synergizes. some isolation can soften the transients and decrease microdynamics.

with the Wave Kinetics NVS Reference turntable, the tt itself has isolation built into the legs, then the isolation platform is purpose designed for that turntable.....so it's a system.

my Rockport was designed around an active air isolation rack.

with 'The Beat' it was designed and voiced with Stillpoints. i tried Wave Kinetics A10 U8 footers under the Beat, but they softened transients.

most tt's do like Vibraplanes and those type systems; but until you try it you won't know for sure.

i do know that the Wave Kinetics designer strongly feels that an active air suspension reacts too slowly compared to the passive systems he designs. when i consider the performance of my Rockport compared to the NVS i guess i have to agree with him.

Giannifranco · Oct 14, 2011

Nice! Very nice! Could someone explain to me why Clearaudio is using a Graham arm instead of one of their beloved linear tracking one?
Should I get rid of my TT2....????

rockitman · Oct 16, 2011

Giannifranco said:
Nice! Very nice! Could someone explain to me why Clearaudio is using a Graham arm instead of one of their beloved linear tracking one?
Should I get rid of my TT2....????

Musical Surrounding is the US distributor for both Clearaudio, Graham Engineering and a few others. I wouldn't read to much into it. The TT2 is a fine arm.

Steve williams · Oct 16, 2011

Giannifranco said:
Nice! Very nice! Could someone explain to me why Clearaudio is using a Graham arm instead of one of their beloved linear tracking one?
Should I get rid of my TT2....????

I saw and heard it at RMAF and IMO it was the best TT I heard at the show. Eye candy to boot. It was being shown with the Graham arm. I asked the question and was told they are the same price and sound similar with the Graham having a few extra bells and whistles.

mep · Oct 16, 2011

I have to second what Steve said. This table was simply stunning in both looks and sound. There were only a handful of rooms at the show I didn't want to leave, and this room was one of them.

Steve williams · Oct 16, 2011

I am going to collect my thoughts tonight about everything we saw and get the pix posted but IMHO this room was the Best In Show for me

rockitman · Dec 22, 2011

Master has arrived !!!

A gift to myself. It's explosive dynamically, falls into the black hole for note/voice decay and has a tremendous grip on the bass...extended and articluate. This table is not cold nor analytical in any sense of the word. The lower magnetic drive bearing is traditional and the platter/drive shaft of the record platter is a sealed ceramic magnetic bearing. I'll share more impressions after I have had it a bit. Happy Holidays !

Here's a gallery of the setup process from start to finish (29 pics) Full rez takes two clicks on the pic.
Rennlist Member Gallery :: Master Innovation

Here's a couple highlights:

Lower chassis

Lower Stainless steel sub platter (heavy)

The belt is now flat and wider versus the prototype's traditional thick silicon spaghetti belt. The dots are the attracting magnet's on the drive platter.

Top record platter chassis with sealed CMB bearing

Ready for action !

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