Clearaudio Anniversary

[Shaun Haselden]

Back in 2018 I sold off around 90% of my vinyl record collection due to the collection being made up of a lot of 'junk' I should never have bought and a great deal of dissatisfaction. I kept some of the records for that 'just in case' moment. Well, three weeks back that moment occurred.

I bought a secondhand Clearaudio Anniversary turntable fitted with a Clearaudio Unify tonearm. I have since fitted my old Ortofon OM40 Super moving magnet cartridge simply to get things going but appreciate I may be better off with a good moving coil design even though they tend not to track as well.

The photo shows it playing 'Pungent Effulgent' by Ozric Tentacles, a fab band with a fab sound in their earlier years. Long live Prog Rock old and new.

Time is against me hence my decision to buy what I want rather than what I need. Come to think of it, time is against all of us.

 

[Chris Bennett]

Now, that's a great present to yourself, Shaun! Very nice. Which version of the arm is that (in terms of length)?

Back in 2018 I sold off around 90% of my vinyl record collection due to the collection being made up of a lot of 'junk' I should never have bought and a great deal of dissatisfaction. I kept some of the records for that 'just in case' moment. Well, three weeks back that moment occurred.

I bought a secondhand Clearaudio Anniversary turntable fitted with a Clearaudio Unify tonearm. I have since fitted my old Ortofon OM40 Super moving magnet cartridge simply to get things going but appreciate I may be better off with a good moving coil design even though they tend not to track as well.

The photo shows it playing 'Pungent Effulgent' by Ozric Tentacles, a fab band with a fab sound in their earlier years. Long live Prog Rock old and new.

Time is against me hence my decision to buy what I want rather than what I need. Come to think of it, time is against all of us.

 

[Shaun Haselden]

Now, that's a great present to yourself, Shaun! Very nice. Which version of the arm is that (in terms of length)?

222mm overall pivot to tip, Linn mount.

 

[Shaun Haselden]

Compared to previous turntables, I am amazed at the level of low frequency detail. The only other turntable I have owned that was similar to this was an Alphason Sonata. That was back around the mid nineties.

 

[Chris Bennett]

The Sonata was a thing of beauty (apart from those awkward looking suspension towers). I would have loved to have heard one with a Zeta and a Koetsu, but who would have dared to put a different arm on?!

 

[Shaun Haselden]

The Sonata I had was fitted with their own HR100S MCS tonearm and an Ortofon Kontrapunkt a cartridge. My phono stage back then was a Hart Linsley Hood two box design. I was always stunned by the engineering in the Sonata and the weight of the sub chassis. It really did put the Thorens/LP12 brigade to shame. Before the Sonata I was also lucky enough to have owned a Logic DM101, the first version. Oh the memories lol...

 

[Dave Farnes]

A fine looking turntable, there is something about the engineering that goes into them.

I could never sell a vinyl record. There are some I would never admit to owning, but bought them for a reason at the time.