If you wonder why old vinyl LPs are not dead yet, you should take a look at the Statement turntable by Clearaudio. As long as such engineering miracles exist, there's no fear for vinyl lovers.
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The limited-edition Statement turntable by Clearaudio is hand built and engineered based on a combination of stainless steel, acrylic, aluminium and a bullet-proof wood.
With approximately 350 kg, the Statement's stand is built of several levels of panzerholz (a bullet-proof wood) sandwiched between stainless steel plates and separated by stainless steel legs. This massive construction supports the main turntable units at operating height as well as providing unparalleled protection from the damaging effects of resonance and vibration.
The uppermost level contains the sophisticated control electronics and control panel, which includes an LED display and touch selection of start, stop, speed selection and fine pitch control.
Above this is a massive stainless steel platform, comprising two stainless steel plates laminated together with a high performance damping material. This platform also houses a gyroscopic bearing in which is mounted a massive 80kg pendulum directly connected to the main turntable chassis. The massive pendulum floating in the gyroscopic bearing has the effect of keeping the main turntable chassis completely level.
The motor, which produces hardly any vibration, is similar to that used in the Mars rover space exploration vehicle. It is controlled by a processor that checks the speed 7,000 times a minute to guarantee speed stability.
The motor drives the sub platter which has no mechanical connection to the platter above. The patented no-contact magnetic drive design uses two circles of magnets in two platters, the driven sub platter and a second sub platter that is connected to the main platter. The upper sub platter and dynamically balanced main platter are supported in a magnetic field bearing with no load point, no wear and no noise. The bearing for is mounted in the uppermost chassis element.
It is is machined from acrylic which has a similar resonant behaviour to a vinyl LP record giving the Statement a wonderful clarity and lack of coloration to the sound.
The main platter incorporates a stainless steel flywheel at its base and is manufactured from acrylic, again to match the resonant behaviour of the vinyl disc and maintain complete transparency. The top outmost edge of the Statement's platter also incorporates a stainless steel Outer Limit, a peripheral record clamp. This ensures that the record is lying flat, cancelling any but the worst of warps, and mechanically mates the record to the platter, effectively making them one in terms of micro-vibrations and resonance.
Also attached to the acrylic top chassis are four tonearm mounting bases. Two of these are used when mounting the Clearaudio Statement TT1 tonearm, the Clearaudio's top tonearm. Two further arms can be added, or alternatively four conventional tonearmscan be used. The Statement record clamp completes the set-up. It features three-point contact with the record label and reduces any resonance generated while the LP is playing. ■
