Hunter is a relatively newcomer to LP playback but in his short stint he has hunted down and tasted some three turntable systems. Although his upward climb may be considered baby steps to some, Hunter is one sharp audiophile who knows where he is treading and gets to where he wants.
Hunter's hi-fi setup is placed along the long wall of his living room. His system comprises of a pair of Verity Audio speaker, Bel Canto pre and power amp, CEC digital source, Sutherland phono stage some AV equipment (which I’m not good at recognizing) and of course the Clearaudio Performance turntable.
The Clearaudio Performance turntable is Hunter's third turntable and the overall sonics improvement over the older Clearaudio Champion was in his words not expected.
It takes an understanding wife to approve all these hard stuff occupying almost half of your living room. Hunter - you’re a lucky man.
Hunter opted to go for the Clearaudio Symphony MC cartridge in the bundle package and it is seen here mounted on the Satisfy Carbon-Fibre arm. Every vinyl qualities have been stepped-up vis-a-vis Hunter's previous turntable and old cartridge (Ortofon Kontrapunkt B).
Like any new cartridge, the first 100 hours is hardly enjoyable (and to past?) but the next hundred would be more pleasurable then the next would be amazing and magical! Just don’t touch that dial
Given the advancement in turntable science in the last few years - the ceramic magnetic bearings CMB (in short), higher precision engineering; material selection and greater tolerances all bring about huge improvement in stable motor speeds, lower friction, lower noise floor overall while still keeping affordability. Unless you are a seasoned turntable old-hand and enjoy all the fiddling, there’s little reason why you should be playing vintage turntable.
Our experience tells us Clearaudio Performance turntable sounds good on its stock semi-circle clear rubber stock feet on any solid, rigid platform e.g. hard wood.
Hunter plans to replace his two non hi-fi grade racks as the current rack's thin glass-top is not an ideal platform for any turntable to rest on. The clever use of the Gingko mini clouds to isolate the turntable has helped to eradicate some of the rack's limitations.
