Clearaudio's Most Affordable High-End Turntable
The new Clearaudio Concept AiR is the modern aesthetic version of the German company's most affordable high-end turntable. The Concept AiR incorporates all of the advanced features of its predecessor, such as an aluminum sub-platter and the rear-mounted speed calibration found on the highly regarded two-tone black and silver Concept. And it is super easy to use, so that you can start enjoying your favorite vinyl right away.
Clearaudio's Concept AiR comes equipped with the highly acclaimed Satisfy Black tonearm. An optional high-quality Concept MM moving magnet or MC moving coil cartridge completes the system, if you wish to add one. These cartridges are installed and calibrated at Clearaudio's factory in Bavaria.
The Concept AiR Black is belt-driven by a low-noise, decoupled DC motor and plays at three speeds selectable by the Electronic Speed Control knob. The platter is made of 1.2"-thick polymer (POM), an engineering thermoplastic with a weighted rim for increased fly-wheel effect, providing greater speed stability.
The turntable bearings are especially well engineered, consisting of a polished and tempered steel shaft in a sintered bronze bushing, running on what Clearaudio terms a 'mirror of Teflon'.
No Complicated Set Up – Just Start Listening
Even though the Concept AiR gives you a real taste of high-end analog audio, unlike pricier turntables, it isn't complicated to set up. There's no extended fuss involved with the Concept. The arm is pre-installed (as are the optional cartridges), and most adjustments have already been completed at the Clearaudio factory. So grab your favorite records, settle into your favorite chair, and you're ready to go.
Award Winning Satisfy Black Tonearm
The Satisfy Black tonearm, fitted to the Concept and Concept Wood turntables, elevates the sonic performance to allow the use of high performance MM and MC cartridges.
The Satisfy Black tonearm features high-quality, handmade Swiss vertical and lateral bearings composed of tungsten steel and polished sapphire. The low mass, rigid aluminum arm tube uses a two-piece aluminum headshell with adjustable azimuth for accurate alignment of the phono cartridge and easy in-field replacement.
Anti-skating control is applied by an innovative magnetic system that acts on the side of the bearing housing. Clearaudio's hardwired Direct Wire tonearm cable assures signal integrity, ideal for all high-quality MM and MC cartridges.
Three Speed Electronic Speed Change
The Concept AiR plays all of your phonograph records, not just your 'long-player' albums. It will play back music at three speeds: 33 rpm, 45 rpm, and 78 rpm. So if you own a lot of 45s, you are definitely in luck! And you don't need to fuss with belts and pulleys to change speed. The speed changes are selectable with a twist of the Electronic Speed Control knob located on the chassis.
Optional Clearaudio Concept MC Phono Cartridge
Clearaudio is famous for their moving coil cartridges with their first patents and models developed in the 1970s by Peter Suchy. When developing their Concept turntable circa 2010, the goal was to create a high performance and high value MC that could be factory installed on the Concept tonearm with its magnetic bearing. The Concept MC fulfilled this with a cartridge that embodied the sonic ethos of Clearaudio.
Now comes the Concept MC v2.1 with the latest Clearaudio upgrades. It now has a solid boron rod cantilever with a Clearaudio Prime Line stylus, assuring more accuracy to groove tracing and high frequency linearity for a significant improvement over the previous version Concept MC cartridge.
The MC generator uses dual high quality copper windings for an output of .4mV and an internal resistance of 11 ohms, allowing use with many high gain phono stages including Clearaudio's nano v2 and Smart v2.
The coils use OFC copper and the cartridge body consists of an aluminum-magnesium alloy with a ceramic surface layer. Frequency response is 20 Hz to 20 kHz with 28dB channel separation.
Optional Clearaudio Concept MM Phono Cartridge
The Concept v2 Moving Magnet cartridge is the second generation MM version providing increased clarity and dynamics. Clearaudio's first patents and products in the 1970s were MC cartridges. They applied their expertise in phono transducer design to create a line of MM cartridges to complement their turntables and tonearms.
Developed for the Concept turntable, it uses many of the advancements found in the v2 Ebony generator. The Concept v2 MM is a high-output moving magnet cartridge featuring an aluminum body and cantilever with an elliptical stylus. Due to the unique "frictionless magnetic bearing" design of the Concept tonearm, it is available factory pre-installed on the Concept turntable at a special package price.