At AXPONA 2017 Clearaudio Introduces New Charisma Moving Magnet Cartridge

At AXPONA 2017 Clearaudio introduced the Charisma, a new $2000 moving magnet cartridge.

A Clearaudio spokesperson described the new cartridge as "the Goldfinger of moving magnet cartridges." Is this the most expensive moving magnet cartridge ever? Could be. We will get one to review as soon as possible.

COMMENTS
Ortofan's picture

... the Charisma and the Goldring 1042.
The Goldring is also a MM cartridge and is also equipped with a Gyger-S type stylus, but it costs only about one-third the price of the Clearaudio.

Rudy's picture

For anyone who attended--were they running this new Clearaudio cart in the Needle Doctor room? I thought he mentioned a Clearaudio MM cart costing $2k on one arm (I couldn't quite hear him in the noisy room, but in my mind, "$2k" and "moving magnet" did not compute), but I know he had a Hana moving coil on the other arm. And to be honest, I thought the Hana SL was more musical, where the other seemed more etched, and brighter. At $650 (special show price), the Hana SL is a relative bargain. It may be on my short list if my Dynavector bites the dust.

Toptip's picture

In my 40 years of interest in hifi, I am yet to hear a good explanation for why (in general) MC cartridges sound clearer than MM/MI. I remember listening to my first MC (a Denon 103R, with an elliptical diamond) playing Pink Floyd's The Wall. I could not believe it was the same track. A certain fuzziness, distortion had been lifted from the midrange and mid-highs.

I have since wondered why. After all it is the same science, with parts changing places, a coil moving in a magnetic field vs a magnet in a coil.

Now I wonder if it might simply be the low number of coil turns in MCs, thus low inductance, and, a lack of ferrite core. High inductance and cores create all kinds of spurious currents leading, perhaps, to undesirable harmonics. In fact to my ears high output MCs do not sound quite as clear as low outputs, I suspect they have higher turns and inductance.

I wonder, did anyone ever build a low output MM? One with as low a turns count as an MC and perhaps no core -- just a moving magnet in a simple coil? How would that sound?

Rudy's picture

Grado has a couple of lower-output moving iron cartridges but I have not yet heard them. If I recall, Mikey is fond of the wood-body Grado (although I can't recall which one).

Ortofan's picture

... a couple of lower output, lower impedance versions of their MM cartridges around 1980.
Perhaps MF had an opportunity to try them?

Lazer's picture

That was the clearaudio for 2k the needle doctor was running. The Hana SL is great for the money imo. It's also on my short list of future purchases.

Trace's picture

I have the Hana SL and another pricier m/c . The Hana is an amazement. Very musical and defined. A true bargain.

es347's picture

..looks like I must toss my Maestro Ebony MKII in the trash

readargos's picture

I believe the pictured setup was in one of the Quintessence rooms on the 12th Floor, using a linear tracking tonearm (which you can see in the photos. Simaudio electronics and Dynaudio speakers. I was there.

See, also, JVS's coverage:
http://www.stereophile.com/content/axpona-ups-and-downs-jasons-day-3

X