Clearaudio cartridges
- Thread starter grottyash
- Start date
What makes you think that the PR rep from CA would give you the "real" info? It seems to be quite a sensitive topic for them. They're not just going to come out and tell you one way or the other that AT is or isn't the OEM for their MM cartridge motors. It is not in their interest to do so, especially if AT makes the magnet structure. If they do, they will not tell you that. You are not asking a disinterested party.
Also, if AT is building the cart to CA's specs, what would be wrong with one of the worlds most experienced cartridge producers being the OEM?
Anybody who writes you from a company by default becomes their public relations rep.
And they are more than allegations..they use AT parts. That much seems to be without much doubt. Other manufacturers do the same. You seem quite bothered if it turns out AT makes the motor. Why?
And they are more than allegations..they use AT parts. That much seems to be without much doubt. Other manufacturers do the same. You seem quite bothered if it turns out AT makes the motor. Why?
Look at the cartridge housing. They're identical. Not similar. Identical.
Sorry, mine isn't, totally different.
You have Harbeth speakers, I note. Last year Harbeth issued a challenge regarding amps and their speakers. They claimed, at the same volume, people wouldn't be able to hear differences between amplifiers. The prize was a set of their top speakers. You could choose what amps and music you wanted, the only rider was you had to use a foot switch for instantaneous switching between amps, and Harbeth would help you make one - they even told you what parts to get.
There were no takers, despite the fact this was advertised from Stereophile to What HiFi. Instead, there was a lot of dispute about the tests, how they couldn't work, how it was a publicity stunt from Harbeth etc etc. For once, objectivists and subjectivists were united in condemning the challenge.
I spoke to Harbeth, having heard belatedly about the challenge. It had lapsed, but the person to whom I was speaking, the man himself, was stunned and disappointed that there was no response, despite the lure not only of his top speakers as a prize, but a day including lunch at the factory. We got to talk of many things, but, when finally I hung up, I began to understand that audiophiles, or people interested in hifi anyway, want to believe the myths, they don't want them tested even by the most credible of sources no matter what the incentive.
I think a lot have that has come into play on this thread. If Clearaudio had said yes, they used OEM for their MM cartridges, they would have been accused of profiteering. If they said, as they did, they did not, no-one would believe them.
You have Harbeth speakers, I note. Last year Harbeth issued a challenge regarding amps and their speakers. They claimed, at the same volume, people wouldn't be able to hear differences between amplifiers. The prize was a set of their top speakers. You could choose what amps and music you wanted, the only rider was you had to use a foot switch for instantaneous switching between amps, and Harbeth would help you make one - they even told you what parts to get.
There were no takers, despite the fact this was advertised from Stereophile to What HiFi. Instead, there was a lot of dispute about the tests, how they couldn't work, how it was a publicity stunt from Harbeth etc etc. For once, objectivists and subjectivists were united in condemning the challenge.
I spoke to Harbeth, having heard belatedly about the challenge. It had lapsed, but the person to whom I was speaking, the man himself, was stunned and disappointed that there was no response, despite the lure not only of his top speakers as a prize, but a day including lunch at the factory. We got to talk of many things, but, when finally I hung up, I began to understand that audiophiles, or people interested in hifi anyway, want to believe the myths, they don't want them tested even by the most credible of sources no matter what the incentive.
I think a lot have that has come into play on this thread. If Clearaudio had said yes, they used OEM for their MM cartridges, they would have been accused of profiteering. If they said, as they did, they did not, no-one would believe them.
Pio1980
AK Member
I guess I just lost credibility for Harbeth based on that. My life would have been much simpler if the SX-1980 had sounded just like my console tube amp or either like my Eagle 2.
About the carts, I don't know who OEMs the MMs et all are but if the dual magnet versions aren't A-T OEM they either use A-T components or A-T design rights.
About the carts, I don't know who OEMs the MMs et all are but if the dual magnet versions aren't A-T OEM they either use A-T components or A-T design rights.
So literally not a single person took the challenge? I read all the magazines you mention religiously and this is the first I've heard of it. I'm curious to learn more about this now. Even if Harbeth is correct it's still a 50/50 chance of getting it right, right?
dodog
Addicted Member
Or perhaps nobody but you gave a crap. :ntwrthy:
You're not the only one. Just a big exercise in growing Alan Shaw's already enormous self-love. To be happy with my speakers I have to constantly remind myself to forget who designed them.
Beyond that, by the time I shipped my amp and myself to England I could probably have bought his speakers. And beyond that, I didn't give a crap.
What does this have to do with Clearaudio Cartridges?
That's exactly what happened. A collective shoulder shrug from the audio community. Like some self-obsessed bully on the playground yelling "put up or shut up!" and everybody collectively rolls their eyes and gets back to the slides and monkeybars. Then he goes back inside to tell everybody how the whole playground was scared of him, when in fact, nobody really gave a crap.
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"If, in a controlled experiment with all variables accounted for (incl. differences in frequency reponse and within the power range appropriate to the amps) "
Or, lord, it's another one of those "If I make 2 things sound the same you can't tell them apart" amp tests. "Under conditions where nobody would be able to tell one amp from another, you can't tell one amp from another." No ****, Alan.
Or, lord, it's another one of those "If I make 2 things sound the same you can't tell them apart" amp tests. "Under conditions where nobody would be able to tell one amp from another, you can't tell one amp from another." No ****, Alan.