Clearaudio Concept - Motor Noise?

[iemslie]

Hi all

I’ve owned my Concept turntable from new and had it for around 18 months.

I’ve always been aware that the motor buzzes when running, but assumed it was a normal motor buzz that you get.
Recently though, I’ve started to wonder whether it’s too loud. Everything is set up as it should be, per the instructions.

The turntable is on a flat surface, etc. With the platter fitted I can hear it easily from 4 meters away when all is quiet in the house.
The pitch changes when the speed is adjusted, which you’d expect, I guess, in this case.

I’ve been investigating replacement motors for another turntable and some of my findings suggest that these motor should be “near silent”. Which mine definitely doesn’t!

I should probably add that the motor noise can’t be heard over music, so it’s not excessive and that the noise is coming from the motor itself, not the speakers.

My question really is how silent (or noisy) should the motor be?

Any thoughts much appreciated.

 

[drummerman]

This may not be of help to you but both my Garrard and Thorens run silent. By that I mean I can put my ear next to the platter/motor and hear nothing. Both units/motors have been disassembled and serviced.

I personally would go to a Clearaudio dealer and compare but it seems odd that any turntable makes as much noise as you describe.

regards

 

[The_Lhc]

Yes, given I've got a couple of £150 Pro-jects that make no noise at all I'd expect the same from a Clearaudio costing that much more!

 

[iemslie]

Thanks for the replies. I'll get in touch with the shop I bought it from.

Should be interesting to see how this goes. If indeed it is faulty (which seems likely now)

Cheers.

 

[iemslie]

Just a little update.

Contacted the shop and also Clearaudio.

The message back from Clearaudio suggested moving the motor? Not too sure what they mean by that, so I've emailed them back for more info.

The shop asked me to return the TT for testing. I sent them a video showing the issue and discussed on the phone too.

So, looks like a return to the shop is preferable. My only concern is whether this will be a FOC repair or adjustment. I mentioned this to the guy on the phone and he was a bit noncommittal. We'll see.....

 

[Peter Larsen]

So, what did it end with? Is it possible to make the motor run completely silent? I for one is a bit concerned that so many complain about motor noise when the ad states extremely low noise motor bearings. My Pro-ject tt to 1/3 the price is completely silent when running. So should the Concept. Issues like this is enough for me to start looking at different brands even though I love the look and sound of the Concept.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

As he hasn't been seen on the forum for over 4 months, I think we're unlikely to find out.

Of course, if he has slow broadband, he could still be trying to log in to the new site. *smile*

 

[iemslie]

All sorted in the end but took some weeks and a few angry phone calls. The store was messed around a bit by the distributor and Clearaudio were useless. Received a new one in the end. Not silent but very quiet compared to the original one.

Cheers

 

[Peter Larsen]

Thanks for the update.

By sorted out, did you get a new tt, a new motor or did they move the existing one?

how audible is the noise now? Are you otherwise happy with the tt?

 

[iemslie]

I received a brand new replacement.

The new one is still audible, but only when I'm stood next to it ear to the plater (almost) and the house is otherwise quiet.

When I'm sat down about 3 to 4 meters away the noise cannot be heard at all, although sometimes I do convince myself that I can pick up a faint something - probably just imagining it though.

It was a difficult problem really as it had always had the motor noise and my previous benchmarks motor noise had been a Rega P1 which was louder from memory and an Amstrad midi system before that. So no real experience, plus shops are surprisingly noisy for check such things. I'm still not 100% happy, but accept that perhaps a bit of noise is to be expected - I mean are other decks really completely silent, as in no noise whatsoever? Or are those reporting zero noise just not susceptible to the frequency of the motor noise?

Anyway, apart from the issue with the motor, which is now acceptable, it is a cracking bit of kit. The build quality, materials and engineering is very good. Oh and the sound quality is excellent *biggrin*

 

[Peter Larsen]

I'm glad you are almost happy. I still think at the price it should be completely silent. I just had my ear 2 cm from the platter on my 1xpression Carbon from Pro-ject and it truly doesn't make a sound. Amazing!

I'm curious as to whether the new wood edition is more silent.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I have a Roksan Radius 5.2, and twice in the last 12 months the motor has stopped working, and since the last repair, the motor has been quite noisy.

It p****s me right off that I have to go through the palava of taking it apart, boxing it up very carefully, and paying a lot of money for insured delivery to the dealer. The dealer then sends it to Henley Designs, who assess the problem, then send it to Roksan to carry out the repair. Once repaired, they then send it to Henley, who send it to the dealer, who then sends it to me.

I'm waiting for the motor to break again, as I can't be bothered to go through all that just for a bit of noise, but when it does, I'll be demanding a brand new turntable.

 

[Freddy58]

I have a Roksan Radius 5.2, and twice in the last 12 months the motor has stopped working, and since the last repair, the motor has been quite noisy.

It p****s me right off that I have to go through the palava of taking it apart, boxing it up very carefully, and paying a lot of money for insured delivery to the dealer. The dealer then sends it to Henley Designs, who assess the problem, then send it to Roksan to carry out the repair. Once repaired, they then send it to Henley, who send it to the dealer, who then sends it to me.

I'm waiting for the motor to break again, as I can't be bothered to go through all that just for a bit of noise, but when it does, I'll be demanding a brand new turntable.

Shoulda bought a Rega*biggrin*

 

[stevebrock]

I have a Roksan Radius 5.2, and twice in the last 12 months the motor has stopped working, and since the last repair, the motor has been quite noisy.

It p****s me right off that I have to go through the palava of taking it apart, boxing it up very carefully, and paying a lot of money for insured delivery to the dealer. The dealer then sends it to Henley Designs, who assess the problem, then send it to Roksan to carry out the repair. Once repaired, they then send it to Henley, who send it to the dealer, who then sends it to me.

I'm waiting for the motor to break again, as I can't be bothered to go through all that just for a bit of noise, but when it does, I'll be demanding a brand new turntable.

Shoulda bought a Rega*biggrin*

play nice Freddy

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

play nice Freddy

He's just joking ( I think). *smile*

Anyway, I had an RP6 for a very brief time, and if I remember correctly, it arrived with a cracked plinth and one section of the 2 part platter missing.

The Roksan sounds awesome, looks great, but is infuriating with it's reliability. I now own 2 Pioneer PL-12Ds and a not so good Sharp turntable as back-ups, though I do intend to spend a little time and money on them and sell one PL-12D and the Sharp. Total outlay for the 3 was £45.

 

[Freddy58]

play nice Freddy

I am nice!*wink*

And yes, it was a joke. I have to say though that I'm really happy with my old Rega, especially since I fitted a 1042 to it. Not bad for a 25 year old T/T. It could probably do with a new belt and such-like, but TBH, it sounds great to me. I will at some point go for something better, but I'm in no rush.

 

[audiodarkness]

Wow very strange. I had the exact same issue! My motor was noisey on my Concept, it got replaced, but then the new one's azimuth was so far off I had to change it for something I could set up accuratly. My local shop said they had had a lot of issues with Clearaudio customer service too! I wonder if they are only interested in selling the big stuff at mega money