Clearaudio Concept ,probably my biggest hifi mistake

rayolight

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After 40 trouble free years with my Michell Transcriptors I purchased a Clearaudio Concept with MM in October, following some advice from members and also because it was "Plug and Play",so easy to setup. The unit arrived and unfortunately the left hand channel had no signal. Before contacting the dealer I metered the leads and found all ok up to the cartridge. So contacted the dealer ,by the way I live in Spain, who told me it had to go back to the distributor for repair. I wasn,t happy about this as the unit was new and I felt I could demand a replacement but after numerous emails it was sent back and returned to me as fixed .I checked the cartridge tracking force today and found it was set at 4.4gms by the distributor, absolutely shocked at this I changed it to 2.4gms in line with manufacturers settings,only to find that now when the needle was lowered onto the record it slid backwards off the record. Have looked at everything but cannot see why this is . The minimum setting I can get away with for the needle to stay on the record without slipping backward is 3.5gms.I have completely lost confidence in the distributor ,can anyone shed any light on what might be the cause. I would point out unit is perfectly flat and wall mounted, have used both Ortofon and electronic stylus gauges to test accuracy. Am I missing something simple I thought these turntables were supposed to be plug in and away you go.
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D

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Maybe, anti-skate or bias setting is incorrect?

User manual

Should be set at the factory but could be wrong.
 

rayolight

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Thanks for your reply Doug
Yes I have considered this myself but as the unit is supposed to be setup perfectly before sale ,didn't want to alter anything. I thought buying a unit pre setup in the factory would assure me of a perfect performance, how wrong was I. Am considering writing to Clearaudio to see if they can offer any assistance.
Cheers
 

rayolight

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Hello Al ears, you may remember our conversation a little while ago, regarding Rega Turntables ,I eventually purchased the Clearaudio ,unfortunately the turntable has been a nightmare, first no sound on left channel then conflicting messages from the dealer and the distributor trying to blame me, and now problem with VTF.
I did ask for a replacement immediately the unit arrived faulty but was given numerous excuses as to why not. I have now written to Clearaudio explaining my position and hoping that they will get involved . It appears in Spain that they have to try and fix it first, it would seem that whoever they use for repair has no idea of how the unit should be setup. I don't appear to have any rights here. Lesson learned .Had exactly the same problem with a Vincent SV237MK amp, had a noise issue ,they also demanded that they fix it first ,fortunately they didn,t fix it and I eventually got my money back.
I am sure that if I set to it, I could probably locate the problem,but that will probably be regarded as a warrent void issue. This is a new unit and Clearaudio sell it on the "plug and Play" banner,so will have to see what happens. Thanks for your always welcomed input
Ray
 
Hello Al ears, you may remember our conversation a little while ago, regarding Rega Turntables ,I eventually purchased the Clearaudio ,unfortunately the turntable has been a nightmare, first no sound on left channel then conflicting messages from the dealer and the distributor trying to blame me, and now problem with VTF.
I did ask for a replacement immediately the unit arrived faulty but was given numerous excuses as to why not. I have now written to Clearaudio explaining my position and hoping that they will get involved . It appears in Spain that they have to try and fix it first, it would seem that whoever they use for repair has no idea of how the unit should be setup. I don't appear to have any rights here. Lesson learned .Had exactly the same problem with a Vincent SV237MK amp, had a noise issue ,they also demanded that they fix it first ,fortunately they didn,t fix it and I eventually got my money back.
I am sure that if I set to it, I could probably locate the problem,but that will probably be regarded as a warrent void issue. This is a new unit and Clearaudio sell it on the "plug and Play" banner,so will have to see what happens. Thanks for your always welcomed input
Ray
best of luck with your endeavours, it would seem you own a system that was clearly substandard when sold as I haven't heard of anyone else having issues with Clearaudio kit.
Not that this helps you much.
I would suggest it is clearly an anti-skate issue, if not one of multiple issues
 

rayolight

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The thing I don't understand is,the initial problem was a faulty cartridge, I think I proved that by metering the leads from the cartridge to the rca plugs and they were fine.I assume they replaced the cartridge, but don't understand what caused the problem that decided the distributor to set the tracking force so high,if he could see that at 2.2gms to 2.5gms the cartridge swung backwards off the record, why didn't they fix it. The other question I have is are the I distributors technicians,in house or just a local company who are ok on electronic faults but not really upto setting up turntables.
I will just have to wait and see what kind of a response I get. My biggest concern is that I really don't want to send the turntable back to the distributor, as I am sure you will appreciate. I will keep you posted, but thanks for your comments
 
The thing I don't understand is,the initial problem was a faulty cartridge, I think I proved that by metering the leads from the cartridge to the rca plugs and they were fine.I assume they replaced the cartridge, but don't understand what caused the problem that decided the distributor to set the tracking force so high,if he could see that at 2.2gms to 2.5gms the cartridge swung backwards off the record, why didn't they fix it. The other question I have is are the I distributors technicians,in house or just a local company who are ok on electronic faults but not really upto setting up turntables.
I will just have to wait and see what kind of a response I get. My biggest concern is that I really don't want to send the turntable back to the distributor, as I am sure you will appreciate. I will keep you posted, but thanks for your comments
I've never owned a Clearaudio turntable, even though I've demoed one. Have owned 2 x ClearAudio carts (Classic Wood & now the Concept cartridge) and both I've had no issues with.
I just think you've had a duffo package.
Must persist in contacting ClearAudio.
 
D

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My turntable is basically a re-badged Clearaudio Emotion, never had any issues with it whatsoever.
 
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I have done a bit of research, and found this regarding the Clearaudio Turntable, appears others have had similar issues.
Clearaudio Concept antiskate adjustment - Vinyl and Turntables - StereoNET International
Fair enough. I'm struggling to think of any brand & any component that hasn't had issues over the years/decades. But these tend to be a tiny minority.

As I suggested in a earlier response you've picked up a duff package. It's not nice but it occasionally happens.

Have you contacted ClearAudio and yelled at them?
 
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rayolight

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Fair enough. I'm struggling to think of any brand & any component that hasn't had issues over the years/decades. But these tend to be a tiny minority.

As I suggested in a earlier response you've picked up a duff package. It's not nice but it occasionally happens.

Have you contacted ClearAudio and yelled at them?
Yes,Al,I wrote to them last week, haven't heard anything from them yet,am hoping they are getting in touch with the dealer and distributor, and asking why they didn't replace the faulty unit when it arrived but will have to wait and see
 

rayolight

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Hello ,I have solved my problem, just basically restarted from scratch and adjusted till able to set tracking force at 2.5gms.Anti skate was out,Clearaudio not really any help ,suggested I get in touch with distributor, but I think it was them that had set up incorrectly, so was definitely not going there.As have been playing with turntables for around 40 years,just needed to work out how everything worked and adjusted accordingly. Its funny but I purchased the Clearaudio as an upgrade to my Michell Transcriptors Reference, however, after spending some time comparing, still think the Michell comes out on top. Thanks for your input 👍
 

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camcroft

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Hello ,I have solved my problem, just basically restarted from scratch and adjusted till able to set tracking force at 2.5gms.Anti skate was out,Clearaudio not really any help ,suggested I get in touch with distributor, but I think it was them that had set up incorrectly, so was definitely not going there.As have been playing with turntables for around 40 years,just needed to work out how everything worked and adjusted accordingly. Its funny but I purchased the Clearaudio as an upgrade to my Michell Transcriptors Reference, however, after spending some time comparing, still think the Michell comes out on top. Thanks for your input 👍
Ooo Turntable envy. They both look gorgeous
 

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