Had an emotion, and bought an older (but better) Evolution turntable. The emotion TT really made me fall in love with the Clearaudio sound.
Compaired to Regas and Pro-jects in the same price class - i really think the Emotion is better than the other offerings i have heard. |
Thanks, nice to hear good words on emotion.
How did you like the feet? Clearaudio has upgraded feet at $150 for emotion. I wonder how much improvement the upgraded feet would bring. Some of newer models seem to come with those upgraded feet. |
I have a champion with the satisfy arm and it has worked great for me. Adjusting VTA is kind of a hassle but once dialed in it works great. Looks like it might work differently on your table. You will have fun with the bluemotion. Enjoy. |
Had a Clearaudio Emotion for nearly 3 years before it made way for a Gyrodec. The Emotion is not nearly as good looking as the Bluemotion. The only quibble I had was with the single screw mechanism that serves as the headshell and also adjusts azimuth.If you are clumsy like me you can end up damaging the thread rendering the whole tone arm useless. Fortunately Clearaudio service is superb and they gave me a replacement allen screw and plate free. It should not cost more than a dollar.
Did upgrade from the supplied Aurum wood MM to a Sumiko Bluepoint No 2 MC.
Really enjoyed my time with the Clearaudio. It rekindled my interest in vinyl and now its no looking back.
You have made a wise purchase which will give you oodles of enjoyment till you decide to upgrade...
Happy listening |
If you decide to upgrade the cartridge you might want to look at the Audio Note MM. I forget the specific model but it's their $700 cartridge. I just auditioned the Performance with this cartridge and it is very nice indeed. Really smooths things out. |
Ihcho: My Emotion (bought november 2006) did already have those "upgrade feet" and as i have heard from alot of people they are a worth investment, as with the spikes alot of vibrations travel from the rack/bench that you have the TT on.
i think all newer emotion/bluemotion packages (complete packages with tonearm,PU,tt) does have the upgraded feet, and directwired tonearm. - but i can't be 100% shure - do email the distributor and ask about it. |
I ordered from Audio Eden.
http://www.audioeden.com/#/clearaudio/4525817467
As you look at the picture, the emotion/bluemotion does not come with the upgraded feet, and I don't expect mine would come with those upgraded features either.
Thanks for your info. |
I got it now.
The feet is not upgraded ones. I guess it means it is not direct wired tonearm either, whatever may the difference make.
Many US distributors now sell the upgraded version with the MM cartrige at $1600. Looks like I got a closed out model. It is made in Aug 2007. |
well, hope you still will be satisfied with the player.
Directwired tonearm, means that the there is no RCA females on the tonearm base, instead there is a cable fitted that goes all the way to the phono amp. That menans you get one less contactpoint in the signalway. (which is good on vinyls, since the signal is so low. |
I should be OK even though it is a little bit disappointing. Anyway it is my fault. I did not know much about the difference and I did not do enough research.
I see that the direct wired tone arm is about $150 more expensive and the upgrade feet costs about $150, overall the upgraded version seems to be $300 more expensive than the earler version.
I don't think I would be able to feel any difference on my system, and I paid less ($1100), so I should be OK.
If any of you are interested in clearaudio emotion (blue/red/black), you want to make sure that you are paying for an upgraded one, or paying at least $300 less for an older one. |
I bet you could return it and get what you want. It may be worth the hassle in the long run and make you feel better about your purchase. |
Thanks for your input, but I think I will settle for this. I already stretched more than I could afford to. $1100 shipped is also a good price.
An updated Bluemotion sells at $1600 in US without shipping.
The cheapest place I found is elusivedisk which sells an updated Emotion at $1200 for a limited time. Emotion normally sells at $150~$200 less than Bluemotion.
Now, I need to worry about assembling the whole turntable. Hope it is not so hard to properly assemble and set up the tonearm and cartridge to max out. |
Ihcho, you will have a lot of fun. Setting up the turntable isn't too bad but you have to take your time, carefully read the directions, and be dilligent. My experience became a tiny bit frustrating but once I got it done I saw that doing it again would be a snap. You just have to do it to see what I mean. I would be glad to offer any help if you want to drop me an e-mail. Best of luck. |
It took almost 2 hours for me to set it up. I was so worried if I would accidently damage the stylus. I hope some of the instructions were better written, but as said by others it wasn't too bad. The tonearm setup wasn't that bad either.
The first record I played (Dvorak's Cello Concerto, Rostrovich, Karajan, Berlin Phil) sound much more musical than Thorens. Deeper base, wider sound stage, and more details. Also, highs are more clear. However, it was still somehow muddy and congested in full orchestration (well, the comparison is to a $30,000 system that I had a chance to listen to about 6 months ago). Thorens was much worse on this.
For some Jazz album I tried, the difference was even bigger. I thought my Thorens/Grado Gold was pretty good in handling horns, percussions, and voices, but Bluemotion sounds much more lively. More punch base, more forthcoming horns. I haven't tried much on voices yet.
Bluemotion is also much more susceptible to sound vibration on high volumne than Thorens. The two tables sit side by side on top of a two shelf audio rack. I am not using any tweak or isolation devices. Footfalls near the table are still heard, but Bluemotions' minimum-suspension design seems to work better than Thorens (which I think is a suspension TT) on the wood floor.
I am using Clearaudio microbasic preamp. Overall, I guess the money well spent. The only catch so far is the color. I thought I would like the blue color, but it actually is very dark bule. A slightly lighter blue might have been better for me. |
Ihcho, great to hear that you got you TT set-up and are having so much fun with it. Don't let the color bother you, you are supposed to listen with your eyes closed! |
The color does not bother me much, so I can still listen to the music with my eyes open. ;-)
Anyway, it was the first time I've ever done a turntable setup, and I learned more about all those settings.
Does your tonearm stay still without the block used to set the height? It is still sitting on the platter to support the tonearm. I am a little bit worried if the tonearm would fall without the block. |
Ihcho: Have you tighten the bolt from the side of the turntable base, that locks the Tonearm into height? if you have tighten it well then it should sit really great without any trouble at all. If you totally have missed the bolt, then you have to put it there right away!
A pickup upgrade (like "Benz Micro Ace" or "Clearaudio Virtuoso") will make a huge difference from the original pickup. Also, i would consider the upgrade feet for later on if you have any kind of trouble with vibrations from speakers and such on to the turntable. |
At first trial, I thought I tightened the bolt firm enough, but after I removed the block, the tonearm was about to fall down.
I readjusted the arm and tightened again, this time a little bit tighter. But, I could not remove the block away this time. Maybe I could if I push it hard enough, but I did not. I was afraid if it would scratch the body or move the tonearm. So, it sits on the body under the tonearm. It does not particularly look good, but as long as it does not hurt, I will just leave it as it is for a while.
Well, maybe next time when I get a jack pot, I will try an upgrade. ;-) I guess I need to also upgrade my amp (Chinese Yaqin MC10L) and preamp (Clearaudio microbasic) when I upgrade to a higher cartridge. Then, my speaker (Taylo 7U) may have to be upgraded. Then, TT, ... Yeh, I know it never ends. Probably a better cartridge would be the first upgrade I will try.
Currently Tyler Woodmere is for sale at $6700. It would be a real good deal if somebody lives near Chicago area. |
